An “alarming” new study on the future of the labor market puts a spotlight on the lack of employees and a rise in workplace litigation this year. 

“The report talks about how 2024, we believe, is going to be one of the most challenging years in the labor market in our lifetime,” RedBalloon CEO Andrew Crapuchettes said in a Fox News Digital exclusive. 

“There’s a lot of different factors that are driving that. We see population decline. We see baby boomers retiring. We see a Gen Z workforce that is coming in and not doing productive things in the workplace… The thing that I think is the most alarming fact, though, in the entire report, and one of our big findings was the amount of litigation that’s happening in the American workplace today.”

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RedBalloon’s report “2024: The Toughest Labor Market,” released Monday, breaks down the factors contributing to the challenging road ahead, but also provides employees with a possible solution. 

“To summarize the situation employers face: there are less people overall, fewer working-aged people willing to work, more retirements, a higher number of jobseekers with mental health challenges, and an explosion in labor-related lawsuits against employers,” the report says.

One of the predominate factors is the evolving employable demographic. The study notes a decline in population growth is paired with an increasing number of boomers retiring, leaving the labor force to rely on more millennials and Gen Z. 

The study observed, however, that there are seven million working-aged men who should be “leading in the labor market” but are unemployed or not actively looking for employment, leaving a “huge hole.”

“[Working-age men] should be leading in the labor market,” Crapuchettes said. “They should be helping the Gen Zers… Working age men, 25 to 65, those are people who should be engaged in labor market and leading in their economies, in their businesses, in their communities. And unfortunately, we’re seeing that a lot of them are not engaged in the labor market.”

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Gen Z workers present new issues for employers.  

“Part of that is they’ve grown up on social media. Forbes believes that the average Gen Z spends four hours a day on social media, and that just gives you a distorted view of reality. And then many of them have gone off to university and also gotten a distorted view of reality, because those universities are not focused on meritocracy in the way that you really have… to be successful in the workplace,” Crapuchettes argued.

The study explained the Gen Z labor force is increasingly defined by job hopping, mental health challenges and voluntary sidelining.

A March 2024 survey by RedBalloon found that of business owners in the study, 68% said Gen Zers are the “least reliable” employees and 64% said Gen Zers are likely to cause division and toxicity in the workplace.

The most “alarming” factor in RedBalloon’s comprehensive study is the rise in work-related litigation. 

“You see businesses that are spending enormous amounts of money on dealing with either class action lawsuits from employees, whether it’s sexual identity, whether it’s race-based. These things are just sucking the joy and the productivity out of the workplace. When you have employers have to spend that much time and energy either fighting a lawsuit or walking on eggshells around the workplace so that they don’t get a lawsuit.” 

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Crapuchettes emphasized the “most shocking statistic” uncovered in the report, that 75% of employers said they have dealt with a lawsuit over the past five years.

“You think about the cost, not only the mental cost, but the real dollars and cents costs of that type of impact on the workplace. It is not a good thing for America,” Crapuchettes said.

While the report paints a grim future for 2024, it also offered a solution for employers: “Change strategy and tactics.”

Although a simple call to action, the solution involves employers changing hiring tactics to focus more on merit, values and workplace culture rather than skills alone.

“If you’re an employer, you need to change the way you do hiring. The labor market is no longer a vending machine where you can just put in a quarter and get out a great employee. You need to be much more thoughtful and intentional in the hiring process,” Crapuchettes explained. 

The report also questions the workplace impact of diversity, equity and inclusion policies. A RedBalloon report on DEI found that “the rise of DEI has also coincided with increased disaffection among American workers.”

Crapuchettes encouraged employees not to “shortcut the hiring process.”

“If you focus on hiring the person that will do the job regardless of their background or their age, or anything about them. But can they do the job? And then you focus on values alignment. We want people who are into hard work and capitalism inside our workplace. If you do those things and you put the time and effort into the hiring process to confirm that those things are true, then you’re going to have great employees and you’re going to beat this really hard labor market,” Crapuchettes concluded.

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North Korean animators may have helped create popular television cartoons for big Western firms, including Amazon and HBO Max, despite international sanctions on North Korea, a research report has found.

