The Washington Post - USA (2021-10-23)

A14 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23 , 2021

THE MARKETS

6 Monitor your investments at washingtonpost.com/markets Data and graphics by

Coffee (COFF.L) -1.
Copper (COPA.L) -5.
Corn (CORN.L) 2.
Cotton (COTN.L) 0.
Crude Oil (CRUD.L) 0.
Gasoline (UGAS.L) -0.
Gold (BULL.L) 1.
Natural Gas (NGAS.L) -5.
Silver (SLVR.L) 4.

Data and graphics by:

New Car Loan Natl

1 ,

r

4

Y

BRAZIL IBOVESPA INDEX 106296.20 -7.

S&P/TSX COMPOSITE INDEX 21216.15 1.

S&P/BMV IPC 51889.66 -1.

r r

1 r +

Automobiles

Distributors 1

Construction&Engineerng

Food &Staples Retailing 47

Health Care Providers

Airlines 4

Leisure Equipment&Prod

Energy Equipment&Svcs

Household Products 1

IT Services

$1000 invested over1Month

ONDJFMAMJJASO

26,

31,

35,

'

LIBOR 3-Month

Bank Prime

EU €

MoneyMarket Natl

7

ONDJFMAMJJASO

1 0,

1 2,

1 6,

'

DOWJONES

$1000 invested over1Year

1 +

S&P/ASX 200 INDEX 7415.48 0.

CSI 300 INDEX 4959.73 0.

HANG SENG INDEX 26126.93 3.

NIKKEI 225 28804.85 -0.

INTERNATIONALSTOCKMARKETS

10 - yrnote

Yield:

1. 6 4

Japan ¥

11

'

1Yr CD Natl

1-Yr ARM

RATES

STANDARD&POOR'S

Note: Bank prime is from 10 major banks. Federal Funds rate is the market

rate, which can vary from the federal target rate. LIBOR is the London

Interbank Offered Rate. Consumer rates are from Bankrate. All figures as of

4:30 p.m. New York time.

4,

COMMODITIES Britain £

30-Yr Fixed mtge

r

i :

5Yr CD Natl

41

NASDAQCOMPOSITEINDE X

Federal Funds

Y

Mexico $

15-Yr Fixed mtge

i :

Y

6Mo CD Natl

Home EquityLoan Natl

ONDJFMAMJJASO

3,

3,

4,

'

Canada $

1

Uniti Group Inc 14.31 19.

Clearwater Paper 43.37 18.

Trupanion Inc 107.45 17.

Bottomline TechDE 46.74 14.

Olin Corp 56.40 14.

AmbacFinancialGroup 16.96 14.

Knight-Swift Trans56.28 13.

Dycom Industries Inc 79.88 13.

Mueller Industries 49.17 13.

Progyny Inc 63.21 12.

Kulicke&SoffaIndst 55.15 12.

AutoNation Inc 130.48 11.

OptimizeRx Corp 94.48 11.

Avis Budget Group 167.97 11.

Cleveland-CliffsInc 23.85 11.

Tenet Healthcare 70.63 11.

US Silica Inc 10.92 11.

Pool Corp 503.08 11.

CNX Resources Corp 14.66 10.

Macy's Inc 26.59 10.

NOW Inc 7.65 -16.

Consolidated Comm 7.91 -16.

Kaiser Aluminum Corp 99.67 -14.

QuinStreet Inc 14.83 -12.

Sabre Corp 10.84 -11.

Intl Bus Machines 127.88 -11.

Hlth Services Grp 20.13 -11.

Core Laboratories NV 28.23 -10.

PayPal Holdings Inc 240.40 -10.

TripAdvisor Inc 34.04 -10.

Lindsay Corp 145.36 -9.

ManpowerGroup Inc 101.76 -9.

Century Aluminum Co 15.63 -9.

Intel Corp 49.46 -9.

Plantronics Inc 26.60 -9.

Heska Corp 228.86 -8.

Pennant Group Inc 23.74 -8.

Ulta Beauty Inc 371.45 -8.

Comtech Telecom 22.22 -8.

Baker Hughes Co 24.64 -8.

