Author: openjargon

• Israel said on Tuesday that it had sent tanks into Rafah in defiance of US warnings. 
• The Biden administration says its concerned about the lives of hostages and civilians. 
• The attack signals a widening rift between the US and Israel over actions in Gaza.

Early on Tuesday, Israeli tanks seized control of the vital Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

It came after the Israeli military launched a series of overnight strikes on the city as international mediators attempted to hash out a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The attacks took place just hours after President Joe Biden had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to invade Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the war elsewhere in Gaza had made temporary homes.

But throughout its eight-month war, Israel has shown that it is willing to reject and ignore the advice of its most important international ally, the US.

That is despite Israel being the world's biggest recipient of US military aid. According to the reports, Washington gives it around $3.8 billion worth of weapons and defense systems each year.

"We're having this conversation about how horrible it would be for US credibility and US leadership if we fail to support Ukraine," Matt Duss, the executive vice president of the Center for International Policy, told Time in March.

"The same applies here. Our inability to exert any meaningful influence on Israel—a state that is hugely reliant on US support—is also enormously damaging."

A snub to Biden

The Israeli escalation came after hopes were raised of a cease-fire when Hamas said it accepted a deal to halt the conflict proposed by Qatar and Egypt.

John Kirby, the White House spokesman, said on Sunday that Biden told Netanyahu the US would "not support ground operations in Rafah" unless it shows how it plans to protect the lives of civilians.

Israel on Monday warned civilians in eastern Rafah to evacuate, indicating that an attack may be imminent. At the moment, its strikes on the Rafah appear more limited than the ground invasion Biden warned against Sunday.

However, they show that US pressure hasn't been enough to completely deter a Rafah offensive. Ahead of the assault, the US held back a shipment of ammunition to Israel, according to reports. But that didn't appear to be enough.

A growing rift between the US and Israel

Biden initially offered Israel the US' full support in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, which killed around 1,200 people and seized hundreds of mostly civilian hostages.

But as the war has progressed, the rift between Biden and Netanyahu on how to conduct the campaign to destroy Hamas has become more pronounced.

Biden is trying to restrain Israel and get it to wind down the campaign. Israel's attacks on Gaza have killed tens of thousands of civilians, according to Gazan health authorities, provoked a wave of protests on US campuses, and corroded support for Israel internationally.

Fear that the conflict could spiral into a wider regional war remains intense.

But Netanyahu sees things differently from Biden, and Israel has claimed that it remains determined to destroy the six Hamas battalions that it says are holed up in Rafah.

He's outright rejected calls for the creation of a Palestinian state after the war, a measure backed by the US and another key US regional ally, Saudi Arabia, which has held out the prospect of a deal to normalize relations if Israel agrees.

The US says that negotiating a cease-fire with Hamas remains the best way of securing the lives of the 128 Israeli hostages that remain in Gaza.

But Netanyahu appears to be prioritizing the political demands of his cabinet over the advice he's getting from Biden, say some analysts. His coalition is fragile, and he relies on the support of far-right lawmakers who are demanding an attack on Rafah.

"Netanyahu's calculation is much more focused on maintaining his coalition than he is on keeping Joe Biden happy," Aaron David Miller, a former US peace negotiator who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Wall Street Journal.

At the same time, Netanyahu is under pressure to secure the lives of the 128 Israeli hostages that remain in Gaza.

There remains the possibility that Israel, by attacking Rafah, is pushing for the upper hand in a cease-fire agreement, not positioning itself for a wider invasion.

The New York Times, citing Biden administration officials, said that the rapidly changing prospects for a cease-fire over the weekend are likely part of a bid  to "gain leverage at the negotiating table with a clear resolution not yet in sight."

But if Netanyahu pushes ahead with his threats to invade Rafah, the consequences for the US could be grave, some warn.

The Gaza war has repeatedly threatened to spill into a wider regional conflict, and scenes of new civilian suffering in Rafah could intensify that threat. Meanwhile, Biden could see his global influence eroded if Netanyahu continues to ignore his warnings.

Dave Harden, a former mission director at the US Agency for International Development in the West Bank and Gaza, recently told the BBC that Netanyahu "almost treats Biden as some kind of inconsequential second secretary of a low-ranked European power."

