Paris Olympics boosts French economy

 It’s Los Angeles’ turn for the torch. Mayor Karen Bass accepted the Olympic flag at the Paris closing ceremony Sunday, before handing it off to a key representative of LA’s local business — Tom Cruise — who in a pre-recorded trek via motorcycle, plane, and parachute kicked off the countdown to 2028.

The city will become the third in the world to host the games three times as it adds to the storied years of 1932 and 1984. Here’s a look forward and back in time at the Olympics in LA.

Los Angeles got the 2028 games as a consolation prize when Paris was picked for 2024.

Back in 1932, LA hosted its first Olympics. The city was the only bidder for the games at a time marred by the Great Depression and the absence of several nations. Yet memorable sports moments came from athletes including American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who won golds in the new women’s events of javelin and hurdles.

Financial and cultural success gave 1984 a reputation as the “good” Olympics” which made seemingly every major world city want their own.

Emphasizing both the modern and the classical with a hand from Hollywood, the games opened with decathlon champion Rafer Johnson lighting the torch, a guy in a jetpack descending into the Memorial Coliseum and theme music by “Star Wars” maestro John Williams.

With Eastern Bloc countries boycotting, the U.S. dominated. Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton are among the athletes who became household names. A young Michael Jordan led the men’s basketball team to gold.

The games renewed, for a while, the global reputation of a city that had been perceived to be in decline.

“We want our games to be a modern game, youthful, full of the optimism that Southern California brings to the world and the globe,” Janet Evans, four-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming and chief athlete officer for the LA 2028 organizing committee, told The Associated Press in Paris.

Bass, who arrives back in LA Monday, spent these games in Paris along with organizers and city officials, learning what it takes to host the world’s largest sporting event.

Joining her were LA28 Chairperson Casey Wasserman, an entertainment executive, and LA council member Traci Park, chair of the city Olympic committee.

“As we’ve seen here in Paris, the Olympics are an opportunity to make transformative change,” Bass said at a press conference ahead of the closing ceremony.

Amid a stadium-and-arena boom, LA will polish existing structures rather than erect new ones.

“It’s a no-build game,” Evans said.

After Paris’ innovative opening ceremony on the Seine River, LA plans to open with a traditional, stadium-based approach at SoFi Stadium in neighboring Inglewood that also incorporates the century-old Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles itself.

Home to two NFL teams, SoFi has hosted a Super Bowl and several Taylor Swift concerts since opening in 2020. It will become what organizers say is the largest Olympic swimming venue ever. Its opening ceremony role means swimming will come after track and field for the first time since 1972.

Intuit Dome, the soon-to-open Inglewood home of the NBA’s Clippers, would be the games’ newest major venue and is the planned home for Olympic basketball. The Lakers’ downtown Crypto.com Arena will host gymnastics.

The toxicity of swimming in the Seine became a serious issue in Paris. That could put renewed focus on the Long Beach area waterfront when it hosts marathon swimming and triathlon races. Its cleanliness history is mixed but its ocean waters got consistently high marks in a 2023 analysis by the nonprofit Heal the Bay.

The Long Beach shore was home to the pre-recorded performances during Sunday’s ceremony of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre, though it was easy to mistake for LA’s Venice Beach, where the journey of the flag begun by Cruise was shown ending moments earlier.

A city that’s notoriously hard to traverse may seem like an odd fit for the Olympics, but it can work.

Bass said she plans to emulate the tactics of Tom Bradley, the mayor in 1984, whose traffic mitigations had some saying it was better than at non-Olympic times. They include asking local businesses to stagger workforce hours to reduce the number of cars on the road and allow work from home during the 17-day games.

Landing the Olympics under then-Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2017 gave the city an unusually long lead time for planning.

While it’s no Paris Metro, LA has built a subway since its last Olympics, with lines running past major venues.

In 2018, the city planned an ambitious slate of 28 bus and rail projects to transform public transit. Some were scrapped but others moved forward, including the extension of a subway line to connect downtown Los Angeles with UCLA, the planned home of the Olympic Village.

Another high-profile project is the Inglewood People Mover, an automated, three-stop rail line past major Olympic venues. It initially received a commitment of $1 billion in federal funding, but opposition from Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters led to a $200 million reduction, the Los Angeles Times reported. It’s unclear whether the line will be completed by 2028.

Metro recently received $900 million in funding through an infrastructure spending package and grants from the Biden administration, of which $139 million will go directly toward improving transportation by 2028 and the goal of a “car-free” Olympics.

“The biggest challenge is not waiting for 2028, but really taking the opportunity between now and 2028 to help Angelenos and visitors alike reimagine the transportation network as something that will be their first choice,” Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said.

While crime rates were considerably higher in 1984 than today, the countdown to 2028 comes as the issue has gotten increased attention and cast a social-media-amplified shadow.

