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U.S. Jobs Suffer Broad, Surprise Drop-Off by Justin Lahart

William Attardi on March 8, 2026

The U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February, a widespread and unexpected downturn for a job market that continues to struggle across a broad range of sectors. The employment numbers, reported Friday by the Labor Department, fell far short of January’s gain of 126,000 jobs. They were also much worse than the gain of 50,000 jobs that economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see. The unemployment rate ticked slightly higher to 4.4%. While that is still low, the Friday report exposes troubling weaknesses in a labor market that has shown very little employment growth in recent months. rdHkKlPag6piGjbFnd01-WSJNewsPaper-3-7-2026.pdf

Baird Research: Distributors Expect Growth in 2026

William Attardi on November 30, 2025

In the exclusive tED magazine/Baird research for the 2025’s third-quarter, NAED distributors point to indications of “healthy mid-single digit” growth for next year. 18 distributor companies representing more than $7 billion in annual sales responded to the third quarter survey, which showed revenue growth in the third quarter and a rise in pricing trends. Respondents say they expect to see a 5.4% growth rate in electrical next year, along with a 4.5% growth rate in Datacomm. Those forecasts are generally in line with the broader distribution industry, which anticipates a 4.7% growth rate next year. Baird Research: Distributors Expect Growth In 2026

Scaling Intelligence: The Exponential Growth of AI’s Power Needs

William Attardi on August 12, 2025

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI)—particularly the training of large-scale “frontier models”—is driving renewed growth in electricity demand. This report analyzes the technical drivers of AI power consumption, projects future demand trajectories for individual training sites and broader AI needs, and highlights energy sector implications. Their analysis found not only that the power demands of AI have increased steadily, but also that they will keep increasing. While training large, advanced AI models currently requires between 100 and 150 megawatts each, they are projected to require more than four gigawatts apiece by 2030.This Product is publicly available at Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI): Scaling Intelligence: The Exponential Growth of AI’s Power Needs

Electrical Wholesaling’s 2025 Market Planning Guide

William Attardi on July 8, 2025

 Forecasting can be a tricky business. Your winning bet to succeed boils down to a rather simple, three-step approach:

  1. Work with your management team to gather all the facts you can find about your market of interest
  2. Develop forecasts for which way you think the market is headed
  3. Figure how to maximize the revenue potential

That’s a pretty basic strategy that works most of the time – until the basic facts in your forecast change and need be updated. That’s where we are at right now with the electrical wholesaling industry. It looked like 2025 might be year of moderate growth a point or two better than inflation for the electrical market – until tariffs came on the scene and scrambled some basic assumptions about material costs.  We don’t know when or if tariffs will dramatically impact electrical product pricing, but we do expect the electrical industry to get hit by some degree of tariff-induced prices increases, along with the rest of the U.S. economy. To manage your way through this uncertainty, it helps to have a consistent, tried-and-true planning tool to develop a realistic growth. Electrical Wholesaling’s 2025 Market Planning Guide | Electrical Wholesaling

Interesting: The Three Pillars of Independence of an Organization

The 3 Pillars of Independence most commonly refers to a framework from the UK voluntary sector (specifically promoted by organizations like Bond and the Directory of Social Change). It is a toolkit for assessing and maintaining the independence of charities, NGOs, or civil society organizations.

The Three Pillars are:

  1. Independent of Party Politics – The organization (or regulator) must remain free from bias or influence by any political party or the government of the day. Decisions should be impartial, not favoring one political side.
  2. Independent of Populism – It should not be swayed by popular public opinion, media-driven campaigns, or transient public pressure, especially on controversial or unpopular causes.
  3. Independent of the Press – Freedom from media influence or pressure, ensuring decisions are based on evidence and law rather than headlines or public narratives.

This toolkit was created to monitor potential political encroachment on charitable regulation and to ensure charities can operate without undue external interference.

 

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