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• Retail wages are on the rise as the employers struggle to find and retain workers.
• Entry-level employees now find jobs on the sales floor that pay more than $17 an hour.
• Business Insider asked Glassdoor to round up 15 of the highest-paying entry-level retail jobs in the US.

Retail wages are ticking up.

Although the federal minimum wage is still $7.25 per hour (since 2009), fewer and fewer employers can get by without paying at least double that.

A worker would need to earn $17.14 an hour with a 35-hour weekly schedule for 52 weeks in order to meet the US poverty line of $31,200 for a family of four. However, full-time schedules from a single retailer can be difficult to find.

To find out which companies pay the most, Business Insider asked the jobs experts at Glassdoor to share their data from the past year for entry-level sales floor jobs.

Glassdoor's averages are calculated using hourly wage information submitted by users of the platform between January 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, for sales associates and related roles, like cashiers and retail representatives.

Companies had to have at least 1,000 employees to be included in the analysis, and all the entries on this list had a minimum of 30 worker-submitted salaries.

Keep reading for a look at 15 of the highest-paying entry-level retail jobs in the US:

15. Smart & Final – $16.95

The Los Angeles-based grocery chain operates 253 stores across California, Nevada, and Arizona, and employs more than 11,000 associates.

14. ALDI – $17.06

Limited-selection grocer ALDI has 2,372 locations across the US, with a dozen more stores opening soon.

13. FedEx Office – $17.09

FedEx Office employees assist customers with more than just shipping boxes — they also offer custom printing options and a selection of office supplies.

12. Pottery Barn – $17.25

Pottery Barn is the largest brand in Williams Sonoma's home furnishings portfolio, with 184 locations and over $3 billion in sales.

11. Bloomingdale's – $17.28

Owned by Macy's, the luxury department store has 57 US locations and is a key part of the struggling corporation's growth plans.

10. Living Spaces – $17.56

The California-based home furnishings retailer has 39 locations in the Western US, and prides itself on offering a range of aesthetic options at affordable prices.

9. Trader Joe's – $17.69

From its humble beginnings in Pasadena, California, Trader Joe's now boasts roughly 500 locations across the US selling a low-cost assortment of private label groceries.

7. (tie) Tory Burch – $17.89

Launched in New York City in 2004, Tory Burch now sells shoes, handbags, accessories and more at 111 retail locations in 35 US states.

7. (tie) Fred Meyer – $17.89

Back in 1922, entrepreneur Fred Meyer wanted to offer a one-stop shopping experience. Kroger acquired the business in 1999, and today his namesake company's cavernous stores carry some 225,000 different products.

6. Lululemon – $18.00

The yoga pants (and more) brand has more than 360 US stores, which are not only places to buy apparel, but a hub for events, trainings, and even alterations.

5. Buc-ee's – $18.18

Buc-ee's large format travel centers boast the cleanest restrooms — a must-have for any road trip — and their retail and food operation has attracted legions of fans of the growing brand.

4. IKEA – $18.50

The Swedish furniture giant has dozens of US stores where it sells the majority of its products.

3. Costco – $18.57

The wholesale club has more than 600 locations across the US, and employs over 206,000 US workers.

2. REI – $18.88

Founded in 1938, the outdoor lifestyle co-op employs 16,000 people at 181 locations across 41 US states.

1. Patagonia – $21.88

Patagonia topped last year's list with a $20.04 average wage, which would have remained in the lead even without its $1.84 raise. The outdoor apparel company operates 36 retail stores across 20 US states and is widely considered a top-choice company to work for.

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• Iran launched a drone strike on Israel despite warnings from the Biden administration.
• The attack shows how much the US has lost control of the conflict in Gaza, a military expert said.
• The Biden administration wants to be "firefighters in a raging house fire," he told BI.

Iran's barrage of attacks against Israel represents a stark reminder of how the US has been unable to ameliorate tensions in the Middle East and contain the ongoing conflict in Gaza, a national security and foreign policy expert told Business Insider.

