Google looks to cut pay for remote workers
Google employees based in the same office before the pandemic could see different changes in pay if they switch to working from home permanently, with long commuters hit harder, according to a company pay calculator seen by Reuters.
It is an experiment taking place across Silicon Valley, which often sets trends for other large employers.
Facebook and Twitter also cut pay for remote employees who move to less-expensive areas, while smaller companies including Reddit and Zillow have shifted to location-agnostic pay models, citing advantages when it comes to hiring, retention and diversity.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google stands out in offering employees a calculator that allows them to see the effects of a move. But in practice, some remote employees, especially those who commute from long distances, could experience pay cuts without changing their address.
“Our compensation packages have always been determined by location, and we always pay at the top of the local market based on where an employee works from,” a Google spokesperson said, adding that pay will differ from city to city and state to state.
Jake Rosenfeld, a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis who researches pay determination, said Google’s pay structure raises alarms about who will feel the impacts most acutely, including families.
“What’s clear is that Google doesn’t have to do this,” Rosenfeld said. “Google has paid these workers at 100% of their prior wage, by definition. So it’s not like they can’t afford to pay their workers who choose to work remotely the same that they are used to receiving.”
California jobless claims rise again
Unemployment claims in California rose last week, climbing to their highest level in nearly three months.
California workers filed 68,556 initial claims for unemployment during the week ending Aug. 7, an increase from the 62,209 claims workers filed over the week ending on July 31, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.
The jobless claims filed in California last represented the largest number of filings since late May. California workers filed 72,000 initial claims for unemployment during the week that ended on May 29.
Claims nationwide fell to 375,000 unemployment claims last week, down 12,000 from the 387,000 claims that were filed the week before that.
Home prices see double-digit gains
U.S. home prices rose the most on record in the second quarter as buyers battled for a scarcity of listings.
The median price of an existing singlefamily home jumped 23% from a year earlier to an all-time high of $357,900, the National Association of Realtors said in a report Thursday. About 94% of 183 metropolitan areas measured had double-digit gains, up from 89% in the first quarter.
Low mortgage rates have stoked the hot U.S. housing market for more than a year, with a shortage of inventory pushing prices ever higher. Buyers are having a hard time finding properties they can afford: Sales of previously owned homes
in the U.S. fell for a fourth straight month in May.
“Home price gains and the accompanying housing wealth accumulation have been spectacular over the past year, but are unlikely to be repeated in 2022,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors group, said in the report. “There are signs of more supply reaching the market and some tapering of demand.”
The Northeast region led gains, with a 22% rise. Among metro areas, values rose the most in Pittsfield, a western Massachusetts town about 40 miles from Albany, New York. The median price there was $321,900, up 47% from a year earlier. It was one of 12 areas nationwide with increases of more than 30%.