Brazil R$

77

Y

r
Copper 4.50 -4.
Crude Oil 83.76 1.
Gold 1796.30 1.
Natural Gas 5.28 -2.
Orange Juice 1.27 2.

r

Silver 24.45 4.

Sugar 19.08 -3.

Soybean 12.31 1.

Wheat 7.56 3.

Corn 5.38 2.

ri

Y

3M Co 180.80 -0.6 3.
AmerExpCo 187.08 6.4 54.
Amgen Inc 209.24 0.7 -9.
Apple Inc 148.69 2.7 12.
Boeing 212.97 -1.9 -0.
Caterpillr 200.65 0.8 10.
Chevron 112.80 2.9 33.
Coca-Cola 54.45 -0.1 -0.
CscSys /DE 55.11 -0.3 23.
Dow Inc 58.40 -0.9 5.
Gldman Schs 414.32 2.0 57.
Hnywll Int 217.40 -1.5 -
Home Depot 365.99 4.4 37.
IBM 127.88 -11.6 1.
Intel Corp 49.46 -9.2 -0.

Y

J&J 163.72 1.5 4.

JPMorgan 171.78 3.1 35.

McDonald's 238.44 -1.6 11.

Merck&Co81.15 3.6 4.

Microsoft 309.16 1.6 39.

NIKE Inc 163.48 3.5 15.

Prcter& Gmbl 140.83 -2.5 1.

salsfrc.cm 292.56 0.3 31.

Travelers CosI162.37 4.3 15.

UntdHlthGr 449.16 4.9 28.

Verzn Comm 52.93 1.3 -9.

Visa Inc 231.23 0.1 5.

Walgreens 49.00 0.2 22.

Walmart 148.34 5.5 2.

Walt Disney 169.42 -4.0 -6.

STXE 600 (EUR) Pr 471.88 0.

CAC 40 INDEX 6733.69 0.

DAX INDEX 15542.98 -0.

FTSE 100 INDEX 7204.55 -0.

BYALYSSAFOWERS

ANDELIROSENBERG

Kentucky, Idaho,SouthDakota
andIowa reported the highestin-
creasesintheratesofworkerswho
quit theirjobs in August, accord-
ingtoanewglimpseofquitratesin
the labormarket releasedFriday.
Thelargestincreaseinthe
numberofquittershappenedin
Georgia, where 35,000 more peo-
ple left their jobs. Overall, the
states with the highestrates of
workers quittingtheir jobswere
Georgia,Kentucky andIdaho.
Thereportfromthe Bureauof
Labor Statisticsbuildsout apor-
trait of August’slabor market,
with historic levels of people leav-
ingjobsandanear-recordnumber
of openings showingthe leverage
workers have in the neweconomy.
It offers the firstdetailed insight
intothe state-by-state geography
of this year’s Great Resignation.
“Itisasignofhealth thatthere
aremanycompaniesthatarelook-

ing for work—that’sagreat sign ,”

saidBen Ayers, senior economist

at Nationwide. “The downside is

therearemanyworkersthatwon’t

comeback in. Andlong term you

can’tsustainalabor marketthat’s

as tight as it is right now.”

NickBunker,aneconomistat

the online jobs platformIndeed,

saiditwasnotablethatmore-rural

states ha dthe highestquitrates.

“Service-sector jobstendtobe

concentrated in more dense,ur-

ban partsofthe country, so to see

the quitsratepick up in other

placeswas interesting,” he said.

That “maybeasignthere’s more

competition in thosepartsof the

countrythanotherparts .”

Thedatacomesontopofanother

government snapshot showing that

4.3million peoplequit jobsin Au-

gust—about 2.9percent of the

workforce,apandemic-erarecord.

Thephenomenonis being driv-

en in partbyworkers who are less

willingtoendure inconvenient

hours and poor compensation,

andare quitting tofind better

opportunities. There were

10.4million job openings in the

countryatthe end of August—

down slightly fromJuly’s record

high, which was adjusted up to

11.1million,but still atremen-

douslylargenumber.This gives

workers enormous leverageas

theylook forabetter fit.