On Saturday, Iran launched missiles and drones against Israel in what officials from Iran described as retaliation for the airstrike on the country's consulate in Syria nearly two weeks ago. The airstrike killed two Iranian generals and five officers, the Associated Press reported.

The US anticipated that Iran would strike back, but it was only a matter of when and how. President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday that he expected Iran to attack Israel "sooner, rather than later."

The president also re-affirmed US support for Israel and had a simple, brief message to Iran: "Don't."

Iran's brazen dismissal of Biden's warning may be the result of a series of inconsistent strategic moves from the US with its handling of the Israel-Gaza war, Sean McFate, a national security and foreign policy expert at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, told Business Insider.

'No strategic competence'

McFate told BI that Iran's retaliation was a way to show the international stage that the country had a backbone after Israel's airstrike in Damascus. But, more broadly, Saturday's attack shows just how effective Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel was at stoking chaos in the Middle East, McFate said.

Hamas "launched this as a way to disrupt the melting of relations between Israel and the Gulf states," McFate said, referring to how diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab countries had been thawing before the war. Biden similarly stated that Hamas was trying to disrupt his administration's efforts to normalize ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as with others in the region, The Washington Post reported.

With the war in Gaza, the US wedged itself into the battle and has so far shown conflicting messages to the world through its military support for Israel and simultaneous humanitarian aid for Gaza, leaving Gulf countries such as Iran to feel more defensive, the expert said.

"The fact that the Biden administration is both arming Israel and sending aid to Gaza shows the world that the Biden team has no strategic competence," McFate said. "They've already lost control."

McFate pointed to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as another example of one of the Biden administration's strategic misfires.

Throughout the 2024 election cycle, Biden has said that the US must maintain its support for Ukraine against Russian aggression. But the president's support for Israel runs counter to the reasons he said the US should support Ukraine.

"The administration wants to be the firefighters in a raging house fire," McFate said. "But I think for them to do that, they need to extend more leverage on the government of Israel by conditioning further military support. Israel has basically said, 'Drop off your munitions. Don't answer the door. Just leave,' like your Uber driver. I think the administration has been a little too timid in how to deal with Israel."

In recent weeks, US support for Israel showed some signs of wavering as Biden called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the White House.

In a Saturday statement after Iran's strikes, Biden condemned the attacks and said he had spoken with Netanyahu over the phone to say that the US remains steadfast in its support for Israel.

"I've just spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu to reaffirm America's ironclad commitment to the security of Israel," Biden said. "I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks — sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel."

However, in the same call, Biden told the prime minister that the US will oppose a counterattack against Iran, a senior White House official told CNN.

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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• Billionaires are predictable — and they like to stick together.
• Each year they attend a pretty standard set of parties, festivals, and conferences.
• Here's where you can find a billionaire at any time of year — and how much it will cost you to join in on the fun.

There are exactly 2,640 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes. That's about 0.00003% of the global population.

Despite their scarcity, these billionaires are surprisingly easy to find. After all, birds of a feather — especially those of a small brood — flock their private jets together. At the start of the year, they descend en masse on Davos. In July, they fly to Sun Valley. In December, their yachts anchor in St. Barts.

Here's where billionaires mingle, wheel and deal, and relax, and how you can join them — for a small price, of course.

January: Davos

After billionaires shake off their New Year's Eve hangovers, many make their way to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos to attend lavish dinners, hit the slopes, and discuss the global problem du jour.

The official event is invite-only and costs tens of thousands per ticket. But those who want to rub shoulders with attendees — think Bill Gates, Marc Benioff, and Mark Zuckerberg — aren't completely barred from the Alpine resort.

Many of Davos' luxury hotels, like the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvédère and AlpenGold, are closed to the public, so you'd be better off renting an apartment. Those don't come cheap, though. Local outlets reported that rentals went for 10-times their typical prices last year. One apartment with two double beds and a pull-out sofa cost nearly $27,500 to rent for the five nights of the conference.

And good luck finding food. With most of the restaurants booked up for conference events, you may be left paying $43 for a hot dog.

