Despite high levels of youth joblessness and a relatively pessimistic mood among young workers, Toronto has been rated the best economy for young people among 35 major world cities, a new survey says. In the survey carried out for the Citi Foundation by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Toronto beat cities like second-place New York City and third-place Chicago, as the city that best enables young people to thrive economically. The survey, which scored cities on 31 criteria – which included points like economic growth rate, government policies supporting youth and youth employment, education, and health—praised Toronto for its government youth programs, such as PAYE (Partnership to Advance Youth Employment), which matches private-sector employers with job-seeking youth.
Employees and managers at Tim Hortons locations around New York and Maine were let go this week with virtually no notice, amid a round of store closures in the U.S. northeast. Proof of this lack of notice can be seen in one man’s account of a closure when, mid-meal, Tim Hortons turned the lights off around him. Customers are not the only ones that were caught off guard, with managers being told the night before the closures that they would be out of a job. With 15 locations closed in central New York State and six locations in Maine, the abrupt closures have left many jobless and others disgruntled. Though the company has been tightlipped about the whole thing, it appears that poor earnings in the New England area may be at fault for the closures, with reported earnings being less than desirable in the saturated market of coffee shops. Double-digit house price gains may be great for baby boomers whose retirements loom, but, for the younger generations, they are becoming an impediment to starting a family. Fifty-six per cent of respondents in a new survey from RateSupermarket said their ability to start or expand their family has been impacted by house prices in their region. This means that many are seeing family expansion as a financial decision, rather than a compassionate or loving one, as it really should be. With many of the respondents to the survey saying that they could not expand their family in their current home, and nearly half saying the costs involved have caused them to change their minds about the size of their family, this doesn’t seem to be very encouraging. In a time where family sizes and importance seems to be on a downturn, it is troublesome for many to see finances creeping into these kinds of decisions on such a large scale.
Riding Millennium Falcon-sized expectations, the new Star Wars movie is already setting records for pre-opening ticket sales. With a month left to go, there continues to be more. But does that mean the movie is destined to be the biggest of all time? Though several signs point in that direction, the outcome isn’t guaranteed. The movie is currently on track to have the biggest December opening on record, even topping The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Ticket sellers like Fandango have already seen massive influxes of sales, with Fandango explaining that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has already topped every other movie, and IMAX reporting domestic sales of $18 million. With IMAX accounting for a third of pre-release sales for the movie, this puts the domestic total at more than $50 million. Whether it bests the biggest grosser of all time—James Cameron’s Avatar with US$2.8 billion worldwide—depends on word of mouth and whether fans love Star Wars enough to watch it multiple times through the new year. With competing films like Deadpool and Batman v Superman not coming out until some time after the release, it could mean just that.