The limits to his influence over Netanyahu's actions could soon become even more apparent.

• Google is co-funding a $2.8 million guaranteed income pilot in California's Bay Area.
• The program will give $12,000 over a year to 225 families to help them secure long-term housing.
• Universal basic income programs have surged in popularity as a poverty-fighting tool.

Alphabet-owned Google is co-funding a pilot program that will give $2.8 million to 450 California families on the verge of homelessness to test whether the cash helps them secure long-term housing.

Google.org, the search giant's philanthropic arm, will help provide 225 families with $1,000 a month in guaranteed basic income for 12 months, on a rolling basis over five years. Another 225 families will serve as a control group and receive $50 a month over the same period.

Google's funding partner is J-PAL North America, a regional office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, a global research center based at MIT.

The "It All Adds Up" program will hand the no-strings-attached cash to families that have recently taken part in housing programs provided by non-profits, and are one to three months away from losing their housing subsidies.

The program's website says that more than 70% of the families enrolled in the pilot are headed by single mothers of color with children under five.

NYU's Housing Solutions Lab will analyze the pilot's results to gauge how effective the payments are in helping families remain in long-term housing. The university's researchers will also assess the impact on participants' health and financial outcomes.

Google's financing role is part of its $1 billion pledge to fight the housing crisis in San Francisco and surrounding areas. Basic income projects have surged in popularity in recent years, in part because data shows they're an effective tool in combating poverty, and participants overwhelmingly spend the money on essentials such as food, housing, and transportation.

Google is known for the generous perks it provides employees, including free food, transportation, and a discounted on-campus hotel.

While it has cut back on perks in recent years, there's a stark contrast between the immense wealth of California's biggest tech companies and their well-remunerated employees, and the many locals struggling to afford basic living expenses.

Alphabet's stock price has jumped 20% this year as investors bet it will be a massive winner from the AI revolution. Revenues surged 15% to $80.5 billion last quarter, driving net income up 57% to about $23.7 billion.

• Israel says it has taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing after a military operation.
• Leaflets were dropped in the eastern part of the city, urging citizens to evacuate.
• The US put pressure on Israel not to carry out the assault — or at least reduce civilian casualties.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday it had established operational control of the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing, after conducting what it called "targeted" strikes against Hamas in the eastern part of the city.

A spokesperson for the Gaza border authority also confirmed the presence of Israeli tanks at the Rafah crossing, according to The Guardian.

The US had earlier said an Israeli invasion of Rafah — a city in southern Gaza where scores of Palestinian refugees have fled — could be a "disaster."

On Monday, the Israeli military told civilians in the eastern part of the city to evacuate ahead of what it called "extreme force," which it said it would use against "terrorist organizations" in the area.

The Israel Defense Forces wrote in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that it ordered civilians to "temporarily move to the humanitarian area," which is slightly northwest, using a combination of flyers, text messages, phone calls, and Arabic media broadcasts.

Leaflets began to fall on the eastern part of the city at about 9 a.m. local time, according to media reports.

Images from Reuters and Getty Images show Palestinian civilians leaving the area.

The IDF's evacuation order came a day after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, that any military operation in Rafah must include a "credible plan" to evacuate Palestinians and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid, according to a Pentagon readout of their call.

More than 1 million Palestinians are estimated to have fled to the city since Israel began its assault on Gaza following the Hamas terror attacks on October 7.

The militant group killed over 1,100 people in the attacks, and hundreds were captured by Hamas fighters.

The Israeli government has responded with crushing force, launching airstrikes into Gaza that have killed more than 35,000 people, according to Hamas-run Gazan health authorities.

International pressure has been building on Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Israel is facing mounting pressure over its handling of the war — including from the US, its ally.

President Joe Biden has previously urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reduce civilian casualties. Past Israeli assaults and strikes have killed aid workers, including seven people with the World Central Kitchen, whose convoy was hit by a drone strike.

In March, John Kirby, a White House national security spokesperson, said a military operation in Rafah could become a "disaster."

Biden was pressed last month in an MSNBC interview to declare a "red line" for Israel's leadership; he agreed that a Rafah invasion was one.

The White House, however, later walked back Biden's statement, The New York Times reported.