February: Super Bowl

NFL teams are among the most popular toys of the ultrarich: Walmart's Rob Walton has the Broncos, hedge fund manager David Tepper owns the Panthers, real estate tycoon Stanley Kroenke boasts the Rams, Jerry Jones controls the Cowboys, and so on.

So it's no surprise that a number of billionaires flock to the sport's biggest game every year, though Super Bowl weekend as a billionaire involves more than just wings and great commercials.

Host committees and travel agencies have curated luxury experiences for the richest football fans that cost six figures and include chartered jets, five-star accommodations, and access to the field after the game. Suites for this season's game in Las Vegas are going for up to $3 million on rental platform Suite Luxury Group.

There are also the private parties, known for their superstar performers — in some cases, ones particularly familiar with billionaires. Last year, DJ D-Sol, also known as Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, reportedly spun a set at a party attended by billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Apollo cofounder Josh Harris.

March: Hong Kong's Art Basel

Last year marked the grand reopening of Hong Kong's Art Basel after a three-year coronavirus hiatus. Wealthy Chinese carpooled together in private jets to the fair, Bloomberg reported, and spent millions adding to their collections.

In a savvy scheduling maneuver, the 2023 art fair coincided with the Wealth for Good summit. The conference, a push to get more family offices to set up in the city, counted billionaires like Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang, Sequoia Capital China's Neil Shen, and local real estate magnate Adam Kwok as its attendees.

Artsy clocked more than a dozen seven-figure sales at the art fair, including work like George Condo's "Purple Compression" and Kazuo Shiraga's "Kisan," which sold for $4.75 million and $5 million, respectively. One of the fair's most famous sale's came in 2018, when Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen sold Willem de Kooning's "Untitled XII, 1975" for $35 million to a private collector.

April: The Masters Tournament

Forget Easter. The first signs of spring mean one thing for billionaires: golf.

Each year, the Masters Tournament kicks off the run of major professional golf championships at Augusta National. The famously exclusive club in Georgia — it didn't allow women to join until 2012 — counts a number of billionaires as members.

Pals Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, as well as Warren Stephens, David Ziff, and Stanley Druckenmiller, belong to the club, Bloomberg reported in 2015.

Each year, hundreds of private aircraft land at the airports around Augusta, according to information from the aircraft-tracking website JetSpy.

Billionaires like former Nike CEO Phil Knight, hotelier Robert Rowling, and investor Herbert Allen Jr. all had planes touch down for last year's tournament, according to the Jetspy data. So did Tiger Woods — the only billionaire winner of The Masters.

His victory means he is the proud owner of one of Augusta National's iconic green jackets, which are only allotted to members and Masters winners.

The secretive club hasn't ever spelled out its membership process, but it's invite-only, and new members can only join when existing ones leave.

You can, though, spectate alongside some of the biggest names in business. Tickets for the Masters are available through a lottery system — or for as much as $10,000 on the secondary market.

May: The Cannes Film Festival

Summer starts early for billionaires, who dock their yachts for the Cannes Film Festival at the end of May. While the event is technically reserved for industry professionals, per its website, the super-rich can, of course, pay to play. For them, the fete is as much an opportunity to get a first look at Oscar winners as it is an opportunity to mingle with stars on the Croisette.

It was one of the first stops on Jeff Bezos' 2023 grand debut tour of his $500 million superyacht Koru, which he disembarked to hit up the Vanity Fair party at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, a favorite venue of the very wealthy and those who court them. Other guests included A-listers Robert de Niro, Naomi Campbell, and Pedro Almodovar. In years past, the likes of David Geffen and Len Blavatnik have turned up at the same event.

Billionaires like François-Henri Pinault and the late Paul Allen have hosted their own parties at the film festival: The former throws the Kering Women in Motion Dinner each year, while the latter was known for his themed yacht parties.

Notably missing from the French Riviera this year? The yachts of Russian Oligarchs.

June: The Royal Ascot

While a number of billionaires spend June in the Hamptons or crisscrossing the Mediterranean, some prefer to spend it on dryer land. The headline billionaires at the Royal Ascot — an annual horse race held about 25 miles outside London — are, unsurprisingly, the members of the British royal family.