Researchers discovered files on a North Korean internet server that included animations, written instructions and comments that appear to relate to projects under production for the foreign studios, the report from the Washington-based 38 North project released on Monday said.

Among those projects were “Invincible,” an Amazon Original animated series produced by California-based Skybound Entertainment and “Iyanu, Child of Wonder,” an anime about a superhero created by Maryland-based YouNeek Studios and due to air this year on HBO Max.

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U.S. sanctions prohibit almost all commercial activity between U.S. citizens and North Korean entities.

Michael Barnhart, who works on North Korea issues at Mandiant, a computer security company owned by Google, and worked with 38 North on the project, said there was nothing to indicate the Western companies had knowledge of the arrangements, which appeared to involve subcontracting of work to China.

“There’s no way that anyone could have known it, except for the operational security error which exposed it,” he said.

Amazon spokespersons declined comment and referred Reuters to Skybound Entertainment.

Skybound said it had no knowledge of any North Korean companies working on its animation, but took the allegations seriously and had initiated a thorough internal review to verify and rectify any potential issues.

“We have also notified the proper authorities and are cooperating with all appropriate bodies,” its head of corporate communications Hannah Cosgrove said.

HBO Max and YouNeek did not respond to requests for comment.

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The report said that after discovering the files, two researchers kept watch on the server and observed traffic throughout January.

“Each day, a new batch of files would appear that included instructions for animation work and the results of that day’s work,” the report said.

“Often the files contained editing comments and instructions in Chinese, presumably written by the production company, along with a translation of those instructions into Korean,” it said.

“This suggests a go-between was responsible for relaying information between the production companies and the animators.”

The report said the identity of the person, or persons, uploading the files could not be determined, nor of the North Korean entity involved.

North Korea’s premier animation house is the Pyongyang-based April 26 Animation Studio, also known as SEK Studio, which has worked in the past on international projects. In 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department designated it a North Korean state-owned enterprise and put it under sanctions.

The report noted that in 2021 and 2022 the U.S. government also imposed sanctions on Chinese companies that have worked with the studio or acted as a go-between.

38 North said files found on the server related to a range of projects, including Season 3 of “Invincible.” The report said a document on the server carried the name of the series and “Viltruminte Pants LLC,” part of the Skybound group.

Working with Mandiant, the researchers examined access logs for the server, which included three internet addresses in China.

Two of the latter were registered to China’s Liaoning Province, which neighbors North Korea and where there are many North Korean-operated businesses and North Korean IT workers.

Mandiant’s Barnhart told Reuters he assessed “with high confidence” that the animation contracts had been outsourced to North Korea by a front company, apparently in China.

China’s Washington embassy said Beijing strictly implemented U.N. prohibitions on dealings with North Korea but added that sanctions were not a solution to the North Korea issue. North Korea’s U.N. mission did not respond to a request for comment.

Choi Seong-guk, a North Korean defector web cartoonist who worked at SEK Studio between 1996 and 2002, told Reuters the studio had a team assigned for joint work with foreign studios.

Choi, who quit the state-run studio over low pay, said some fellow North Korean cartoonists also left and went to work overseas, mostly in China, where they were construction workers on paper but in reality created animation for Chinese clients.

“By doing that in China, they are paid $100 per month … compared to $1 back home,” he said.

In 2022, the U.S. Departments of State and Treasury and the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an advisory warning businesses about the risk of inadvertently hiring North Korean IT workers and said this could put them in violation of U.S. and U.N. sanctions.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Treasury said it does not comment on “potential investigations or sanctions violations as general practice” but North Korea’s efforts to generate revenue for its weapons programs through cybercrime and abuse of contractors was a concern.

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The interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 7.500% as of April 22, which is unchanged from Friday. Additionally, the interest rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 6.625%, which is also unchanged from Friday.

With mortgage rates changing daily, it’s a good idea to check today’s rate before applying for a loan. It’s also important to compare different lenders’ current interest rates, terms, and fees to ensure you get the best deal. 

Rates last updated on April 22, 2024. Rates are based on the assumptions shown here. Actual rates may vary. Credible, a personal finance marketplace, has 5,000 Trustpilot reviews with an average star rating of 4.7 (out of a possible 5.0).

When you take out a mortgage loan to purchase a home, you’re borrowing money from a lender. In order for that lender to make a profit and reduce risk to itself, it will charge interest on the principal — that is, the amount you borrowed.

Expressed as a percentage, a mortgage interest rate is essentially the cost of borrowing money. It can vary based on several factors, such as your credit score, debt-to-income ratio (DTI), down payment, loan amount, and repayment term.

After getting a mortgage, you’ll typically receive an amortization schedule, which shows your payment schedule over the life of the loan. It also indicates how much of each payment goes toward the principal balance versus the interest.

Near the beginning of the loan term, you’ll spend more money on interest and less on the principal balance. As you approach the end of the repayment term, you’ll pay more toward the principal and less toward interest.

Your mortgage interest rate can be either fixed or adjustable. With a fixed-rate mortgage, the rate will be consistent for the duration of the loan. With an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), the interest rate can fluctuate with the market.

Keep in mind that a mortgage’s interest rate is not the same as its annual percentage rate (APR). This is because an APR includes both the interest rate and any other lender fees or charges.

Mortgage rates change frequently — sometimes on a daily basis. Inflation plays a significant role in these fluctuations. Interest rates tend to rise in periods of high inflation, whereas they tend to drop or remain roughly the same in times of low inflation. Other factors, like the economic climate, demand, and inventory can also impact the current average mortgage rates.

To find great mortgage rates, start by using Credible’s secured website, which can show you current mortgage rates from multiple lenders without affecting your credit score. You can also use Credible’s mortgage calculator to estimate your monthly mortgage payments.

Mortgage lenders typically determine the interest rate on a case-by-case basis. Generally, they reserve the lowest rates for low-risk borrowers — that is, those with a higher credit score, income, and down payment amount. Here are some other personal factors that may determine your mortgage rate:

Other indirect factors that may determine the mortgage rate include:

Along with certain economic and personal factors, the lender you choose can also affect your mortgage rate. Some lenders have higher average mortgage rates than others, regardless of your credit or financial situation. That’s why it’s important to compare lenders and loan offers.

Here are some of the best ways to compare mortgage rates and ensure you get the best one:

One other way to compare mortgage rates is with a mortgage calculator. Use a calculator to determine your monthly payment amount and the total cost of the loan. Just remember, certain fees like homeowners insurance or taxes might not be included in the calculations.

Here’s a simple example of what a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage might look like versus a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage:

If you’re thinking about taking out a mortgage, here are some benefits to consider:

And here are some of the biggest downsides of getting a mortgage:

Requirements vary by lender, but here are the typical steps to qualify for a mortgage:

Here are the basic steps to apply for a mortgage, and what you can typically expect during the process:

Refinancing your mortgage lets you trade your current loan for a new one. It does not mean taking out a second loan. You will also still be responsible for making payments on the refinanced loan.

You might want to refinance your mortgage if you:

The refinancing process is similar to the process you follow for the original loan. Here are the basic steps:

If you need to tap into your home’s equity to pay off debt, fund a renovation, or cover an emergency expense, there are two popular options to choose from: a home equity loan and a home equity line of credit (HELOC). Both a home equity loan and a HELOC allow you to borrow against your home’s equity but a home equity loan comes in the form of a lump sum payment and a HELOC is a revolving line of credit.

These two loan types have some other key similarities and differences in how they work:

Interest rates on mortgages fluctuate all the time, but a rate lock allows you to lock in your current rate for a set amount of time. This ensures you get the rate you want as you complete the homebuying process.

Mortgage points are a type of prepaid interest that you can pay upfront — often as part of your closing costs — for a lower overall interest rate. This can lower your APR and monthly payments. 

Closing costs are the fees you, as the buyer, need to pay before getting a loan. Common fees include attorney fees, home appraisal fees, origination fees, and application fees.

If you’re trying to find the right mortgage rate, consider using Credible. You can use Credible’s free online tool to easily compare multiple lenders and see prequalified rates in just a few minutes.

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