U.S. employers now say they plan to allow an average of 2.3 days per week at home, up from 1.5 in the summer of 2020, as more ease up on return to office plans. In Manhattan, just 8% of office workers are back in the office five days a week. While executives have often led the charge to return to in-person work, research shows executives are less likely than their employees to work from the office five days a week. More than a third of workers have returned to the office full-time – the highest number since surveying began in June 2020.

Microsoft is promising to boost employee compensation amid continued low unemployment across the U.S., announcing plans to nearly double its global budget for merit-based salary raises. Microsoft’s readiness to spend more on staff follows similar moves by rivals like Google and Amazon. Other big U.S. companies are doling out one-time awards to executives in an effort to retain high-performing leaders amid record employee turnover. Retention awards and compensation promises reflect companies’ concerns about the tight labor market.

More than half of Americans said the most important issue facing the country is inflation and 32% said their personal financial circumstances had worsened over the past year. Goldman Sachs predicts the Federal Reserve will tap the brakes on U.S. economic growth in an effort to bring down inflation. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sparred with the White House on Twitter, criticizing the administration’s claim that raising corporate taxes would bring inflation rates down.

Economists predict the housing bubble will bottom out as interest rates rise and more people are priced out of the market. Home prices have risen sharply over the past two years – the National Association of Realtors reported an increase of 39%. The cooldown is not a sign of a housing crash, but an indication that the market will level out, research from Zillow shows. A major Wall Street firm underscored this idea, adding that home equity is at an all-time high and household balance sheets are strong.

Climate change is hurting the insurance industry, with only 8% of insurers adequately prepared for its impact, a new report found. Insured losses from natural catastrophes increased 250% in the last 30 years and nearly two-thirds of insurers said they felt climate change makes it hard to insure some areas. In California, about nearly half of all properties have a .03% or greater chance of being involved in a wildfire – a number that is expected to grow in the state and across the country as climate risks worsen.

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