But many other members of the three comma club, and their hats, are in attendance. The rich crowd is different from the one at a typical F1 Grand Prix, and some billionaire horse owners — like Chanel's Alain and Gerard Wertheimer; the shipping scions of the Niarchos family; Tetra Pak heiress Kirsten Rausing; and construction magnate Anthony Bamford — have even had skin in the game.

For over 200 years, the Royal Ascot has been open to the public — about 300,000 people attend the five-day event — but don't expect to get anywhere near the rich and famous. Joining the Royal Enclosure requires a special application process, including having two sponsors. Plus, there's a strict dress code — no spaghetti straps or bow ties allowed — and kids under 10 years old are not allowed.

July: Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference

Every July, private jets descend on the small town of Hailey, Idaho, for the summer counterpart to Davos: the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference — also known as billionaire summer camp.

Since 1983, boutique investment bank Allen & Co — its president, Herbert Allen, is a billionaire himself — has hosted the event, which attracts the biggest and richest names in business, including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, and Rupert Murdoch.

The conference has become known for the deals struck in between rounds of golf, guided hikes, whitewater rafting, and tennis matches. It's where Jeff Bezos snagged The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013 and where the seed for Disney's $19 billion acquisition of ABC were planted in 1995.

The vacation-cum-business-meeting is invite-only and pretty much restricted to masters of the universe dressed in vests and quarter-zips — as well as their entourages. Security is strict, with even the press walled off from most of the wheeling and dealing.

But when the conference is not in session, you, too, can stay at the Sun Valley Lodge, the homebase of the retreat that offers a year-round ice skating rink, luxe spa, and pool with a view of the mountains. The most basic rooms cost upwards of $500 a night over the summer, and suites go for upwards of $1,500. But don't feel too bad for the billionaires, Allen & Co foots the bill.

August: Burning Man

On its face, Burning Man — the anticapitalist art and music festival in the Nevada desert — doesn't really seem like an event for billionaires. But the richest people in the world don't seem to care about whether or not they're wanted.

Since the 1990s, attending Burning Man has become a sort of status symbol of the tech elite. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are longtime Burners — the festival inspired the very first Google Doodle — as is Eric Schmidt, who they chose to be Google's CEO.

Facebook cofounders Dustin Moskowitz and Mark Zuckerberg, and Uber cofounder Garrett Camp have also attended. Even Ray Dalio, the billionaire hedge fund manager, wanted to see what all the hype was about, sporting some psychedelic bell bottoms and joining the party in 2019.

The experiences of many celebrities and billionaires on the Playa lean less into the "decommodification" and "leave no trace" principles of the festival and more into the "immediacy" one — as in instant gratification. They take charter planes into Black Rock City's pop-up airport, a temporary runway constructed for the occasion; travel around in tricked-out art cars (basically fancy golf carts); and forego rustic tents for more fancy camps, complete with furniture, air-conditioning, and personal chefs who charge six-figures for their services.

All of this may be why there was a hefty dose of schadenfreude when Burning Man went underwater, quite literally.

September: The Monaco Yacht Show

There are yachts, and then there are the superyachts — and those are aplenty at the Monaco Yacht Show in Monte Carlo, where billionaires gather at the end of the summer to scope out their new toys. (There are also, technically, megayachts, but for plebeian purposes, they are one and the same.)

The 100-plus boats on display have an average length of 165 feet, and feature elevators, bars, spas, pools, gyms, hot tubs, and helipads — sometimes more than one. Jet skis and submersibles are popular add-ons.

In the past, yachts owned by billionaires like Paul Allen, Steve Wynn, and Pier Luigi Loro Piana have been exhibited at the show — with some available for sale or to charter. The event also used to be a favorite of opulent Russian oligarchs, though sanctions have prevented them from attending for the past couple of years.

If you're looking to peruse boats that you can't afford — or maybe meet a billionaire who will invite you on theirs — you're in luck: The Monaco Yacht Show is open to the public for the small price of 600 Euros, or $640, a day.

October: The Frieze Art Fair

The Frieze Art Fair, held annually in London, draws the rich — and the staff of the rich — from around the world looking to add very expensive contemporary art to their collections. (For those who prefer pre 21st century art, there's the nearby Frieze Masters.)

In years past, collectors like Point72's Steve Cohen, Diamond titan Laurence Graff, and the wife of hedge fund legend Louis Bacon, Gabrielle, have all been spotted. While exactly which works these patrons have bought tend to be kept under wraps, pieces go for millions of dollars each year.

While anyone can buy tickets to the fair itself — this year for as low as £46, or $57 — the fetes surrounding Frieze Week are a more surefire place to spot a billionaire — or their younger, edgier heirs. A look at party snaps from the last few years show Gordon Getty's granddaughter Ivy Getty, Cohen's daughter Sophia, and Roger Penske's granddaughter Sophia mingling with art-world celebrities, and possibly looking for some six-figure works of art to add to their starter collections.

November: Le Bal des Débutantes

Le Bal des Débutantes continues the centuries-long tradition of rich, famous women reminding society that they are, well, rich and famous.

The ball is invite-only, and no one, not even billionaires, can buy their way in — at least that's what Ophélie Renouard, the founder of the ball's current iteration, told Insider. Renouard handpicks the cohort of about 20 women each year, who go to Paris for a weekend of photoshoots, makeup and hair appointments, and traditional waltzes.

Past debutantes have included royalty like Princess Hélène of Orléans and Princess Akshita Bhanj Deo; children of Hollywood elite like Forest Whitaker's daughters Autumn and True, and Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe's daughter Ava; and, of course, the heiresses of billion dollar fortunes like Araminta Mellon, Kayla Rockefeller, Laila Blavatnik, and Amanda Hearst, usually with their very wealthy and very powerful parents in tow.

As is often the case for the rich — and rich nepo babies, in particular — things come free: The weekend's dance lessons, couture gowns, glam squads, and jewels are paid for by sponsors.

December: New Year in St. Barts

Billionaires ring in the New Year seemingly anywhere but at home. And while Aspen and Maldives are popular choices for the wintering elite, there is perhaps nowhere with more billionaires-per-square foot during the holidays than St. Barts.

In years past, the Caribbean island, formally Saint-Barthélemy, has attracted yachts owned by the likes of David Geffen, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, and Bernard Arnault for year-end festivities.

Unfortunately for the poor rich, one of the most infamous St. Barts New Year's parties will be canceled this year. Roman Abramovich — the former Chelsea FC owner, sanctioned Russian billionaire, and unlikely hero of St. Barts — will not be hosting his multi-million dollar extravaganza, which has featured performances from Prince and Beyoncé; millions worth of food and alcohol; and guests like Orlando Bloom and Rupert Murdoch.

Guess they'll have to buy tickets to Nikki Beach's party like the rest of us.

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• Iran launched a retaliatory attack against Israel on Saturday.
• The US military shot down Iran-fired drone aircraft amid the attack, per Reuters.
• CNN reported the US military remains poised to provide "defensive support" to Israel.

The US military on Saturday shot down drones fired by Iran and headed toward Israel amid Iran's retaliatory strike on the country, Reuters reported.

The outlet did not specify how many drones or the locations where they were shot down. However, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it launched a barrage of drones and missiles toward Israel in response to Israel's April 1 strike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, that killed several high-level Iranian military commanders.

"In accordance with our ironclad commitment to Israel's security, US forces in the region continue to shoot down Iranian-launched drones targeting Israel," CNN reported a US defense official said. "Our forces remain postured to provide additional defensive support and to protect US forces operating in the region."

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

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• Tesla sent an internal memo to Cybertruck employees recently. 
• The memo describes shorter hours at the Austin Gigafactory.
• The new schedule follows Tesla's first year-over-year quarterly sales decline since 2020.

Tesla told employees who work on the Cybertruck that shifts will be shorter on the production line at the Austin Gigafactory, according to an internal messaged viewed by Business Insider.