In a speech at a Holocaust-memorial event on Sunday, Netanyahu seemingly dismissed criticism of his handling of the war, vowing that Israel would "stand alone" if it was forced to.

"I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself," Netanyahu said, according to The Associated Press.

The war in Gaza has become a divisive issue in the US, where protests have ignited on college campuses. Demonstrators have demanded that the schools divest from Israel; hundreds of protesters have been arrested.

Meanwhile, Biden is facing pressure from his left flank over his support for sending munitions and military aid to Israel. A group of pro-Palestinian voters has been racking up votes against him in the Democratic primaries, hinting that his fragile coalition to defeat former President Donald Trump, his GOP challenger, could be in danger.

• A retirement community in Georgia fired a 78-year-old receptionist because of her age, the EEOC said.
• Just a month beforehand, the company had recognized her as one of its employees of the year.
• As life expectancy rises, more people are working into older age.

A retirement community in Columbus, Georgia, fired a 78-year-old receptionist because of her age shortly after she was taken to hospital with high blood pressure, a federal agency says.

Covenant Woods Retirement Community and its owner, BrightSpace Senior Living, agreed in late April to pay $78,000 to settle an age and disability discrimination lawsuit filed in February 2024 by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The worker, who had been a receptionist since 2007, was fired in February 2022, the EEOC said in the lawsuit.

She was previously given good feedback in her annual reviews, including being recognized in January 2022 as one of Covenant Woods' Employees of the Year for 2021, it wrote.

However, some members of the retirement community's management team had suggested she retire. When the receptionist took medical leave in 2017, aged 74, the office manager asked her multiple times why she didn't retire, per the lawsuit.

On February 10, 2022, the receptionist experienced an incident of high blood pressure while at work and was taken to the hospital. She was released two days later, the EEOC said, and doctors later told her it was the result of dehydration.

When she returned to work later that month, she met with the office manager and general manager, who asked her how long she planned to continue working and whether she needed to do so, per the EEOC.

They also suggested that she should travel and visit relatives. The receptionist, who was 78 at the time, said that she planned to keep working for another two or three years.

But the general manager responded that the company had lost confidence in her ability to perform her duties, citing the blood pressure incident earlier that month as an example, the EEOC said.

The general manager told the receptionist she could either work one day a week, be transferred to an unspecified role in another department, or volunteer without pay, per the lawsuit. The receptionist turned down these options.

She then received a letter from the general manager saying that her employment had ended in a "business decision" because the company had lost confidence in her ability to carry out her tasks, the EEOC said. This was later confirmed in a letter from BrightSpace's HR director.

In the lawsuit, the EEOC said that the employee was fired "because of her age and her disability or perceived disability" in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The companies have agreed to pay $50,000 in compensatory damages and $28,000 in wages to settle the charges.

"We at Covenant Woods and BrightSpace Senior Living resolved this case due to the cost of litigating it," BrightSpace CFO Brian Hendricks told CBS News in a statement. "We do not admit wrongdoing or discriminatory conduct as part of this resolution."

As life expectancy rises, the US workforce is getting older.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 11 million people employed in 2023 were aged 65 or older, making up 6.8% of workers aged 16 or older. This is up from 3.3% of workers 20 years before.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids age discrimination against people aged 40 or older, including in hiring and termination decisions.

Earlier this year, a manufacturing and distribution company in Louisiana agreed to pay $105,000 to a former employee for firing her when she refused to retire at 65 in another EEOC settlement.

• A US soldier was detained in Russia on theft charges last week, a US Army spokesperson told NBC News.
• Gordon Black was visiting a woman he was romantically involved with, US officials said.
• He didn't get permission to travel to Russia from his superiors, officials told AP.

A US soldier detained in Russia on theft charges was visiting a woman he was romantically involved with, NBC News reported, citing four US officials.

Staff Sergeant Gordon Black stopped off in Vladivostok, Russia, on his way back to the US after finishing a deployment in South Korea, the officials told the outlet.

Black had traveled to Russia without prior approval from his superiors and is now in pretrial custody in Russia for allegedly stealing from a woman, the officials said, per the outlet.

The officials failed to identify the woman, or to specify whether she was the same one he was romantically linked with.

The US Army didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comments.