Mary Kaylorispartofthat

groundswell.She left herjob in

earlyJuly after heremployer be-

gan callingworkers back to the

office, sayingthey’dhavetobeat

their desksat leastfourdaysa

week.Buthercommute—90min-

utes each way, or worse withtraf-

fic, from whereshe livesnorth of

Baltimoretoher of fice in Alexan-

dria,Va.—was no longer accept-

abletoher.

“Itwas affectingmy health, and

Icouldn’t getmywork done,” she

said. “I decided,‘WhyamIdoing

this?’”

So Kaylor resigned, even

though she did not have another

job linedup. It didn ’ttakelongfor

her to land on her feet, however.

Justafewweeksaftershequit,a

recruiterreached out to heron

LinkedInaboutapositionat Rob-

ertHalf,aSanRamon,Calif.-based

consultingcompany. Thejob al-

lowed her to workremotely,and

she started in August.

“Everything thatIhad read

aboutthe jobs market being hot

and opportunitiesbeing out there

was absolutely100 percent cor-

rect, ”she said.

Nowshe says she hasajob she

likes, withmorebalan ce at home

and time to takecare o fherself.

“I’ve been able togetback to a

regular workout andexercise rou-

tine—time to run in the morning

and do yoga,” she said.

Ramon Soto,28, tookadvan-

ta ge of th ehot jobsmarkettol ook

for anew positionoverthe sum-

mer.Hehad been workinginper-

sonatalaw firm and saidhegot

tiredofthecommuteandconstant

negotiation about sicktime amid

covid-19risks.

By theend of August, he had

duelingjob offers—one at acom-

panyinTexas andanotherasan

intakespecialistatanother law

firm, nearhis home in Long

Branch,N.J.,thatwouldallowhim

to work remotely.

He started theintak especialist

job the next month,and it came

witharaisetoboot.

“Workingfromhomeremovesa

lot of th estressofregul ar day- to-

dayoffice work,”hesaid.“You

prioritizewhatthe most essential

partofyour job is andget stuff

done quicker so you can takefull

advantageofy our day.”

He said thathefelt he hadsome

leve ragein hi sjob search but that

theprocess was still extremely

competitive —heinterviewedthree

to four timesateach of the compa-

niesthateventually made offers,

and had applied to manyothers.

“I knewIhad an advantage,”he

said. “People arerealizingtheir

worth.Manyofthejobsyoulook at

now,especially inJersey—people

can’taffordthecostofl ivingwork-

ing 40 hours. So you have people

workingtwojobs, possibly three.

But thepandemic actually flipped

the coin,and employees have

more power when itcomes it to

their pay now.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

State by state, data shows where more Americans are quitting their jobs

Report adds to portrait

of changing labor market

as workers gain leverage

Source: Bureau of LaborStatistics ALYSSAFOWERS/THEWASHINGTONPOST

Kentucky,Georgia and Idaho had the highestratesof

workersquittingjobs

Workerswho quit theirjobs divided by total employment

Quitsrate, August 2021

2.0% 2.5% 3.0%

2.9% U.S. rate

3.5% 4.0%

CA

AZ NM

NV

AK FLFL

HI

MA

RI

NH

VT

CT

MD

DC

NJ

UT DE

CO

ID

OR

WA

MT

WY

ND

SD

NE

KS

OK

TX LA

AR

MO

IA

MN

WI

MI

IL IN OH

KY

MS AL GA

TN NC

SC

WV VA

NY

ME

PA

BYTAYLORTELFORD

An internalevaluation ofTwit-
ter’s recommendation algo-
rithmsconcluded thattheyam-
plify right-leaning political con-
tent more thanleft-leaningcon-
tent, companyresearchers
announcedThursday,undercut-
tingallegations by manycon-
servatives who contend theyare
beingcensored on the platform.
Twitter researchers analyzed
millions of 2020tweets by elect-
ed officials in seven countries—
Canada,France, Germany, Japan,
Spain, Britain andUnited States
—aswell as posts thatlinkedto
politicalcontentfrom newsout-
lets. Researchers reliedonout-
side experts to determinewhat
was right-orleft-leaningrather
thandecidingfor themselves.
“Ourresultsreveal aremark-
ably consistent trend:In 6out of
7countriesstudied, the main-

stream political right enjoys

higher algorithmicamplification

thanthe mainstream political

left,” the researchers wrote in a

27-page report.

