Fact Pack! VC, AI and You
By Hightower Las Vegas and RCG Economics on January 12, 2024
If you go by headline count, recent AI hype including the announcement of numerous corporate megadeals in the AI world is undeniable — but so far the topic everyone’s talking about has failed to revive overall startup fundraising.
U.S. venture capital funding fell about 30 percent last year compared to 2022, per this Reuters article. U.S. investors poured $170.6 billion into startups in 2023, compared to $242.2 billion in 2022 and $348 billion in 2021, according to PitchBook data released last week.
Startups in the AI space got about one-third of all investor money, per Pitchbook.
Jobs of the Future
Developments in AI as well as the desire for a greener energy future are disrupting jobs across an array of sectors. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report 2024 examined labor market statistics and survey results in the global business community to find which kinds of jobs are likely to increase the most in the next five years, not only in terms of the raw number of people employed, but also in terms of relative increase.
According to WEF predictions, training to become an AI and Machine Learning specialist would be wise, as the available job numbers are predicted to grow by 40 percent by 2027, amounting to some one million new jobs. In terms of the largest raw number gains, agricultural equipment operators and heavy truck and bus drivers will rule, predicts WEF. Statista graph:
As of 2023
On the flip side, data entry clerks, administrative and executive secretaries, and accounting, bookkeeping and payroll clerks are predicted by WEF to experience the greatest number of losses in employment.
Of note, the renewable energy sector employed 13.7 million people in 2022, one million more than the previous year. As the following Statista chart shows, employment in this sector has continued to grow globally since 2012:
As of 2022
The branch employing the most people in the renewable energy sector last year was the solar photovoltaic industry, with 4.9 million jobs.
Inflation Drivers
We missed this IMF graph from June 2023 that showed inflation in the EU had over the prior two years been driven mostly by corporate profits:
As of June 2023
New Listings for Existing Homes
Bill McBride over at Calculated Risk is up with his December housing market report, starting with a graph (based on data from Realtor.com’s December 2023 Monthly Housing Market Trends Report) showing new listings for existing homes in the U.S. were up 9.1 percent year-over-year in December:
Realtor.com noted that December marked the second month of increasing listing activity after a 17-month streak of decline. Other December stats from Realtor.com:
- The total number of homes actively for sale was notably higher compared to December of last year, growing by 4.9 percent.
- The median price of homes for sale this December remained relatively stable compared to the same time last year, growing by just 1.2 percent.
- Homes spent 61 days on the market, on average, which is four days fewer than last year.
As of 2023
And Bill McBride’s ever-helpful closed sales table for key housing markets, showing a 15 percent year-over-year increase in the Las Vegas metro in December:
As of December 2023
Note that Las Vegas is only market McBride tracks that had any kind of year-over-year increase in December in closed sales. The next best performing metro was Santa Clara, with a dip of -0.6 percent. (Note: December is a slow month for sales generally so some year-end, year-over-year data in some metros could be a anomalies. That said, McBride notes that annual sales for 2023 will likely be at the lowest level since 1995.)
Mortgage Rates
With the labor market strong and consumer confidence in relatively good shape despite recession fears and inflation concerns, interest rates are surely most of the reason for 2023’s drop-off in housing sales:
Source: Mortgage News Daily as of 1/12/23
30
That’s the number of volcanic systems in Iceland, along with more than 600 hot springs, making the Nordic country one of the most geologically active places on earth. In the fishing town Grindavik (population 3,700), near the site of last month’s volcanic eruption, most evacuated inhabitants have moved back home — and some 40 residents never left — despite continued risk after a three-day eruption just 2.5 miles to the north.
Cocaine
Moving on to a very different area of the globe, cocaine is consumed in every part of the world, but its producing plant is mainly cultivated in three Latin American countries: Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. The latter nation made headlines in the fall of 2023 after a report released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime claimed the area in Colombia used for coca crop in 2022 grew to 230,000 hectares, a 13 percent increase when compared to 2021.
Though any claim to have precise data on coca crops could well be questioned, Colombia was likely responsible for almost two-thirds of the total cultivation area in 2022. Peru came in second with approximately 95,000 hectares, while Bolivia ranked third with 30,000 hectares.
As of 2022
The Americas have the highest estimated share of people claiming to have consumed cocaine in 2021 — 11.4 million or around half of estimated cocaine users worldwide.
Cool Fact
More than 200 years after the 10th President of the United States was born, one of his grandsons is still alive. As impossible as that may seem, Interesting Facts lays out the math:
John Tyler, who was born in 1790 and became President in 1841, had a son named Lyon Gardiner Tyler in 1853. This son was born to the then-60-something Tyler and his second, much younger, wife, Julia Gardiner. Lyon then had two sons of his own in his 70s (also with a much younger second wife), one of whom — Harrison Ruffin Tyler, born in 1928 — is still gracing the Earth in his 90s.
Related stats, also from InterestingFacts.com:
MLK Day
As the nation observes Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service, we offer Fact Pack tribute through the sharing of Census data showing the civil rights leader’s impact on everything from voting rights and volunteerism to educational and economic progress. Here are some numbers to get us started (click here to view a larger version of the infographic):
As of 2021
After passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting voting and registration data every two years to help ensure elections were truly open to all citizens regardless of race. In 1964, the Census Bureau reported that 69 percent of all voters aged 21 and older and 58.5 percent of Black or African American voters participated in the U.S presidential election (Lyndon B. Johnson v. Barry Goldwater). In 2020, the share of all voters who went to the polls was lower (66.8 percent) than in 1964, but the share of Black voters increased (62.6 percent).
When it comes to educational attainment, data from the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), shows dramatic increases since 1964 among the nation’s Black or African American population: the percentage of students graduating from high school increased from 25.7 percent in 1964 to 90.3 percent in 2021, and in 2021, 2.72 million of these high school graduates went on to attend college compared to only 306,000 in 1964.
As of 2021
Finally, in partnership with the Census Bureau, AmeriCorps conducts a longitudinal survey every two years about volunteerism and other forms of civic engagement in the United States. Here are the 10 states with the highest formal volunteering (helping others through organizations) rate:
As of 2021
Last but Certainly Not Least in the Hearts of Fact Pack Readers
Our own John Restrepo, a leading economist in the Mountain West and co-publisher of Stat Pack and Fact Pack for many happy years, will be providing an economic update for the Las Vegas Chapter of the Risk Management Association at a luncheon to which all are cordially invited:
Click the image above or go here to register (the $70 per person ticket includes lunch and networking at Fleming’s at Town Square).
On the Horizon
This week’s MarketWatch calendar:
