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Every generation blames the one before, and all of their frustrations come beating on your door. Thus begins the ’80s hit Living Years by Mike & the Mechanics, but when it comes to the workplace, Gen-Z could fairly say it’s talking about their generation. The newest entrants to the workforce are of an age cohort so different, so angry at their elders, that theyre shunning the 9-to-5 grind and upending traditional workplace norms. A new report explores the generational difference further and brands Gen-Z workers with a surprising new label for a truly digital-first group that lives life online: Theyre the toolbelt generation. This label came about because of younger workers’ huge swing toward learning highly specialized blue-collar jobs, according to news site University Business. These jobs typically center around unique skill sets, like being able to weld or work with wood, or even computer programming. And to learn these skills, the news outlet notes that Gen-Z workers are shunning more traditional higher education routes, and looking at alternative options: Data shows that interest in going to trade schools has nearly doubled among teens and adults since 2017, mostly driven by Gen-Zers, although older people are also showing similar interest. The report digs into why Gen-Z is leading this trend, and suggests the top three reasons are reduced confidence in higher education, a desire for financial freedom, and an indication that trades complement Gen-Zs focus on mental health. This tallies with plenty of other data, including a general mistrust of the education system and rising college degree prices. At work, it’s reflected in the unbossing trend that’s seeing many Gen-Z workers’ preference for just turning up at work and shunning promotions or additional responsibilities to better maintain their work-life balance. It also notes that financial freedom, better mental health, and the lack of a 9-to-5 grind may be more compatible with trade work than white-collar office roles. Add the economic problems foisted upon Gen-Z by Baby Boomers hanging onto their homes for much longer, an increased gap between wages and the cost of living, and Gen-Zs hyperawareness of alternative ways of thinking and fresh points of view thanks to its social media use, and you have a potent recipe for a generational workplace shift. University Business, reporting from an education point of view, quotes Tracy Lorenz, president of the for-profit Universal Technical Institute, an outfit that operates in 16 campuses across nine states and which offers technical, field-focused courses. In 2025, interest in skilled trades will continue to accelerate among young Gen-Z, who increasingly view these careers as a more practical and rewarding alternative to traditional career paths, Lorenz predicted. She also added another motivator for Gen-Zers, who are used to fast-paced online lives: For a growing number, the skilled trades may offer a faster path to a career that aligns with their interests and goals. There may be another driver for Gen-Zers interest in pursuing jobs that require they work with their hands: AI. As time passes and this innovative technology improves, offering more potent powers with each new tool on the market, it’s clear that AI is capable of doing the work of many entry-level office workers, which may thwart more traditional bottom-up career planning, starting with internships and learning on the job. Gen-Z, as the age cohort now entering the workplace, is most at risk from AI’s short-term impact on entry-level jobs. Indeed, Gen-Zers are so worried about AI that they’re even pretending to be busy at work, a.k.a. task masking, just so that they don’t get the chop in favor of an AI tool. Perceptions of the AI threat may swing young peoples interest toward different careers, especially since (at least for now) robotics arent advanced enough that AI can take on some of the kind of detailed physical work that a skilled human tradesperson can carry out. For example, precise robot welding machines have been used in car factories for decades, but a robot wouldnt be able to go to your house and weld an artistic, hand-designed new front gate. Why should you care about this cultural change? For one main reason: If youre trying to hire young workers in hopes of benefiting from their fresh thinking, you may find it harder to pique the toolbelt generations interest in coming to work for you, unless you can offer some of the same flexibile duties and freedom of expression that a trade can offer over a more narrowly defined white-collar office role. By Kit Eaton This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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Hours after Paramount and UFC announced a billion-dollar rights deal, Dana White said he had yet to hear from his friend, President Donald Trump, on his thoughts about the fight company’s new streaming home.That was fine with White. The UFC CEO was set to travel to Washington on Aug. 28 to meet with Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, to catch up and discuss logistics on the proposed Fourth of July fight card next year at the White House.Trump said last month he wanted to stage a UFC match on the White House grounds with upwards of 20,000 spectators to celebrate 250 years of American independence.“It’s absolutely going to happen,” White told The Associated Press. “Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House south lawn live on CBS.”The idea of cage fights at the White House would have seemed improbable when the Fertitta brothers purchased UFC for $2 million in 2001 and put White in charge of the fledging fight promotion.White helped steer the company into a $4 billion sale in 2016 and broadcast rights deals with Fox and ESPN before landing owner TKO Group’s richest one yet a seven-year deal with Paramount starting in 2026 worth an average of $1.1 billion a year, with all cards on its streaming platform Paramount+ and select numbered events also set to simulcast on CBS.ESPN, Amazon and Netflix and other traditional sports broadcast players seemed more in play for UFC rights White had previously hinted fights could air across different platforms but Paramount was a serious contender from the start of the negotiating window.The Paramount and UFC deal came just days after Skydance and Paramount officially closed their $8 billion merger kicking off the reign of a new entertainment giant after a contentious endeavor to get the transaction over the finish line. White said he was impressed with the vision Skydance CEO David Ellison had for the the global MMA leader early in contract talks and how those plans should blossom now that Ellison is chairman and CEO of Paramount.