Theresearch is months in the

making, part of Twitter ’s promise

to evaluate the underpinnings of

its platform after thecompany

was criticizedfor its role in the

Jan. 6insurrection at theCapitol.

In the weeks leading up to the

riot, groundless theoriesand

false claims aboutJoe Biden’s

victoryinthe 2020election

swampedthe site.Critics say

President DonaldTrump used

the platform tostokethe angerof

his supporters by claiming the

election was“rigged.”

On Jan. 8,Trumpwas perma-

nently banned from the platform

because of the risk of “further

incitementofviolence”from his

tweets, Twitter said.Unlike

Trump’sban fromFacebook and

YouTube, Twitter ’s decision is

permanent.

In responsetoconcerns about

the far-reaching impacts of its

platform,Twitter in April an-

nounced its “ResponsibleMa-

chineLearningInitia tive,”driven

by itsMLEthics,Transparency

and Accountability(META)

team, aimed at studying the

“unintentionalharms” caused by

its productand makingthose

findings public.

“When Twitter uses ML,itc an

impacthundreds of millions of

Tweets per day,”the company

saidinablogpostannouncing

the effort.“Sometimes,the waya

system wasdesigned to help

couldstarttobehave differently

thanwas intended.Thesesubtle

shifts can thenstarttoimpact

the people usingTwitter .”

In ablog postThurs day, Rum-

man Chowdhury,the headof

Twitter ’s META team,said re-

searchers setout to determine

whethersome political groups or

news outlets were amplified

more thanothers.While this

study concludedthatthe answer

is yes,figuring outwhy is the

much biggerchallenge.

Likeall recommendationen-

gines,Twitte r’salgorithms aim to

maximizeengagement.Thougha

process of constant, kaleidoscop-

ic trial-and-error,the al gorithms

have concluded thatright-lean-

ing contentgenerates moreen-

gagementthan left-leaning con-

tent. Butexplaining whyhas far

moretodowithhuman nature—

and thewaypeople engagewith

ideas they do or don’tagreewith

—than itdoes with coding.

Thedynamic is not uniqueto

Twitter:Though artificial intelli-

gence is widely deployedindaily

life, powering suchapplications

as medical software, socialme-

dia feeds andfacial recognition,

machine learningmodelsoften

are referred to as“black boxes”

given howdifficult it is to inter-

prettheir decision-making pro-

cesses.It’s so challengingthat

there isavastfieldofindustry

research andfunding efforts

dedicated to makingAImore

“explainable.”

Chowdhurysaidthe team

wouldembark on “root cause

analysis” to determinewhat

changes,ifany,are necessaryto

“reduceadverseimpacts ”from

the home timeline algorithm.

Twitter is sharingthe research

withoutsiders andmaking ag-

gregated data setsavailable for

third-party researchers who

wanttoreproduce theMETA

team’sfindings.

Theresearch is partofthe

company’s effortstomakeits

internal data moreaccessible to

outsidesources, amove that

could put pressure on other so-

cialmedia platformslikeFace-

book—whichhas garnered criti-

cismfor its refusaltoshare its

ownevaluations withthe public

—toramp up transparency.

Twitter ’s findingstandsin

contrasttoallegations of censor-

ship fromconservatives who

have accusedTwitter ,Facebook

and otherplatforms ofsilencing

their voices.Araftofconserva-

tives have been suspended or

bannedfor violating engagement

guidelines,manyrelating to mis-

information.

Trump’sbanishment from the

biggest platformshelped jump-

starthis plan to form Trump

Media &TechnologyGroup,

which says it aims to rival“the

liberal mediaconsortium.”

[email protected]

Report: Twitter algorithms amplify more conservative content than liberal

Company researchers

analyze millions of 2020

tweets across7countries

OLIVIER DOULIERY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

In January, Presid ent Donald Trump waspermanently banned

fromTwitte rfor risk of “incitementof v iolence,”the platformsaid.