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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/107240789-1684075132097-gettyimages-1240490159-UK_UBER-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-539941" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/107240789-1684075132097-gettyimages-1240490159-UK_UBER-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/107240789-1684075132097-gettyimages-1240490159-UK_UBER-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/107240789-1684075132097-gettyimages-1240490159-UK_UBER-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/107240789-1684075132097-gettyimages-1240490159-UK_UBER-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/107240789-1684075132097-gettyimages-1240490159-UK_UBER-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/107240789-1684075132097-gettyimages-1240490159-UK_UBER.jpeg 1858w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An Uber-dedicated charger at a BP Pulse electric vehicle charging station in central London, U.K., on Monday, April 11, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Tuesday announced that the company is updating its platform with new sustainability-minded features, including an “EV preference” that will let customers opt for fully electric vehicles by default, whenever they hail a ride.



The company previously launched an “Uber Green,” service which has historically included a mix of battery electric vehicles, and hybrid electric models. Now, Uber can offer battery electric vehicles as the sole “green” option in more than 40 cities globally, executives said at Uber’s annual Go Get Zero sustainability conference in London on Tuesday.



Speaking at Uber’s GO-GET Zero event in London, Khosrowshahi said that the company’s rollout of new sustainability-focused features arrives ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections, adding this is a time when the topic of EVs has become a “politically-charged issue.”



However, he noted that the overall trend is moving toward all-electric mobility options.



“The reality is that we will only reach or zero emission goals if policymakers and other businesses do their part as well,” Khosrowshahi said at the event.



“We need more affordable EVs, we need stronger EV mandates, we need incentives for people who are driving the most. We want to make sure that chargers are available at every community, not just the wealthiest. So we all need to step up,” he said.



For drivers, Uber said it is rolling out an “EV Mentor” program, which connects drivers for any questions about electric mobility. The company also debuted an AI chatbot powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, looking to answer questions for drivers on the ride-hail network about what it takes to buy and use a battery electric vehicle instead of a gas-burning vehicle.



Transportation has been responsible for about 25% of carbon emissions from human activity globally, according to estimates by the non-profit International Council on Clean Transportation. Carbon emissions, and other greenhouse gases from human activity, cause long-term shifts in temperatures and weather, while also contributing to respiratory disease by forming smog and air pollution.



Ride-hailing services like Uber’s can contribute to traffic congestion and therefore, pollution, according to analysis by Suvrat Dhanorkar, Gordon Burtch and others published in the journal of Transportation Science. Uber has been working to reduce its environmental footprint and looks to become a “zero-emissions platform” by 2040.



On the delivery side of its platform, Uber is adding farmers’ market produce to Uber Eats offerings in two major U.S. markets: New York City and Los Angeles.



Uber said it will also be investing nearly $1 million to enable restaurants in Paris that sell meals via Uber Eats to switch to more sustainable packaging, such as seaweed-based packaging from NotPLA,&nbsp;bags made of foliage by Releaf, and&nbsp;straws made of agricultural suAgar residuals from IAmPlasticFree.



According to statistics tracked by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), residents in Paris generate more than 400 kg (880 lb) of waste each year. France has implemented laws to reduce this waste, requiring fast food restaurants to move away from disposable, plastic packaging and utensils.



In the U.K., specifically, Uber said it’s launched a partnership with British energy supplier Octopus Energy and Chinese EV firm BYD to co-fund 1,000 free home chargers worth almost £1,000 each for drivers in the U.K.



The deal will give Uber drivers the ability to access Octopus’ “Intelligent Go” tariff to help them with EV charging costs. Drivers will also be able to get 8% off at public charging systems across Octopus’ Electroverse network.



“This is the first partnership between uber a power company and an EV manufacturer and it will meaningfully reduce charging costs for drivers,” Rebecca Tinucci, Uber’s head of global sustainability, said at the London event Tuesday. Tinucci was formerly senior director of charging infrastructure at Tesla.