In a statement to NBC News, US Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith said Black was arrested on charges of criminal misconduct last Thursday, that the Army had notified his family, and that the State Department was providing appropriate consular support.

Smith declined to make further comments due to the "sensitivity" of the matter.

Several US officials told the Associated Press that Black was preparing to go home to Fort Cavazos in Texas from South Korea, but instead traveled to Russia to visit his "longtime" girlfriend.

The Russian woman, who previously lived in South Korea, got into an argument or fight with Black last fall and left the country, the officials told AP.

It's not clear if she was compelled to leave and how involved the Korean authorities were, if at all, per AP.

Black did not inform his unit of his plans to go to Russia, the officials told the news agency.

The 34-year-old will be detained on charges of theft until July 2, according to Russian state-run news outlet RIA Novosti, which cited an official at a regional court.

The State Department has issued a level 4 travel advisory for Russia, with Americans warned not to travel to the country due to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, the potential for harassment, and the singling out of US citizens for detention by Russian security officials.

Black is not the only current or former US soldier to be detained in Russia.

Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, was convicted on espionage charges in 2018 and sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison.

US Marine veteran Trevor Reed was arrested in Moscow in 2019 after being convicted of drunkenly attacking Russian police officers during a visit to the country.

• Neom planners are worried The Line will kill a large number of birds, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• The futuristic mirrored structure is on a migration route used by billions of birds. 
• The Line comprises twin 1,640-foot-high towers 656 feet apart.

Neom planners seem worried that the megaproject's mirrored "horizontal skyscraper" will kill a "significant number of birds."

According to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the concerns relate to the location of The Line, which is on a migration route used by billions of birds.

In planning documents, designers wrote that it was "inevitable that a significant number of birds will perish," illustrating their concerns with a drawing of a dead northern flicker, per the report.

In a February promotional video for Neom, chief development officer for The Line, Denis Hickey, said he saw the project as an "opportunity to create a better model for a city to interact with the landscape and nature and the environment."

He said developers believed "The Line is going to be an example to the rest of the world."

Plans for The Line are already architecturally challenging.

The structure is designed as twin 1,640-foot-high mirrored towers set 656 feet apart. According to Neom's website, it will also have no roads, vehicles, or emissions and run on 100% renewable energy.

Plans for the glossy city have reportedly been scaled back in recent months.

The Line was originally planned to accommodate nine million people by 2030. However, a recent report from Bloomberg siad this estimate has been lowered to fewer than 300,000 people by that date.

Saudi officials have been insisting the project is on track despite reports to the contrary.

Faisal Al Ibrahim, the Saudi economy minister, told CNBC there was "no change in scale."

Representatives for Neom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• The clock is ticking for ByteDance to sell its US TikTok operations.
• Clapper, a similar video platform, has been tested by creators as a potential alternative to TikTok.
• Despite an increasing user base, it doesn't seem like somewhere Zoomers will flock to just yet.

The clock is ticking on ByteDance after President Joe Biden signed a bill last month that declared the company has to sell its US TikTok operations or face the app being banned in the US.

If TikTok does suddenly become unavailable, creators are wondering where they might go next.

Some have been trying out Clapper — a video platform that looks a lot like a TikTok dupe, which was set up mainly for millennials and Gen X users.

The app's founder, Edison Chen, described it as "a space for the older generations to feel more comfortable" in an interview with D Magazine last year and somewhere "the parents of TikTok users can express themselves."

In a blog post from 2022, Chen also said Clapper is not about videos becoming viral but about building a community and making friendships.

Some of its features highlight this focus. For example, the "Nearby" feature allows creators to see content made by people close to their location to find friends and connect with like–minded people.

The app also encourages users to use hashtags to connect them to creators with similar audiences.

Otherwise, if you can use TikTok, you can probably use Clapper. It's set up almost exactly the same way, with a "Following" tab and a "For You" tab and buttons for liking, commenting on, and sharing a video in the same place.

I'm not a parent, but I am a millennial. Like many in my age bracket, I'm also an avid TikTok user. Data from the Pew Research Center suggests that 40% of people on TikTok are in their 30s and 40s.

The dominant demographic on TikTok, though, remains Gen Zers, with various surveys estimating that somewhere between 50% and 76% of this age group use it.

Could Clapper be the next big thing among Zoomers if TikTok disappears? I'm not so sure.

