ACCORDING to a Gallup and Amazon Web Services study of more than 30,000 workers and 3,000 hiring managers across 19 countries, employees earn more, are more satisfied with their employment situation and report greater job security the more digital skills they have. Ninety-eight percent of workers who have taken digital skills training in the past 12 months report at least one positive career benefit.

THE study also found that workers who use intermediate or advanced digital skills on the job earn 40 percent and 65 percent higher salaries, respectively, than workers who do not use a computer at work. Advanced digital skills include knowledge of a programming language, cloud architecture or machine learning, and intermediate skills include drag-and-drop website design and data analysis, while basic skills include email and word processing. Seventy-two percent of workers who use advanced digital skills in their job daily also report higher job satisfaction, ranked an 8 or higher on a zero-to-10 scale.

ELEVEN percent of large newspapers and 3 percent of digital news sites that experienced layoffs fell considerably in 2021 when compared with the year prior, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. One possibility for the decline in layoffs is the growth of the U.S. economy last year as businesses rebounded from pandemic-induced challenges.

WALLETHUB recently ranked 182 safest cities in the U.S., and Nashua, NH, ranked high overall at No. 2. Manchester also made the list at No. 23. Nashua also ranked second when focusing on financial safety, and ranked No. 11 for home and community safety.

WHILE Manchester came in at No. 53 for home and community safety, it did rank higher, at No. 16, for financial safety. Nashua, NH, was also found to have the second fewest physical assaults per capita, and Manchester had the lowest unemployment rate among all 182 cities analyzed.