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/108042845-1727966861492-gettyimages-2175574979-US_JOBS-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-538264" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/108042845-1727966861492-gettyimages-2175574979-US_JOBS-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/108042845-1727966861492-gettyimages-2175574979-US_JOBS-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/108042845-1727966861492-gettyimages-2175574979-US_JOBS-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/108042845-1727966861492-gettyimages-2175574979-US_JOBS-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/108042845-1727966861492-gettyimages-2175574979-US_JOBS-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/108042845-1727966861492-gettyimages-2175574979-US_JOBS.jpeg 1858w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Attendees at the Albany Job Fair in Latham, New York, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024.  Angus Mordant | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



September’s jobs picture is expected to look a lot like August’s — a gradual slowdown in hiring from earlier this year, a modest increase in wages and a labor market that is looking a lot like many policymakers had hoped it would.



Nonfarm payrolls are projected to show growth of 150,000, from 142,000 the month before, with a steady unemployment rate of 4.2%, according to the Dow Jones consensus. On the wage side, the forecast is for a 0.3% monthly gain and a 3.8% increase from a year ago — the annual rate being the same as August.



Should the numbers come in as expected, they would hit close to a sweet spot allowing the Federal Reserve to continue to lower interest rates without a sense of urgency that it could be behind the curve and at risk of causing a recession.



“The jobs market is slowing down and becoming less tight,” said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management. “The balance of power has shifted back to employers and away from employees, and that certainly will alleviate the wage pressure, which has been a key component of inflation. We’ve been team soft-landing for a while, and this is exactly what a soft landing looks like.”



Of course, there’s always the possibility of a substantial upside or downside surprise to the numbers. Then there are the monthly revisions that have been dramatic at times, causing the Labor Department to overcount hiring by more than 800,000 for the 12-month period through March 2024, adding uncertainty to jobs market analysis.



“While we’re looking at 150,000 jobs added, I would not be surprised if it comes in at 50,000 and I would not be surprised if it comes in at 250,000,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. “I don’t think people should get too freaked out either way about this number.”



The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the report at 8:30 a.m. While there will still be one more nonfarm payrolls count before the presidential vote next month, the October report is expected to be distorted by the dock workers’ strike as well as Hurricane Helene — making September the last “clean” report before Election Day.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-for-clues"><a></a>Looking for clues</h2>



Still, markets will in fact be watching the report closely.



Specifically, they’ll be looking for indications as to whether the Fed will be able to loosen policy and lower interest rates in a gradual manner more in keeping with prior easing cycles, or will have to repeat the dramatic half percentage point interest rate cut it implemented in September.



At the same meeting where they approved the reduction, policymakers indicated another half percentage point, or 50 basis points, in cuts before the end of 2024 and another full percentage point in 2025. Markets, though, are pricing in a more aggressive schedule.



“A strong number wouldn’t really change their position,” JPMorgan’s Kelly said. “A weak number could tempt them to another 50 basis points.”



However, Kelly said the Fed is more likely to look at the employment picture as a “mosaic” rather than just an individual data point.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-bigger-picture"><a></a>The bigger picture</h2>



For the past several months, labor market indicators have been trending lower, though far from falling off a cliff. Manufacturing and services sector surveys have pointed to slower hiring, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell earlier this week characterized the labor market as solid but softening.



Excluding a brief slump at the onset of the Covid pandemic, the last time the monthly hiring rate was the level seen this summer — 3.3% of the labor force in both June and August — was in October 2013 when the unemployment rate was 7.2%, according to Labor Department data.



Job openings also have fallen and pushed the ratio of available positions to unemployed workers down to 1.1 to 1, from 2 to 1 just a couple years ago.



However, a kind of stasis has hit a labor market that not that long ago was wrestling with the “Great Resignation” as workers confident they could find better deals elsewhere left their jobs en masse.



Excluding the pandemic gyrations in 2020, the quits rate hasn’t been lower than its current 1.9% since December 2014, while the separations rate, even including Covid, was last lower than the current 3.1% in December 2012.



“Whatever leverage labor had, [it] has dissipated or just eased as the economy’s normalized,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at tax consultancy RSM. “So we’re going to have a lot less turnover. We’re seeing it in our business. We’re hearing it from our clients.”



Still, had someone told Brusuelas back during the Covid tumult four years ago that the economy would be adding nearly 150,000 jobs a month now with an unemployment rate in the low 4% range, he said, “I’d have bought you a steak dinner.”

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