Facebook Inc co-founder and Mark Zuckerberg’s former college roommate Chris Hughes urged U.S. regulators to break up the social media company in a New York Times opinion piece on Thursday.

First-quarter revenue rose 36.7% at Tokyo-based staffing firm Outsourcing Inc. (2427: JP) to JPY 86.40 billion (USD 787.0 million). Gross margin improved to 19.4% and profit also increased. The company announced results last week.

(JPY millions)
Q1 2019
Q1 2018
% change
Q1 2019 (USD millions)
Revenue
86,404
63,198
36.7%
787.0
Operating Income
2,689
2,050
31.2%
24.5
Profit Before Tax
1,550
1,935
(19.9%)
14.1
Profit for the Year
788
1,311
(39.9%)
7.1

Outsourcing Inc. provides outsourcing services in electronics, cars and other areas. It also provides temporary staffing services, known in Japan as worker dispatch.

Looking ahead, the company forecasted revenue of JPY 385 billion (USD 3.50 billion) for the year ended 31 December 2019.

In trading yesterday Outsourcing shares closed at JPY 1,416 (USD 12.90), up 0.07% on the day. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of JPY 161.87 billion (USD 1.47 billion).

Governments around the world must step up their efforts to improve their education and training policies to help more people reap the benefits of the digital transformation, according to a new report from the Organisation of Co-operation and Development.

The OECD Skills Outlook 2019 adds that this preparation would also reduce the risk of automation widening inequalities and driving unemployment,

“As job markets evolve in response to technological change, some countries are better prepared than others as a result of the skill levels of their population,” the report stated.

The report found that only a few countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, are ahead in terms of the skills and effective lifelong learning systems needed to thrive in the digital world.

However, according to the OECD, many other countries are lagging behind. Japan and Korea, for example, have the potential to perform well but must make greater efforts to ensure older workers and adults are not left behind. OECD adds that people in Chile, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic and Turkey often lack the skills needed to flourish in the digital world and current training systems are not developed enough to enable them to upskill.

“In our rapidly digitalising world, skills make the difference between staying ahead of the wave and falling behind,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, said. “To help people, governments will need to find the right balance between policies fostering flexibility, labour mobility and job stability. Businesses have also a key role to play in ensuring that employees upskill and reskill, adapting to the changing demands of the labour market. By improving our skills systems, we can ensure that today’s technological revolution will improve lives for all.”

According to the OECD, traditional education systems need to evolve into lifelong learning systems. Adults will need to reskill and upskill throughout their careers to keep up with changes in the labour market. The report highlights that participation in training by low-skilled adults, is 40% below that of high-skilled adults on average across the OECD. The OECD suggests that countries should create flexible and shorter types of learning opportunities, adding that technology can help through the development of online resources.

The report’s findings show that more than half of occupations (54%) at high risk of automation will need either a moderate (less than one year) or severe (more than one year) training effort for workers to transition to better-quality and safer jobs.

“The magnitude of the challenge is substantial since lifelong learning systems need to provide training for adults throughout their careers, so that they can move to other jobs as automation progresses or avoid being displaced from jobs that will be profoundly transformed,” the OECD states. “Governments need to put the right incentives and mechanisms in place to engage employers, social partners and other stakeholders to share the costs.”

On average, approximately 100 workers in Singapore were not classified correctly annually in the last three years, reports the Straits Times. In total, 308 such alleged cases were received by the Ministry of Manpower and Central Provident Fund Board during this period, with 160 cases involving workers being misclassified as self-employed. Those who are self-employed do not receive benefits that employers are legally obliged to provide their workers. Minister of State for Manpower and National Development, Zaqy Mohamad, said errant companies that misclassify their workers have been punished with, among other things, warnings and late payment fees. He added that all but two cases paid the misclassified workers what were due to them.

Recruiters for large organizations now have easier and broader access to job candidates on Facebook, thanks to new partnerships forged between the social media giant and providers of applicant tracking systems.

Whistleblowers who expose violations of European Union (EU) law will soon be protected from retaliation throughout the EU under a new directive that the European Commission and member states have agreed to.

Employers of all sizes can contract directly with hospitals and physician practices for reasonably priced health care. Doing so can lead to more-predictable plan budgeting, better fiscal-risk management and improved employee health.

The United Kingdom (U.K.) Court of Appeal recently confirmed that employers usually can conduct internal investigations and disciplinary procedures when an employee is also subject to related criminal proceedings.

The U.S. Senate approved Janet Dhillon to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after a two-year impasse over her nomination due to fears that she’d change the EEOC’s position on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

Uber drivers in London and major U.S. cities held a series of strikes on Wednesday to protest the disparity between gig-economy conditions and the sums that investors are likely to make in Friday’s blockbuster stock market debut.