This Week in Finance News: 13 Stories You Need to See

A roundup of the week's most newsworthy financial industry press releases from PR Newswire, including the latest stats on consumer confidence, mortgage payments, and employee burnout.

NEW YORK, June 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the finance industry stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

1. US Consumer Confidence Slipped in May
   "Their assessment of current employment conditions saw the most significant deterioration, with the proportion of consumers reporting jobs are 'plentiful' falling 4 ppts from 47.5 percent in April to 43.5 percent in May. Consumers also became more downbeat about future business conditions, weighing on the expectations index," said Ataman Ozyildirim, Senior Director, Economics at The Conference Board.
2. 2 in 3 Recent Homebuyers Struggle to Pay Their Mortgage in 2023 Given that nearly half (45%) of Americans exceeded their home-buying budget in 2023 and 58% think they overpaid for their home, it follows that 56% of recent home buyers had to take on additional debt to maintain their lifestyle since purchasing a home.
3. The largest universal bank in the CEE region accelerates expansion in the Metaverse
   PKO Bank Polski has also announced that it is organising a virtual job fair in the Metaverse on 30 May, which is the first event of its kind in Poland and one of the first in the world. The fair is dedicated to people just entering the job market as well as more experienced professionals, mainly from the broad IT area.
4. California Residents Are at Risk of Losing Their Home Insurance
   By 2019, over 348,000 home insurance policies had been dropped, and the state stepped in to help protect homeowners. Even with new laws written to protect homeowners from losing insurance, California residents in high-risk areas need to know the steps to avoid being without insurance coverage.
5. ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 278,000 Jobs in May; Annual Pay was Up 6.5%
   "This is the second month we've seen a full percentage point decline in pay growth for job changers," said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. "Pay growth is slowing substantially, and wage-driven inflation may be less of a concern for the economy despite robust hiring."
6. Deloitte 2023 Global Chief Strategy Officer Survey: the CSO Role Grows in Importance to Guide Organizations Through Disruptive Times
   "CSOs and their strategy teams are indispensable to the success of their organizations, bringing a cross-functional mindset and ability to drive growth that enables them to tackle today's unpredictable environment and tomorrow's challenges," said Gagan Chawla, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and business strategy leader for Monitor Deloitte.
7. Nearly 4 in 10 Professionals Report Rising Burnout
   "Despite employers' efforts to better support employee well-being, burnout is an issue that needs ongoing attention," said Paul McDonald, senior executive director of Robert Half. "Compounding the matter, businesses are moving forward with an influx of new projects, putting more pressure on current staff who may already be stretched thin."
8. The Billionaire Population Shrinks
   The report also found some pockets of resilience. While the wealth of billionaires strongly attached to the tech, healthcare, and retail sectors struggled in 2022, those highly connected to aerospace and defense, food and beverages, construction, and shipping saw their wealth grow.
9. Survey: Mental Health Worsens for 34% of US Workers
   The latest workforce survey from The Conference Board polled more than 1,100 individuals—predominantly office workers. Respondents weighed in on their mental health, engagement levels, and job security.
10. Small Business Jobs Growth Holds Steady in May
    "Despite the challenges of a competitive labor market and tightening credit, our data suggests small businesses remain resilient as job growth holds steady," said John Gibson, Paychex president and CEO. "Our data also shows a consistent trend of hourly earnings growth slowing over 11 of the past 12 months, perhaps providing some relief for businesses looking to hire."
11. Employees in the United Kingdom spend less time in the office than any other country globally - but still want to reduce this time even further
    Despite these comparatively low attendance levels, employees want to reduce the number of days spent in the workplace even further, with just 21% of workers in the UK currently happy to spend four or more days per week in the office.
12. BSV blockchain - Set New Record 85 million Transactions in 24 Hours
    BSV Blockchain ecosystem member VAIONEX, a leading blockchain solutions company, helped set a new record, as the main contributor to over 85 million transactions that were processed on the BSV blockchain within 24 hours.
13. Georgia Families Surpass $2 Billion Spent on Education Through Path2College 529 Plan Savings
    An advantage of saving for education through the Path2College 529 Plan is that contributors may deduct up to $8,000 per year per beneficiary for joint filers ($4,000 for single filers) from their Georgia state income taxes on contributions made to the Plan.

Read more of the latest finance-related releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNfinance on Twitter.

Can't-Miss Earnings

In addition to these popular releases, several must-read earnings reports crossed the wire this week, including the quarterly results for UP Fintech and IOU Financial.

Catch up on all the latest earnings reports here.

Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News

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