Small business: Holiday revenue
With the expectation that holiday revenue will be down this year, small business owners are working to capitalize on signs that consumers are starting their holiday shopping early, according to Intuit QuickBooks’ 2024 Holiday Shopping Report. The report found consumer spending for the year is expected to decrease by 34 percent, down $85 billion from 2023’s $296 billion. Other report highlights: 82 percent of small businesses say they expect to earn the same or more revenue in total holiday sales this year over last year, with 13 percent saying they expect to earn less; 61 percent say without holiday revenue they won’t meet their financial goals; 64 percent of consumers who say they expect to spend less at small businesses this season cite concerns about higher prices and inflation as the top reasons; while 88 percent of consumers believe it’s important to support small businesses versus big retailers, 39 percent say they will turn to larger retailers for better deals .
Career: Professionals looking to move
Professionals are actively job-hunting, a trend discovered in the 2025 Robert Walters Salary Survey. The survey highlights a growing dissatisfaction among employees and is particularly surprising given that only 35 percent of professionals feel confident about job opportunities within their sector. The primary drivers for “change” include not enough advancement opportunities (33 percent); lack of work-life balance (30 percent); and inadequate workplace benefits and perks (23 percent). Benefits such as private health insurance, flexible working options, and extended holidays are becoming crucial factors in job satisfaction and retention. Expected salary increases are not as high as many professionals had hoped. Even with inflation rates decreasing, the lingering effects of previous high inflation periods continue to impact financial stability. Employees are finding that the modest pay rises do not significantly improve their financial situation.
Resumes
A survey of 1,000 hiring managers is uncovering how resume font types impact an applicant’s likelihood of getting a job. Among the survey’s key findings, Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica are the best resume fonts; 61 percent of hiring managers say your resume’s design affects your chances of getting the job; 52 percent of hiring managers dislike resumes done by AI; 70 percent of hiring managers have had difficulty reading a resume due to its design; Emojis (71percent), cluttered layout (54 percent), and inconsistent formatting (36 percent) are the top resume design choices hiring managers hate.
Market insight: Sports nutrition
The sport nutrition market is expected to reach $82.35 billion by 2031, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3 percent from 2024 to 2031, according to a new market research report by Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd., fueled by the increasing number of product launches and fitness enthusiasts, the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, and increasing health expenditures. While growth is restrained by the high cost of sports nutrition products and regulatory complexities, rising demand for plant-based nutrition products, growing promotional activities by fitness influencers, and the proliferation of online retail platforms are also expected to create significant opportunities for market players. Increasing awareness of health and wellness, along with the growing adoption of clean-label products, are prominent trends in the market.
Homeownership & wealth generation
Black homebuyers are obstructed by systemic racism and economic factors like high interest rates and investor purchases, but speakers at this year’s National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) Black Wealth Summit were enthusiastic about the progress. The summit at Clark Atlanta University on November 15 was a platform for housing policy and lending, including forums on NAREB-commissioned studies. This year, sessions addressed the 2024 State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA) report and a study on appraisal bias and the impact of recent government and private sector efforts to curtail it. The homeownership rate among Black households was 45.7 percent in 2023, a sharp contrast to the 74.3 percent among White households and a significant drop from its peak of 49 percent in 2004.
Health: Empowering Black women
HealthHIV, a national HIV nonprofit organization, and Howard University are collaborating to conduct research, provide education, spark community engagement, and embrace the arts to create a path to empowerment for Black women. The joint project, named Empower, is expected to improve the availability of data and develop creative health and wellbeing programming. Empower research shows racism, poverty and lack of access to quality care significantly impact Black women’s health. It further states that higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STls), lower rates of testing, and higher rates of stigma continue to make Black women vulnerable to poorer health outcomes, including acquisition of HIV or STIs.
Applications open for Kofi Annan health fellowship
Applications are now open for the 2025 Africa CDC-Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Fellowship Program. The African Union Commission launched the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) – Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme in May 2020 in partnership with the Kofi Annan Foundation.
Fellows admitted in the program are senior public health professionals from African Union member states who will contribute to and lead the implementation of a new public health order for Africa, and in turn mentor and develop the next generation of public health leaders for the continent. Application closes on December 30, 2024.