“When you talk about Paramount, you talk about David Ellison, they’re brilliant businessmen, very aggressive, risk takers,” White said. “They’re right up my alley. These are the kind of guys that I like to be in business with.”The $1.1 billion deals marks a notable jump from the roughly $550 million that ESPN paid each year for UFC coverage today. But UFC’s new home on Paramount will simplify offerings for fans with all content set to be available on Paramount+ (which currently costs between $7.99 and $12.99 a month), rather than various pay-per-view fees.Paramount also said it intends to explore UFC rights outside the U.S. “as they become available in the future.”UFC matchmakers were set to meet this week to shape what White said would be a loaded debut Paramount card. The UFC boss noted it was still too early to discuss a potential main event for the White House fight night.“This is a 1-of-1 event,” White said.There are still some moving parts to UFC broadcasts and other television programming it has its hands in as the company moves into the Paramount era. White said there are still moving parts to the deal and that includes potentially finding new homes for “The Ultimate Fighter,” “Road To UFC,” and “Dana White’s Contender Series.” It’s not necessarily a given the traditional 10 p.m. start time for what were the pay-per-view events would stand, especially on nights cards will also air on CBS.“We haven’t figured that out yet but we will,” White said.And what about the sometimes-contentious issue of fighter pay? Some established fighters have clauses in their contracts that they earn more money the higher the buyrate on their cards. Again, most of those issues are to-be-determined as UFC and Paramount settle in to the new deal with $1.1 billion headed the fight company’s way.“It will affect fighter pay, big time,” White said. “From deal-to-deal, fighter pay has grown, too. Every time we win, everybody wins.”Boxer Jake Paul wrote on social media the dying PPV model which was overpriced for fights as UFC saw a decline in buys because of missing star power in many main events should give the fighters an increased idea of their worth.“Every fighter in the UFC now has a clear picture of what the revenue isno more PPV excuses,” Paul wrote. “Get your worth boys and girls.”White also scoffed at the idea that the traditional PPV model is dead.There are still UFC cards on pay-per-view the rest of the year through the end of the ESPN contract and White and Saudi Arabia have teamed to launch a new boxing venture that starts next year and could use a PPV home. White, though, is part of the promotional team for the Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford fight in September in Las Vegas that airs on Netflix.“It’s definitely not run it’s course,” White said. “There were guys out there who were interested in pay-per-view and there were guys out there that weren’t. Wherever we ended up, that’s what we’re going to roll with.”White said UFC archival footage “kills it” in repeat views and those classic bouts also needed a new home once the ESPN deal expires.Just when it seems there’s little left for UFC to conquer, White says, there’s always more. Why stop at becoming the biggest fight game in the world? Why not rewrite the pecking order in popularity and riches and go for No. 1 in all sports?“You have the NFL, the NBA, the UFC, and soccer globally,” White said. “We’re coming. We’re coming for all of them.” AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports Dan Gelston, AP Sports Writer
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U.S. stocks are ticking higher on Wednesday after a rally spurred by hopes for lower U.S. interest rates wrapped around the world.The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 364 points, or 0.8%, as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.3% to its own record set the day before.Stocks got a lift from easing Treasury yields in the bond market, as expectations reach a virtual consensus that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rates for the first time this year at its next meeting in September. Lower rates can boost investment prices and the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, though they risk worsening inflation.Stock indexes jumped in Asia in their first trading after Tuesday’s better-than-expected report on U.S. inflation triggered a jump in bets that a cut to interest rates is coming. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng leaped 2.6%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.3% and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.1%.Indexes also rose in Europe, though the moves were more modest after they already had the chance to trade on the U.S. inflation data the afternoon before. Germany’s DAX returned 0.8%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.7%.On Wall Street, the hopes for lower interest rates are helping to drown out criticism that the U.S. stock market has grown too expensive after its big leap since hitting a low in April.One way companies can make their stock prices look less expensive is to deliver strong growth in profits, and Brinker International added 0.8% after reporting stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company behind the Chili’s brand said it’s seeing more customers coming to its restaurants, and it’s also making more profit off each $1 in sales.“Chili’s is officially back, baby back!” said CEO Kevin Hochman.HanesBrands climbed 5.4% after it agreed to sell itself to Gildan Activewear for $2.2 billion in cash and Gildan stock. The deal would combine North Carolinas’ HanesBrands with Canada’s Gildan, and Gildan’s stock that trades in the United States rose 11.6%.On the losing end of Wall Street were grocery stores and delivery companies, which fell after Amazon said it will offer fresh groceries to customers in more than 1,000 cities and towns through same-day delivery. Kroger fell 4.6%, and DoorDash dropped 3.6%, while Amazon rose 0.9%.Cava Group sank 17.2% after the Mediterranean restaurant chain reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit topped forecasts. It also cut its forecast for 2025 growth in sales at restaurants that have been open for more than a year, where guest traffic has been roughly flat recently from year-ago levels.CoreWeave lost 13.7% after the company, whose cloud platform helps customers running artificial-intelligence workloads, reported a larger loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected.In the bond market, Treasury yields eased as expectations built for coming cuts to interest rates by the Fed.The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.23% from 4.29% late Tuesday and from 4.50% in mid-July. That’s a notable move for the bond market.President Donald Trump has angrily been calling for cuts to help the economy, often insulting the Fed’s chair personally while doing so.But the Fed has been hesitant so far because of the possibility that Trump’s tariffs could make inflation much worse. Lowering rates would give inflation more fuel, potentially adding oxygen to a growing fire. That’s why Fed officials have said they wanted to see more data come in about inflation before moving.On Thursday, a report will show how bad inflation was at the wholesale level across the United States. Economists expect it to show inflation accelerated a touch to 2.4% in July from 2.3% in June. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed. Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
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