Previously, workers clocked 12 hour shifts from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.. They will now be working 11 hour shifts during the day and 10.5 hour shifts at night — from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. — the memo said.

The new schedule was communicated internally on Thursday and will kick in on Monday, according to the memo.

It's unclear whether Tesla is implementing the new schedule on other production lines, or at other factories. Tesla makes the Cybertruck at the Austin Gigafactory, but it also makes its Model Y there and is working on its next-gen vehicle at the location.

Some workers at other Tesla factories in Sparks, Nevada, and Fremont, California, told BI they were still scheduled for full 12 hour shifts. Factory workers at the electric-vehicle maker typically work three to four days per week.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla has begun to feel the impact of slowing demand for EVs. Earlier this month, the company's first-quarter delivery numbers fell significantly below Wall Street expectations. The company saw its first year-over-year quarterly decline in deliveries since 2020.

On Saturday, some Tesla employees told BI they are concerned about big layoffs that may come as soon as this weekend.

It's unclear how many Cybertrucks Tesla has delivered to date. During Tesla's latest earnings call in January, Elon Musk said the Cybertruck was almost sold out for 2024.

"This is a production-constraint situation, not a demand-constraint situation," Musk said at the time.

Tesla released the Cybertruck in November. The company's Austin factory handles production of the vehicle, which Musk has said requires a high level of precision due to the truck's sharp lines.

Ahead of the vehicle's launch, Musk warned that Tesla had "dug its own grave" with the Cybertruck and that it would take years to ramp up production. Tesla aims to produce 250,000 Cybertrucks per year by 2025, according to Musk.

Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com

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• Iran launched an airborne attack toward Israel on Saturday.
• The White House confirmed the attack was underway and underlined American support for Israel.
• Iran has threatened retaliation for an earlier strike by Israel on Iranian military targets in Syria. 

Iran has begun an airborne attack against Israel, the White House confirmed on Saturday.

Iranian state television confirmed in a ticker that the attack came in the form of an "extensive drone operation," Radio Free Europe reporter Kian Sharifi noted in a post on X. An IDF spokesperson indicated dozens of drones had been launched from Iran, according to Times of Israel reporter Emanuel Fabian.

The attack follows months of escalating tensions in the region.

"President Biden is being regularly updated on the situation by his national security team and will meet with them this afternoon at the White House," NSC Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. "His team is in constant communication with Israeli officials as well as other partners and allies. This attack is likely to unfold over a number of hours. President Biden has been clear: our support for Israel's security is ironclad. The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran."

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

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• Donald Trump's views on abortion are muddled at best and threatening at worst.
• GOP lawmakers are targeting access to IVF, IUDs, birth control pills, and emergency contraception.
• So some women are stockpiling abortion pills and contraception, activists say.

Donald Trump's views on a national abortion ban have not exactly been transparent.

In March, the repeat presidential candidate seemed to support the idea: "The number of weeks now, people are agreeing on 15, and I'm thinking in terms of that, and it'll come out to something that's very reasonable," he said during an interview."

Previously, he floated a 16-week ban because he liked the roundness of the number.

But then, last week, after Arizona's Supreme Court revived a near-total abortion ban dating back to 1864, Trump said the court had gone too far and that he wouldn't sign a national abortion ban if it came across his desk. "It's all about state's rights, and it will be straightened out," he said after the ruling.

The flip-flopping probably has something to do with the line Trump is trying to walk between many within his base who support a national ban on abortion and the women voters he'll need to show up for him on election day if he wants to defeat President Joe Biden in November.

But some women are not waiting to find out whether Trump will win and which side of the abortion issue he'll land on. Instead, they are preparing for the worst.

Merle Hoffman, a longtime abortion activist, told Business Insider that some women have started to stockpile abortion pills like Mifepristone.

"Individuals may have to stockpile, and I've heard of people starting to do that, but not everybody can," Hoffman said.

How to stockpile abortion pills

Debbie McNabb, a retired gynecologist based in Texas, told Business Insider she only knows of one online source that will give patients abortion medication if they're not currently pregnant: AidAccess.