Mixed reviews

A Clapper spokesperson told Business Insider the app has doubled its user base every year for the past three years, and daily active users have grown 400% since 2020.

The spokesperson said that since the House voted on a TikTok ban, Clapper has seen 30,000 new users. There are more than two million monthly active users currently, according to the latest estimates.

While the app heavily leans on Gen X and Y, the spokesperson said Clapper is adjusting its strategy "to appeal to younger audiences."

But reviews (posted to TikTok) have been mixed so far.

One creator, Shannon Lee, described the app as "kind of laggy." Another creator, named Allie, said: "It's pretty much like a clone of TikTok, but it does not compare in the slightest."

Others like it, though. Rebecca Starkey, a creator with over 500,000 followers on TikTok, said she enjoyed that it is ad-free, that users had to be at least 17 years old, and that every video that shows up on the For You page has the same opportunity to go viral.

Other positives include an absence of filters and the fact that creators can start earning money immediately — unlike TikTok, where you have to have 10,000 followers before you can join its Creator Rewards Program.

A bit old-school

I attempted to train my Clapper algorithm to feed me the content I wanted to see.

It's not totally fair to compare it to TikTok, which has known me and my tastes for years. Overall, though, I found the content on there a bit outdated.

My feed is full of cringe skits and pranks, as well as clips of people misjudging stunts and injuring themselves, reminiscent of "getting owned" compilations of the earlier internet.

Some recent videos served to me include a woman pretending to collapse in front of her partner and a gym-goer shrieking for help with her too-heavy weights. There are also some questionable comedy sketches on there that verge on sexism and give an overall air of lawlessness.

BI reached out to Clapper for comment on its policies, though its terms of service prohibit nudity and violence, impersonation, and posting content that isn't your own.

It would remind me a bit of early Vine, but a lot of content I'm being served seems to be reposted old clips scraped from YouTube and other platforms.

Back in 2021, a wave of conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers made their way to Clapper, seeing it as a "free speech" alternative to TikTok, where they had been banned.

I didn't come across any of this in my week on Clapper, but I did see plenty of other Facebook-generation content.

There are loads of videos about inspirational sportspeople and animal rescues, tailored to the people who are still enjoying the feel-good nature of Facebook's algorithm.

There are significantly fewer ads. Some creators are promoting products, but you're nowhere near as inundated with things to buy as you are on TikTok.

The main thing that's missing for me right now on Clapper is what the app claims to stand for — community. On Clapper, I'm watching without really thinking. It's rage bait without substance. It's consumption culture without an edge. I mean, what even is this?

Clapper is in its early stages, and that's fine. It takes a long time to build a social media circle, and it may just be I haven't found my people on there yet.

I don't think Clapper will see a huge uptick in Gen Z users unless there's a mass exodus there that can help it form more consistency and depth. This has happened before with Viners flocking to YouTube in 2016, so never say never.

Clapper is definitely providing something. But right now, I don't think it's quite what Zoomers are after.

• Eric Schmidt backed out of buying the Alfa Nero megayacht last year.
• He instead purchased the Kismet, formerly owned by Shahid Khan, and renamed her Whisper.
• The ship — one of the biggest yachts owned by a tech billionaire —was listed for about $161 million.

Last year, Eric Schmidt made waves in the yachting community when news came out that he was the soon-to-be owner of the Alfa Nero, an 81-meter megayacht that belonged to a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

The former Google CEO, who is worth $32.1 billion, per Bloomberg, was to pay $67.6 million for the yacht, which was being auctioned off by the government of Antigua and Barbuda, where the ship had been moored since February 2022, the month Russia invaded Ukraine. The small Caribbean nation had been spending $28,000 a week simply to maintain the mammoth boat.

But as the sale proceedings went on, legal challenges piled up as people laid claim to Alfa Nero, and Schmidt backed out of the deal.

It didn't take long for him to rebound, though. In September 2023, just three months after he won the Alfa Nero auction, the billionaire purchased Kismet, renaming her Whisper, Business Insider has learned.

A spokesperson for Schmidt declined to comment to Business Insider.

The 95-meter-long yacht, built by the renowned German shipyard Lürssen and delivered in 2014, was formerly owned by the Jacksonville Jaguar's billionaire owner, Shahid Khan — hence images of the cat featured on her figurehead and throughout her decor.