The Olympics are designated as a national special security event, which makes the U.S. Secret Service the lead agency tasked with developing a security plan, supported by significant federal resources.

LA city and county law enforcement sent officers to Paris to observe, learn, and assist as they prepare for their own 2028 games.

There are many more encampments on city streets than there were in 1984, and it’s unlikely LA will have solved its homeless crisis in the next four years. As the Paris games ended, California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to withhold funding from cities unable to clear encampments.

Ahead of the Games in Paris, organizers relocated thousands of unhoused people, a practice also used for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and criticized by activists as “social cleansing.”

LA is the “next logical destination” for the Olympics, said Adam Burke, president and CEO of the LA Tourism and Convention Board. “LA has emerged as really one of the world’s sports capitals.”

First though, the city will host a FIFA World Cup event and U.S. Women’s Open in 2026 and another Super Bowl in 2027.

The city’s hotel industry has continued to see growth, adding 9,000 new hotel rooms in the past four years with more to come over the next four.

LA28 organizers are banking on ticket sales, sponsorships, payments from the International Olympic Committee, and other revenue streams to cover the games’ $6.9 billion budget. The committee has brought in just over $1 billion toward a goal of $2.5 billion in domestic corporate sponsorships.

A new measure of employee motivation released by Korn Ferry found that 71% of global workers are motivated to go above and beyond their role requirements. However, in the UK, only 60% of professionals indicated they are motivated, while Indian workers are the most motivated at 84%.

In comparison, 75% of US workers are motivated.

The survey included 10,000 professionals in six markets: the US, the UK, Brazil, the Middle East, Australia and India. It took place during March and April.

To bolster motivation, employers should provide the right incentives, rewards, and development opportunities, said Mark Arian, CEO of Korn Ferry’s consulting business, in a press release.

“Professionals who are motivated and feel excited about their work will release discretionary energy that will allow them to thrive and ultimately become more aligned to the business strategy, delivering more value to the organization,” Arian said.

Other global data points in the survey included:

• Motivation is highest at the CEO level and lowest for those who are not managers. While 81% of CEOs are motivated, only 57% of workers not in management roles are motivated.
• Millennials are the most motivated generation, with 75% saying they are motivated. Younger Gen Z workers have typically shown higher levels than millennials, but according to Korn Ferry’s recent survey, they are now lagging. Similarly, Gen X and boomers have previously responded around the same level as, or slightly higher than, millennials, but the recent survey indicates they are trending lower as age increases.

In the bowels of Boston Logan International Airport, a sign on the door of ABM Industries recently warned would-be job seekers: “WE ARE CURRENTLY NOT HIRING,” it said. “PLEASE KEEP CHECKING.” 

The company employs people to clean the airport terminals—exactly the sort of hourly role that, for years, has been among the toughest to fill in a booming job market.

Now, employers and workers say, the hourly labor market is beginning to show some of the same signs of strain as the white-collar economy. This shift could have broad consequences for the U.S. economy and millions of American workers. There are plenty of jobs but the hiring frenzy is over. 

At 4.3% in July, unemployment remains low by historical standards. The rise in the rate—up from 4.1% in June—was from more people looking for jobs, rather than people losing their jobs. Still, many economists fear recent trends, such as lower job creation and weaker wage growth, portend a troubling downturn rather than simply a rebalancing of the labor market.

For months, hiring has been a bright spot for lower-wage workers. Even as companies from tech to banking pulled back on corporate recruiting, executives regularly bemoaned that they couldn’t find enough retail clerks, warehouse workers, cooks, housekeepers, and others. That trend is shifting, one of the key factors weighing on the labor market.   

Job openings rate, monthly, by typeSource: Federal Reserve Bank of St. LouisNote: Seasonally adjusted. The job openings rate is openings divided by the sum of employment and openings.​Total excludes farm jobs.

2019'20'21'22'23'24012345678%TotalRetail tradeManufacturing

Manufacturer John Deere has shed about 15% of its hourly workforce since November, or roughly 2,100 production workers. 

Spirit Airlines has stopped recruiting flight attendants and is offering some of them voluntary unpaid leaves of absence as it looks to cut costs. The airline will also furlough about 240 pilots and downgrade about 100 captains in a move to cut costs.

Others say hiring is now less difficult. Daycare giant Bright Horizons Family Solutions is finding it easier to staff its child-care facilities. Defense contractor General Dynamics is having a little problem recruiting people to build naval vessels. D.R. Horton says it has enough workers to build new homes. 

A spokesman for ABM, which employs roughly 123,000 people, including those who push wheelchairs, service planes, and clean hospitals, said the company had open positions in Boston earlier this summer, but recently held a successful job fair, prompting staffers to post the “not hiring” sign. 

After The Wall Street Journal reached out, inquiring about the sign, the company said it had been removed. ABM continues to accept applications on a rolling basis, and its number of job openings has been stable, the spokesman said. 

Some industries continue to add workers, many of them in hourly roles. July’s job gains were concentrated in the healthcare sector, which added 55,000 jobs; construction, which added 25,000; and leisure and hospitality, which added 23,000. In an indication that white-collar hiring remains depressed, the information sector shed 20,000 jobs.

D.R. Horton says it has enough workers to build new homes. Photo: Jeff Lautenberger for WSJ

Restaurant relief

The casual-dining chain BJ’s Restaurants is finding there is less need for its recruiters to attend job fairs or similar events to help staff its more than 200 restaurants—a shift from the pandemic when the company had to think up creative ways to find people. While BJ’s is still hiring, it is finding that referrals from existing employees and more traditional word-of-mouth about job openings can draw people to its locations.

“It’s, dare to say, feeling normal,” said Thomas Houdek, the company’s chief financial officer. 

Like many employers, BJ’s is noticing that its restaurant workers are staying on the job longer, with turnover rates now lower than even 2019 levels. Pay is up year-over-year, though increases are slowing. Execution in its restaurants is improving as longer-tenured employees understand the job better.

Houdek said he didn’t see a glut of restaurant-industry employees looking for jobs, and plenty of openings still exist. The dynamics, though, are now “feeling balanced,” he said. 

Workers are feeling the change. Matt Newell has decades of experience as a restaurant server and manager, along with an associate degree from the Culinary Institute of America. So when he decided to leave his job at a New York City eatery in June, he didn’t think he needed to have a new role lined up. In the past, job opportunities came up quickly.

But this time, “I’m now looking at two months of constantly pushing out résumés,” he said. From what he can see, “there are not as many roles out there and a lot of people applying.”

Newell, 50 years old, hoped to get hired as a floor manager or assistant general manager, but he has expanded his search to other possibilities that would use his customer service skills, including waiting tables and working in hotels.

“I wish I’d known the market was going to be as bad as it is before I left my last job,” he said. “I thought I’d have no trouble finding work. It’s been pulling teeth even getting a response for an interview.”

‘Big silent layoff’

Employers have started to pull back on hourly seasonal and permanent hires. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The first signs of a slowdown started showing up over a year ago, said Fred Goff, chief executive of Jobcase, a job board and networking community for hourly workers. Employers such as retailers and warehouse operators use the platform to access a large pool of job candidates for high-volume hiring. As far back as January 2023, Goff said, employers were starting to pull back on seasonal and permanent hires.

The pullback lines up with a shifting focus on profitability that may change companies’ long-term calculus on headcount, he said. “You’re going to have all these public companies that get rewarded by growing their profits, not by embracing generative AI or innovating but by cutting their costs, which means labor,” he said. 

The result, he said, is a “big silent layoff,” whereby companies shrink their workforces through attrition and by hiring fewer workers.

Thermon, a manufacturing and services firm in Austin, Texas, has cut its U.S. manufacturing workforce by about 5% in the past two years, to 230 people, as revenue has increased by 34%. The company, which helps industrial customers heat and electrify their operations, said investments in efficiency and worker retention have led to a reduced need for new hires. 

“We’ve done a lot to improve processes to save time, so as we’ve had attrition, we haven’t had to replace labor at the same rate, nor have we had to do any reductions in force,” said Candace Harris-Peterson, senior vice president of human resources. 

At the same time, Thermon sweetened the job itself to improve retention. It added benefits such as an on-site medical clinic, gave production workers the chance to earn higher bonuses, and created a clear pay-progression plan that allows an entry-level worker to get a 10% pay increase for hitting certain milestones after four to six months on the job.

Trucker troubles

Some hourly positions, including those for truck drivers and tradespeople, remain difficult to fill. The U.S. has faced a driver shortage for 30 years, said Jon Vander Ark, CEO of trash hauler Republic Services, and he expects the issue to continue. 

“I can guarantee you there’s going to be a driver shortage for the next 30 years,” he said. “That’s one of these evergreen problems.” 

Republic has had success luring drivers with a quality-of-life proposition: Its employees might start their shifts early in the day, but they sleep in their own beds every night. 

Hiring maintenance staffers has proven to be more complicated. The company started an academy to develop technicians because it is still tough to hire enough of them; about 40% of its technicians are now hired through that internal program. “Technicians I worry about,” Vander Ark said.

 According to a monthly survey by the country's central bank, the Paris Olympics will accelerate French economic growth in the third quarter.

The Bank of France said GDP is set to increase between 0.35% and 0.45%, compared with 0.3% expansion in the two previous periods, thanks to revenue from ticket sales for the Games and TV rights contracts. The full impact on activity has yet to be assessed, it added.