"You can get it ahead of time. You can stockpile. It is expensive," McNabb said. "I want to say it's $150, but if people had the financial resources, they could do that. In the United States, I don't think you can go to an out-of-state clinic and get medication unless you personally are pregnant."

People can also stockpile emergency contraception, which is easier to access because it is available over the counter, McNabb said.

"The only other option I'm seeing, there are women who have set up self-help groups that are bringing in Mifepristone. They're basically trafficking it under the radar, and they go to great lengths to keep their operation a secret," she said. "They acquire the pills at pharmacies in Mexico where you don't have to say that you're pregnant."

Beyond that, McNabb said, people are choosing to limit their reproductive options surgically by getting their tubes tied.

"We've already seen women going ahead and getting tubals and their partners going ahead and getting vasectomies. Maybe they thought they'd have a pregnancy in the future, but then they realize, 'No, I really don't want a pregnancy, and let's pull the trigger on that,'" she said.

The abortion rights movement is on the defensive

Aside from discussions on a nationwide abortion ban, the US Supreme Court is due to issue an opinion this summer on a case that could limit access to the abortion pill nationwide.

Though the justices appear skeptical of limiting access to the pill, their discussions have alluded to the potential revival of the Comstock Act of 1873, which banned the mailing of materials considered to be "obscene." That could be used to criminalize mailing abortion pills across state lines.

In this climate, Hoffman said the abortion rights movement is in an "extremely defensive political position" and is fighting for their rights state by state.

"So how much more will we have to do — in the richest country in the world with all the medical ability, scientific information, and knowledge — to be able to control our own fertility and determine our own life's course?" Hoffman asked.

The anti-abortion movement won't stop at 15 weeks, she added.

"The purists are not going to be happy with a 15-week ban. They're not going to be happy with anything except a total ban," Hoffman said, adding that reproductive destiny is "embedded in our bodies."

"And because it's within women's bodies, it's open to manipulation and control by the state."

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• The latest New York Times/Siena College poll showed a tightening race between Biden and Trump.
• Trump now leads Biden 46% to 45% among registered voters, a decline from February's 48% to 43% lead.
• Biden is winning over more of his 2020 supporters and boasts leads with women and suburbanites.

President Joe Biden has gained ground on former President Donald Trump in the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, cutting into a persistent lead that the ex-president has held for months.

Last month, both Biden and Trump secured enough delegates to become the presumptive nominees ahead of their party conventions and the November election. And Biden, who has so far struggled to rally young voters and minorities around his reelection bid, has seemingly clawed back some of his 2020 support in that time.

In the latest Times/Siena poll, Trump led Biden by a razor-thin 46% to 45% margin among registered voters, a tightening from the 48% to 43% advantage the former president enjoyed in a February poll.

How Biden gained ground on Trump

The poll showed that Biden is now winning 89% of his 2020 backers, an increase from February when 83% of the incumbent's 2020 supporters said they'd vote for him again in November.

In the survey, 94% of Trump's 2020 supporters said they'd vote for him again, a slight decline from the 97% of 2020 backers who in February indicated that they'd cast a ballot for him in the fall.

Despite Biden's 38% job approval rating, he boasted sizable leads with female voters (53%-37%), voters aged 65 and older (51%-42%), Black voters (69%-16%), and suburban voters (51%-40%).

Meanwhile, Trump held advantages with men (57%-37%), rural voters (62%-29%), voters aged 45 to 64 (52%-43%), and white non-college graduates (62%-30%).

Trump benefits from having stronger numbers on the economy (64% approved of him on the issue) and immigration (50% approved of his handling of the issue).

Despite low unemployment and a strong jobs market, 63% of respondents disapproved of Biden's handling of the economy, an issue that is perhaps the most serious threat to his reelection bid.

In recent weeks, Biden has ramped up his campaign schedule, appearing in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. He is seeking to tout his administration's record and boost his visibility as more voters start to pay closer attention to the presidential race.

