Good morning! Tomorrow, King Charles III will be crowned in London in a ceremony that includes a lot of very old and very gold objects, including a 360-year-old crown, a gilt spoon, a stone of destiny and a 700-year-old chair. Today we’re exploring:
Down in history (and civics)
The Nation’s Report Card just got a couple more results added to it, neither of which managed to brighten the post-pandemic educational landscape — just 20% of eighth graders are considered “proficient” in civics, while only 13% were marked the same for US history.
The new data, collated by the National Center for Educational Statistics, shows that history scores for 13/14-year-olds have slumped to their lowest levels since the assessment began in 1994, whilst civics results dropped for the first time ever.
Oh, the humanities
The report card, or the National Assessment of Educational Progress to give it its full title, has assessed America’s school children for over 50 years and is as good a reflection of the current educational state of the nation as we have. Indeed, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona reflected that the latest update “further affirms the profound impact the pandemic had on student learning in subjects beyond math and reading” (results for which were published in October last year).
One striking aspect of the results has been how different groups of students have seen their results impacted. In history, for example, the top-performing students have only experienced a 2-point drop on average, while students in the 10th percentile have seen their scores plummet by 7 points.
Go deeper: Check out the full data from the Nation's Report Card.
Side quests
Shopify revealed yesterday that it is selling its logistics business to Flexport and laying off 20% of its workforce, as the online shopping giant essentially gives up on doing the actual delivering itself for its e-commerce customers.
The announcement came alongside the company's quarterly results, which saw a 25% increase in sales to $1.5bn compared to the previous year, far exceeding expectations of $1.43bn.
Offloading its logistics business marks a significant reversal for Shopify, which only purchased last-mile delivery startup Deliverr a year ago for $2.1bn, its largest acquisition to date. The company's CEO, Tobias Lütke, emphasized that SHOP is refocusing on its main objective of "building incredible software for e-commerce," distinguishing between the company's "main quests" and "side quests”.
Had the Canadian e-commerce company just stuck with its original “main quest” — of providing a place for pretty much anyone to create their own online store front — then it would still be heavily reliant upon its monthly subscription payments. However, that division now typically accounts for less than a quarter of its business, with processing payment fees, marketing, up-front capital and, until recently, logistics making up the bulk of its sales.
Shopify's news is a good reminder that the business of moving stuff from one place to another is still really hard — particularly when your competition is Amazon.
Working hard
While Cinco de Mayo isn’t a federal holiday in Mexico — the scale of the festivities north of the border could be to blame if that fact shocks you — workers who are in today may have even more reason to celebrate thanks to a bill that’s passing through the country's Congress.
Over 40% of Mexican workers are currently doing 6-day weeks, but they could see their hours slashed from 48 to 40 thanks to the employee-friendly legislation that passed out of the committee stage last week.
Hardly working?
The move comes while other nations around the world continue to trial and talk about the possibility of a 4-day working week. Indeed, Senator Bernie Sanders called for a 32-hour working week for Americans just yesterday, saying workers in the US “deserve a break”. And, by comparison to a lot of European countries, he could have a point.
Data from the OECD reveals that while Americans are working ~337 hours a year less than Mexican workers, they’re still notching an extra 75 hours a year compared to the OECD average of 1,716 hours per year. While that may not sound like a lot, at only an extra hour-and-a-half or so a week, it’s a big difference to the hours some other nations are clocking in.
Workers in Germany, for example, put in 1,349 hours on average over 2021 — 367 hours below the OECD average, 442 less than America, and a genuinely staggering 779 hours less than in Mexico.
• The McDonald's app was downloaded 127 million times last year, more downloads than food delivery companies Uber Eats and DoorDash racked up together.
• Paramount Global shares dropped 28%, its worst day in over 3 years, after missing earning expectations.
• French oil giant Total, which had revenues of $285bn last year, is suing Greenpeace for $1.10 in damages (no we didn't forget the "m" or "bn" at the end of that).
• Binge vs. weekly release: charting the performance of the two streaming models.
• Our friends at The Pudding have done some great scrollytelling on the annoying barriers that companies put in place to prevent you from unsubscribing.
• Visualizing how relatively small this current banking crisis is to 2008.
Off the charts: Which movie franchise have we blanked out below? Hint: Yesterday's date is a clue. [Answer below].
Answer here.
