Work From Home is making you miserable

[00:00:00]Well, we all know what we're here, right? To do Say with me. Indicators of the week.

[00:00:07]Perfect.

[00:00:08]Uh this of course is the day of the week where we talk about our favorite numbers from the news. And today we are covering the recent spike in inflation.

[00:00:16]>> How remote work isn't all it's cracked up to be.

[00:00:20]>> And how the FIFA World Cup might be a buyer's market if you got the cash and patience.

[00:00:29]It's Indicators of the Week. Stephen Besaha, Mary Childs are here.

[00:00:32]>> Hello, hello.

[00:00:33]>> Hey.

[00:00:33]>> Hello. And I think I will kick things off for us by talking about one number from the news that I think would be impossible for us to ignore this week, which is 4.2%.

[00:00:45]This comes from one of our most closely watched measures of inflation, the Consumer Price Index. And as you might have heard, the latest Consumer Price Index shows that prices rose 4.2% in the past year.

[00:00:57]Which is really just a fancy way of saying that Americans' cost of living has gone up about 4.2% compared to a year ago.

[00:01:05]>> Yeah, pretty rare to see a four at the front of that number.

[00:01:07]>> We don't like that. It does not feel good.

[00:01:09]>> That is right. It has been a while. In fact, it has been 3 years since we saw an inflation number this high. And definitely worth noting how quickly this happened because just 3 months ago before the Iran war, inflation was at 2.4%.

[00:01:24]So now numbers are flipped, we're at 4.2. And most of that increase is due to rising gas and fuel prices.

[00:01:33]What does the president have to say about this? Well, during a press conference on Wednesday, a reporter asked whether he was concerned with this inflation number. And he said he thinks the numbers were great.

[00:01:44]>> Were you concerned, Mr. President, about the latest inflation number which came out this morning? Could that be a good >> No, I love it. The numbers were great.

[00:01:52]You know what I really love? I love the inflation. You know why? Because as soon as this war is over >> Did he just say that he loves inflation?

[00:01:58]Did anyone else catch that?

[00:01:59]>> Yeah.

[00:02:00]>> To be precise, he said he loves the inflation.

[00:02:02]>> That was specific, not others.

[00:02:04]>> Yes. Uh >> Got it.

[00:02:07]>> Uh and then Trump claimed that the US had been secretly sneaking out millions of barrels of oil from the region, although that has not been confirmed.

[00:02:16]And he says that is why oil prices have come down slightly in recent days.

[00:02:21]Uh he also added that the stock market is doing great despite the war.

[00:02:24]>> This inflation isn't that bad because it's about to come down, I think, is the argument he's making there. I mean, he did that sort of thing where he zigs and zags, so it was a little hard to follow, but the famous weave.

[00:02:34]>> weave.

[00:02:35]>> Yes.

[00:02:36]Uh of course, that doesn't really take away from the fact that the disruptions from the Iran war are really biting American consumers right now. And the picture there even looks worse when you consider for the past few years, average wages in the country have been growing faster than inflation, and that is no longer the case.

[00:02:56]>> Yeah, and I cover housing, and this is not looking good for the housing market because, you know, numbers were starting to do better as far as sales, but with inflation prices going up, that also means the cost of borrowing is going up, which also means mortgage rates are going up, and likely home sales going down.

[00:03:12]>> Yeah, I mean, I think this is something to do definitely watch out for. Um so, that's my indicator. Mary, why don't you go next?

[00:03:20]>> That was a great indicator, Adrian.

[00:03:21]>> Thank you.

[00:03:22]>> My indicator of the week is 1.1 hours.

[00:03:25]That is how much more time alone remote workers are spending per day, according to a new study that looked at how remote work is affecting people's well-being.

[00:03:34]>> So, that's interesting. There's been a lot of work done on like productivity and job satisfaction among remote workers, but I don't know if I've seen a study on on loneliness or or mental health among remote workers.

[00:03:49]>> Exactly. So, the researchers pulled data from five big national surveys on American workers from pre-pandemic and from after and compared how people fared in jobs that allowed remote work and those in jobs that couldn't be done remotely. So, remotable jobs versus non-remotable jobs. And they found that those workers in remotable jobs experienced a 58% increase in hours spent alone. And the researchers found that those remote workers also avoided social activities with their friends.

[00:04:17]So, they were more isolated both during and after work.

[00:04:21]>> Okay, so there's maybe a sort of like second-order effect on their social life from remote work.

[00:04:26]>> It looks that way, yeah. And this was most pronounced for remote workers who live alone. They could spend entire days without any human contact.

[00:04:34]>> I mean, that does describe >> [laughter] >> I know none of us have experienced a full day where no one talks to you.

[00:04:41]>> Oh gosh, if I get to like halfway through Sunday and haven't talked to someone, I'm like, "Why am I in such a funk?" And it's like, "Okay, remote work will do that."