Abortion rights, which was always poised to be a major issue this year, has taken on greater urgency in Arizona, where the state's conservative Supreme Court this week ruled that a near-total abortion ban from 1864 could be enforced.

Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, are running hard on abortion and continue to point to Trump's appointment of anti-abortion conservatives to the US Supreme Court as the reason why Roe v. Wade was struck down — which has subsequently created a patchwork of abortion laws across the country.

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• Airbnb plans to help renters list their homes to earn additional income.
• The company says it could help mitigate the impact of skyrocketing rental rates.
• Airbnb's new effort comes as some cities pass 'renter-friendly' policies.

Airbnb is on a mission to help renters earn a little extra income — and probably keep a little for itself, too.

The company announced plans on Friday to help renters list their rental homes on its platform. Airbnb plans to work with city and state governments to "advocate for short-term rental rules that allow renters to share their home."

Despite the stories of Airbnb hosts who turn millions in profit by renting out their properties, Airbnb said that more than 40% of homeowners in the United States who rent properties on the platform have used the extra money just to stay in their homes. About 10% said the money helped them avoid eviction or foreclosure.

So, as rental rates skyrocket across the country, Airbnb said its new initiative could also help renters "stay in their homes."

In 2022, a record 22.4 million renter households were cost-burdened, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, according to a report from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, which Airbnb cited. The report also noted an "all-time high" of 12.1 million renter households were severely cost-burdened, meaning they spent more than half their income on housing costs. As a result, those with the lowest incomes spent 39% less on food and 42% less on healthcare than their "unburdened counterparts."

One of the roadblocks to Airbnb's renter initiative is that "a lot of the early laws that were made limited short-term rental to homeownership," Theo Yedinsky, the vice president of public policy at Airbnb, told CNN.

More recently, towns and cities across North America have begun cracking down on short-term rentals, requiring licenses and, in some cases, asking short-term rental owners to live in the property as their primary residence.

One promising sign — for Airbnb, at least — is that Virginia signed a law earlier this week that requires localities that issue short-term rental permits to property owners to issue the same permit to tenants — provided they have permission from the property owner. Cities like Raleigh, San Diego, and Tulsa have also passed "renter-friendly" policies, Airbnb said.

"Homeownership should not be a barrier to entry when it comes to sharing your home," Mike Signer, Airbnb's North America policy director, said in the company's announcement. "The vast majority of Hosts in the US share their space to help cover the rising cost of living, and we want to partner with cities to develop sensible short-term rental policies that grant renters the opportunity to do the same."

Airbnb did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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• Tesla employees fear potential layoffs may begin as early as this weekend.
• This follows earlier rumors in February when Tesla temporarily delayed performance reviews.
• Tesla's deliveries dropped below Wall Street expectations during its first quarter.

Some Tesla employees are concerned that layoffs are imminent, possibly as soon as this weekend.

Rumors are circling at Tesla's offices that cuts are on the horizon, seven engineers — including from the Austin gigafactory and the Fremont factory — told Business Insider. While there has not been any official communication to teams, some workers said they'd heard cuts could begin as soon as Sunday.

Two other workers said they hadn't heard the chatter about layoffs, while others said they weren't taking them too seriously.

"There've been some whispers and some people are concerned, but you know how fast false rumors can spread at a company this big," one engineer said.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is the second time in a matter of months that anxiety over possible layoffs has set in at Tesla. In February, the carmaker reportedly called for managers to begin identifying the most vital roles for the company. At the same time, Tesla also delayed some workers' performance reviews, Bloomberg reported. The reviews were later rescheduled, three sources told Business Insider.

Workers across the tech industry are likely on high alert for any sign of a potential layoff. Several Big Tech companies, including Google and Microsoft, have already made cuts this year. EV rivals like Rivian and Fisker have also laid off staff in 2024.

And Tesla has faced some strong headwinds recently.

Tesla's first-quarter delivery numbers revealed a slump in sales, for instance. The carmaker's deliveries fell 20% from the previous quarter and over 8% from the same time the previous year, marking the company's first year-on-year sales decline since 2020.

Do you work for Tesla or a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com

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