The poll of 8,500 companies, carried out between July 22 and Aug. 5, also showed French business uncertainty has eased since surging during the surprise snap legislative elections held earlier in the summer. Still, it remains higher in the industry and services sectors than before President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly on June 9.

“It’s still too early to see how this uncertainty will impact hiring and investment decisions,” the central bank’s chief economist, Olivier Garnier, told reporters on Friday.

The survey was conducted after legislative elections delivered a hung parliament with no one political group in a position to form a workable majority. During a turbulent campaign, investors reckoned with the possibility that parties with pledges to undo Macron’s pro-business reforms could take power.

The president has yet to appoint a new prime minister who can form a government. Macron has said he’ll wait until at least after the end of the Olympics and has called for compromise between different parties to form a majority.

Heading into the political uncertainty, the euro area’s second-biggest economy was on a sound footing, with stronger-than-expected growth in the first half of the year helping to steady the outlook for the country’s stretched public finances.

Earlier on Friday, data from statistics agency Insee showed the French jobless rate fell to 7.3% in the three months through June. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the level to be unchanged at 7.5%. Macron has made “full employment” a core goal of his second term ending in 2027.

Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California has announced that its current Crriter Country is set to debut as the highly anticipated, Tiana's Bayou Adventure. The same attraction debuted in June 2024 in its Orlando theme park on Frontierland in Animal Kingdom, and after many sneak peeks, California ticket holders will get to experience it. The announcement was made during the D23 weekend of 2024.

In addition to the attraction, Tiana's Bayou General store also opened in Orlando. Initially, it made its debut at the Emporium in Magic Kingdom Park on Main Street. The collection features apparel, accessories, toys, plush, home décor, trading items, and more—inspired by the new attraction, and other merchandise based on the 2009 animated musical, The Princess and the Frog. Some of the same celebs who voiced the characters in the film reprised their roles for the attraction and merchandise. T

For the general store in Orlando, FL, guests are transported into Tiana's world, a year after the film ends. They view inside of her restaurant, her home, and all around New Orleans. Guests can purchase Tiana's official gown and crown. 

Also sold at the store are backpacks, shirts, and hats. A plush doll mixed with Tiana in her official bayou gear can be purchased. For those who are soaking wet from the 50-ft plunge fresh off the ride, they can dry off with a colorful towel featuring some of the characters from the attraction. And it wouldn't be Disney without Tiana's Mickey ears, a gumbo-making set for little chefs at home, and even items for the kitchen to bring out your inner chef like the Disney Princess herself. And there's food

The ride has been in the works for several years. There was some pushback from longtime Disney lovers about replacing Splash Mountain, but for the most part, the reception was positive.

The number of job vacancies in Switzerland fell 25.5% year over year in July to 36,674, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.

Compared to June, the number fell 7.4%, or 6.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

SECO also reported the number of unemployed workers rose by 23.0% year over year in July to 107,716. The increase was 3.1% compared to June. In addition, Switzerland’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rose by 0.1 of a percentage point in July from June. It now stands at 2.5%.

The organization published its labor market situation report on 6 August. Other findings included:

• The number of job seekers in Switzerland rose by 18.9% year over year to 179,139 in July.
• Total terminations — those who had exhausted their right to unemployment benefits — rose by 34.5% in May compared to April. This metric is released with a two-month delay, so the May number is being reported in the July report.
• Those involved in short time fell by 20.4% compared to April to 4,798. This metric is also released with a two-month delay, so the May number is being reported in the July report.

The bosses of Britain's biggest companies enjoyed record pay in 2023, with nine firms offering them packages of more than 10 million pounds ($12.75 million), research on Monday showed, as British workers argue for higher wages.

The median pay for a FTSE-100 company CEO rose 2.2% to 4.19 million pounds last year, think tank the High Pay Centre said, though it added CEO pay growth had slowed compared with the previous two years.

Median FTSE-100 CEO pay was 120 times that of the median full-time British worker, the research showed.

Train drivers and family doctors are among employees in Britain to take industrial action this year over pay or conditions.

"The increase in average CEO pay reflects a small number of companies making really large pay awards rather than big increases across the board," said Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre.

Hildyard added that Britain had "a business culture that puts the interests of investors before workers, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders".

Executive compensation at Britain's top companies has drawn shareholder anger in recent years, with most critical of the gap between average worker earnings and CEO pay.

But some UK fund managers are backing calls to give boards more flexibility on paying top talent, to staunch a brain drain in countries where pay is less of a hot topic.

The highest-paid British CEO was Pascal Soriot of drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab, who earned 16.85 million pounds, the High Pay Centre said. Next was Erik Engstrom of information and analytics group RELX (REL.L), opens new tab on 13.64 million pounds, the research showed, using company financial disclosures.

($1 = 0.7846 pounds)