[00:04:48]>> Yeah, this >> Exactly.

[00:04:50]>> Unfortunately, it's home.

[00:04:52]>> [gasps] >> Well, and that is what the study is looking at, right? It's saying that these remote workers also saw increases in their use of mental health care and in their use of antidepressants. And for those living alone, there was an increase in mental distress that's nearly twice as large as for those who live with family. And this is all so bad that the researchers think that the increase in remote work may explain about a third of the increase in social isolation and mental distress since 2011 except for the actual pandemic.

[00:05:19]>> So, do you think like people knowing this information would change their minds about remote work?

[00:05:26]>> I don't know. I think we kind of love remote work for a lot of obvious reasons. Like, we hate commutes, we like the flexibility, especially if you have a family to juggle, it can be really can be imperative to have. And studies have shown that we will accept up to 10% less in earnings in exchange for getting that remote work flexibility.

[00:05:44]>> Yeah, do a five-hour PowerPoint while you're at the office.

[00:05:48]>> [laughter] >> That's what I'm doing when I'm working from home.

[00:05:51]>> all party. It's true. Yeah.

[00:05:53]>> you I guess if you ask nicely, you know, you could bring your crock pot to the office.

[00:05:58]>> Oh, that's a Oh, yeah, office faux pas.

[00:06:00]Maybe we should stay with sticking in the home.

[00:06:02]>> Yeah, I mean, just >> love a a crock pot at work. I think that should be instituted as sort of team building. [laughter] >> Yeah.

[00:06:07]>> We cook for each other.

[00:06:08]>> vide, too.

[00:06:09]Just be prepared to share. Uh okay, that is your cue, Stephen, to share with us your indicator of the week.

[00:06:17]>> Yes, my indicator of the week is 24,000.

[00:06:21]That was the number of still available tickets for the World Cup as of midday Wednesday, and that comes from the website ticketdata.com.

[00:06:30]>> Okay, 24,000 tickets does I mean, it sounds like a lot.

[00:06:34]>> Yeah, I mean, that's pretty unusual to have that many unsold tickets for a big event like the World Cup. Even opening matches have unsold tickets still.

[00:06:44]>> And is that just like there are too many tickets cuz they priced them wrong? Were they too expensive?

[00:06:48]>> Yeah, price point seems to be a big factor here. Like if you look at US opener against Paraguay, the cheap seats are over $900.

[00:06:57]>> Oh.

[00:06:59]>> [laughter] >> Okay, so $900, that's a cheap seat?

[00:07:04]>> Yeah, might need a new definition on that. You know, and as of Wednesday before the US Paraguay game, there were still about 117 tickets available.

[00:07:13]>> Okay, so if those are the prices for the opening games, are there tickets for less popular games that are cheaper?

[00:07:19]>> Yeah, like if you take Croatia versus Ghana late in the group stage, not a big game at all. According to ticketdata.com, the cheapest seats are still available. They're selling around $550.

[00:07:31]And you can still get some other games for even less, like under 200 bucks.

[00:07:36]>> And does this mean if all of these tickets are still unsold, is that bad news for the restaurants and hotels who are hoping for like a flood of business from all these fans coming to visit their cities?

[00:07:45]>> Yeah, like the occupancy rates for hotels in host cities have been really disappointing so far, especially in the US. Remember, the US is co-hosting this World Cup with Mexico and Canada across 16 cities. And US hotels, they are dealing with a higher vacancy rate than the other countries, according to the Wall Street Journal. And Mexico is beating both the US and Canada in ticket sales. I mean, their tickets are selling pretty well. So, it's not all the tickets are just kind of like sitting on the shelf. And this is despite tickets in Mexico on average being more expensive.

[00:08:19]>> Okay, so it's actually just soccer's the most popular sport in the world except for here in the US and in Canada.

[00:08:26]>> Yeah, still lagging behind football and everything else.

[00:08:28]>> Though, I'm like I'm guessing it doesn't help that the Trump administration has a very tight immigration policy right now, right? I mean, I I had read stories about uh referee from Somalia who was denied entry uh when he landed in Miami and fans from Morocco being denied entry.

[00:08:48]>> Yeah, that's all been a big factor here, too. So, you know, FIFA officials, they are hoping that there will be a surge of interest closer to game time for both popular and less popular games. I mean, that is my plan. So, my dad is from Croatia and lives near Philly. So, I did buy my flight ticket, but not any game tickets yet. I'm still gambling that prices are going to go down a few days before.

[00:09:12]Uh what about you both? You got any games coming up or planning going to any?

[00:09:17]>> No.

[00:09:18]>> No?

[00:09:18]>> [laughter] >> Not a Not a soccer fan.

[00:09:21]>> disdain and apathy right now.

[00:09:24]>> [laughter] >> There we go.