Whisper, which can fit at least a dozen guests and a crew of 28 features a master deck with a private jacuzzi, as well as a full-service spa, lap pool, hammam, and outdoor fireplace. Made for entertaining, the megayacht has a cinema, a grand piano, and two helipads — one of which doubles as a basketball court and the other than transforms into a disco.

Her interior was designed to "create a feeling of relaxed opulence, based on a 'Champagne & Caviar' theme," according to the brokerage that sold the ship.

While the yacht's final sale price was not public, she was listed for 149 million euros (about $161 million at current exchange rates).

At a charity auction in January, one week aboard the ship went for $2.4 million, according to industry outlet Yacht Charter Fleet — a steal, considering she typically goes for $3 million a week.

• A Florida-based Gen Xer made over $300,000 in 2023 secretly working multiple remote tech jobs.  
• While the extra income has allowed him to travel more, he still feels "far from rich," he said.
• He shared how his higher income has impacted his relationships and how he's spending the money. 

In 2021, Robert was making roughly $180,000 a year from his tech job, but when his workflow slowed, he feared a layoff may be coming soon.

He decided to start looking for another role and eventually found one that paid $190,000 a year, he previously told Business Insider via email. But before he resigned from his current job, he recalled hearing about a former coworker who was making several hundred thousand dollars secretly working two jobs.

After thinking it over, Robert decided to try to juggle both roles at the same time. That choice changed his life.

In 2023, Robert earned over $300,000 across multiple remote roles, according to documents viewed by BI. He said the extra income allowed his partner to quit their job and made it possible for him to take several expensive vacations, including a roughly $20,000 cruise.

The Gen Xer, a Florida resident, is among the "overemployed" Americans who are secretly working multiple remote jobs to boost their incomes. Over the past year, Business Insider has interviewed more than a dozen job jugglers, many of whom are in the IT and tech industries, who've used the extra money to pay off debt, save for retirement, and afford weight-loss drugs. While some employers may be fine with their workers having a second job, doing so without company approval could have repercussions if a worker is found out.

For Robert, the income from multiple jobs decision has made it possible for him to travel more. Over the last few years, he estimates he spent between $28,000 and $35,000 in total annual travel expenses. Some of his recent trips included Yellowstone, the Galápagos Islands, and Las Vegas.

"We now spend a lot more time on vacations," he said. "We spend a lot on travel because life is more about experiences and memories than material things."

Still, Robert considers himself to be "far from rich," in part because it takes more than a couple of years with a higher income to ensure financial security in the long term, he said. He experienced several job separations in the past, so he knows his jobs aren't guaranteed to last. Additionally, he said he made some bad decisions when he was younger that set back his finances.

"We don't live an extravagant life by any means," he said.

Robert shared how earning more has impacted his relationships with his partner and family — and how he's spending the money.

The extra income goes to travel, food, home, and family

Robert said making more money hasn't changed his relationship with his partner much. But it has been good for his relationships with his family, as it's made it possible for him to visit them more often.

He said it's also allowed him to provide some family members with financial support — he estimated that he spends about $5,000 to $6,000 a year helping out relatives. But finding the right balance can be tricky.

"I am careful with that because I know financial help to some actually is a disservice and prevents people from pushing themselves to succeed," he said.

Aside from family and travel, Robert said he spends most of his money on food and his home.

Food is something he doesn't typically budget for, but these expenses can add up, particularly when he travels, he said. On a five-day trip earlier this year, he said he spent about $700 on food, including $225 on one meal for himself and two family members. He estimated that in the typical month, he spends between $1,500 to $2,000 on food.

"We eat well," he said. "I grew up poor with little to no good food and that is something I do not skimp on."

Robert's housing expenses include a monthly mortgage payment — he said he has about $380,000 left on his loan balance.

He's also putting over $100,000 into refurbishing his home, according to documents viewed by BI. He said this money is going toward a new deck with a high-end hot tub, his basement, and an over 1000-square-foot garage, which he said will be used for two vehicles, a gym, and storage. He said he's taken out loans to fund some of this spending.

Additionally, Robert said he's bought two vehicles in recent years, — both of which are mostly paid off — and that he tries to put as much money in his 401(k) account as he can.

However, Robert said he's not satisfied with the state of his finances.

"My partner and I would like to have no debts in five years unless we invest in a vacation home for us and the family," he said. "We would also like to have $250,000 saved up in six or seven years which is separate from our retirement accounts."

Are you working multiple remote jobs at the same time and willing to provide details about your pay and schedule? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

• Gig work, in particular ride-hailing for companies like Uber and Lyft, is getting more popular.
• Some Americans are turning to it as cost-of-living pressures persist and the job market slows.
• It might not be the solution for everyone in need of extra income. 

More and more Americans are taking up gig work for companies like Uber and Lyft — in part because some have fewer options to land high-paying jobs.

The share of Bank of America customers receiving income from ride-hailing nearly tripled from less than 0.4% in March 2020 to about 1.2% as of March, exceeding pre-pandemic levels, according to a Bank of America Institute report that analyzed internal company data and was published in late April. Among BofA customers, ride-hailing became the most common source of gig income over the last year, passing deliveries, vacation rentals, and social commerce.

BofA also found that many more Americans are going "all in" on gig work. The share of gig workers who received gig income every month of the year increased from about 3% in the 12 months preceding February 2023 to 4% in the 12 months preceding February 2024 — much of this growth came from ride-hailing. Since 2022, it's become increasingly common for gig workers not to have a traditional job, compared to those who do it as a side hustle, BofA found.

Some Americans may be turning to gig work like ride-hailing because they've struggled to boost their income. Job growth is slowing, job openings have fallen from record levels, and April data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday suggests it's getting more difficult to find higher-wage employment.

In April, the sectors that added the most job growth were lower-paying, including retail trade, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, and healthcare and social services. Higher-paying sectors, including manufacturing, construction, and professional services, saw slower job growth. What's more, the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, up from 3.8% in March.

Additionally, a recent Vanguard report found that the hiring rate has held steady for workers who earn less than $55,000 a year, but has fallen for workers in the top third of earners, who make over $96,000, to its lowest level since 2014.

"Where there's been job growth has not been sectors where there has been high wage growth," Kate Bahn, the chief economist and SVP of research at the Institute for Women's Policy Research, previously told BI.

BofA noted that growth in gig employment like ride-hailing slowed in 2022 when rising wages led more workers to pursue traditional jobs. But as wage growth slowed in 2023, the number of gig workers began to tick up again, BofA found. In January 2023, wages rose 6.3% compared to the prior year, according to the Atlanta Fed. By November, this had fallen to 5.6% and was 5.2% as of March 2024.

Why ride-hailing is getting more popular

The BofA report gave several reasons Americans in need of cash might be flocking to ride-hailing in particular.

BofA hypothesized that ride-hailing's growth, relative to a gig like food delivery, may have been driven by a shift in Americans' spending patterns as pandemic conditions have eased.

"This mirrors the pivot in consumer spending towards out-of-home services and away from in-home services and goods, with more people eating out, for example, rather than ordering in," the report said.

Additionally, BofA found that people with ride-hailing income earned, on average, more a month than those who did delivery gig work. Vacation rental was the highest-earning gig BofA measured, but this is only accessible to people with a home to rent out.

Lastly, BofA said that some people who valued public transportation pre-pandemic have shifted to using ridesharing for some trips, given that demand for public transportation is well below pre-pandemic levels while traffic levels are about equivalent.

Younger generations account for much of the rise in ride-hailing numbers.

BofA found that ride-hailing was the most common gig for millennials and Gen X. More than 30% of all gig workers in these generations had ride-hailing income, compared to about 20% for Gen Z and 25% for boomers.

While some young people could value the supplementary income gig work can provide — particularly if they're struggling to pay the bills — others may end up disappointed.

Over the last year, several Uber and Lyft drivers have told BI that ride-hailing is less profitable than it used to be. They've accused ride-hailing giants of taking a bigger cut of rider fares and said increased driver competition and high vehicle expenses have hurt their earnings. These frustrations have led to driver protests and calls for higher guaranteed pay.

Have you recently become a gig driver for companies like Uber and Lyft? What were your motivations? Reach out to these reporters at jzinkula@businessinsider.com and nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.