Latest news with #2025Index
Business Wire
05-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Insure.com's 2025 Mother's Day Index: Mom's Salary Hits $145,235
FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- a trusted source for expert insurance insights, has released its 15th annual Mother's Day Index, which finds that the unpaid work mothers typically perform at home would command an annual salary of $145,235 — a 4% increase from last year. What's a mom worth in 2025? According to Mother's Day Index, her unpaid work would earn $145K a year. Share 'Stay-at-home mothers juggle multiple jobs behind the scenes without compensation,' says Nupur Gambhir, a licensed life insurance agent and the managing editor at 'The Mother's Day Index is our way of recognizing some of the economic value of caregivers — their extraordinary workload would easily earn them six figures in the job market.' To compile the Mother's Day Index, the editorial team uses U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) wage information to assign an hourly rate to jobs primary caregivers typically perform around the home, such as cooking meals, helping with homework and providing emotional support. The team then estimates the number of hours each task requires and calculates an annual salary. Highlights from the 2025 Index show significant increases in compensation across several caregiving and household-related professions: Mental health counselors: 11% Community service specialists: 8% Laundry workers: 7% Bakers: 6% Gambhir is available for interviews about the Mother's Day Index or to answer consumer questions about life insurance. About is owned and operated by QuinStreet, Inc. (Nasdaq: QNST), a pioneer in delivering online marketplace solutions to match searchers with brands in digital media. QuinStreet is committed to providing consumers and businesses with the information and tools to research, find and select the products and brands that meet their needs. is a member of the company's expert research and publishing division. For 35 years, has served as a comprehensive consumer resource for insurance information, offering expert advice, articles, news, and tools about car, home, health, and life insurance. Consumers have access to free insurance quotes and guidance on finding the right insurance policy, saving money and solving claims problems.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tax season is hard enough. Inaccessible websites make it worse.
Many government and financial websites are still difficult to use for people with disabilities, especially during tax season. From confusing navigation to inaccessible forms and documents, these barriers make it hard to file taxes or manage finances independently. Tax season is often a source of stress and confusion—from navigating complicated forms to tracking down essential documents. For many Americans, the process has gone digital in recent years, with everything from tax filing to payment portals now hosted online. But for the millions of people with disabilities who rely on accessible technology to navigate the internet, tax season presents an added challenge: government and financial websites remain deeply inaccessible, making it difficult—and in some cases, impossible—to meet their financial obligations independently, AudioEye says. According to AudioEye's 2025 Digital Accessibility Index, the average government webpage contains 307 accessibility violations—one of the highest rates of any industry analyzed in the report. From unlabeled form fields to vague navigation links, these barriers can prevent users from applying for benefits, filing taxes, or accessing critical public services. Government websites frequently rely on images to convey information, including application instructions and service directories. Yet 15.3 images per page lacked alternative text (alt text), which allows people who are blind or have low vision to understand the content and purpose of images through screen readers. And with 77% of pages containing unclear links, navigating a site to find the correct tax form or deadline becomes a frustrating, if not impossible, task. "I use an online tax service, and navigating the platform is often slow and irksome," said Dave Carlson, a member of AudioEye's A11iance Community. "Not all modules work the same way, and it takes a lot of trial and error just to reach input fields and Continue buttons. After years of using it, I've figured out how to get through it—but it shouldn't be that hard." In addition to government portals, financial services websites—which host tools for direct deposits, tax refunds, and loan information—are also falling behind on accessibility. In fact, they were among the worst-performing sectors in the 2025 Index. AudioEye analyzed more than 57,000 pages across 1,500+ financial services sites and found that: 80% of pages included unclear or vague links, making it hard to locate key services like payment portals or transaction histories. The average page contained 74 violations of minimum color contrast requirements as outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), making forms and financial documents difficult to read for users with low vision. On average, there were 6.8 inaccessible forms per page—preventing users from opening accounts, transferring funds, or setting up automatic payments. "One of the biggest issues for me during tax season is getting my bank and credit card data in a usable format," Carlson continued. "Most institutions only offer PDFs, which are nearly impossible to navigate when dealing with large tables. I need spreadsheets, but getting them often means calling the institution and explaining the issue—year after year. Nothing changes, so I've just had to get smarter about workarounds." Website accessibility issues don't just create barriers for users—they also expose organizations to greater legal risk. With the Department of Justice gearing up to enforce updates to Title II of the ADA and stronger Section 508 compliance rules, both public agencies and private institutions will soon face more scrutiny regarding the accessibility of their websites. For organizations—both public and private—the takeaway is clear: Digital accessibility must be a priority. Here are a few ways to start: Audit and test regularly: Use a combination of automated scanning tools and expert testing by people with disabilities to identify and fix issues that lead to lawsuits. Prioritize accessibility in high-traffic areas: Focus on critical pages such as login portals, form submissions, and payment tools where users are most likely to encounter issues. Engage with the disability community: Invite users with disabilities to share feedback and participate in the design and QA process. Their lived experience offers insight that internal testing often misses. Fix the basics: Ensure every image has alt text, every form field has a clear label, and every link accurately describes where it goes. When essential services like tax filing, refund tracking, and benefit applications are out of reach, it creates unnecessary barriers to independence, privacy, and financial stability. Accessibility isn't just a feature to check off—it's a civil right. Achieving it requires more than automated scans or surface-level fixes. It demands a comprehensive, thoughtful approach that includes testing with real users, fixing issues at the source, and building digital experiences that work for everyone. This story was produced by AudioEye and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
Arab News
14-03-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Saudi Arabia moves into top 4 among world's emerging markets
Saudi Arabia's massive logistics investment, sweeping digitization of trade, and sharp focus on quality-of-life improvements has pushed the country higher in the annual Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index. For 16 years, the index has been a benchmark of competitiveness for the world's 50 leading emerging markets countries, ranking them by factors important to logistics providers, freight forwarders, air and ocean carriers, distributors and investors. In the 2025 index, Saudi Arabia improves its performance relative to other countries in all four Index categories: international and domestic logistics opportunities, business climate, and digital readiness. The Kingdom ranks with China, India and United Arab Emirates at the top of the 2025 rankings. It finishes among the top five in all four Index categories. 'Saudi Arabia's desire to establish itself as a major global trade hub and innovation center are rapidly becoming a reality. 'The ambitious aims laid out in the Kingdom's Vision 2030 strategy have been matched by focused, effective policies and actions that are yielding change and progress across the economy, business and society,' says Agility vice chairman Tarek Sultan. The 2025 index singles out Saudi Arabia for efforts to strengthen supply chain networks, improve port connectivity, manage inflation, reduce corruption, improve digital skills, and develop a high-value manufacturing sector. In addition to the rankings, the index features a survey of 567 logistics industry professionals. More than 62 percent of those surveyed say they've overhauled their supply chains to safeguard against inflation, looming trade tariffs, the possibility of a global economic downturn and other major risks. The survey shows the logistics industry entering 2025 looking to protect itself from rising costs and a potential trade war ignited by expected US tariff hikes and a flood of exports from China. 'There is wariness and uncertainty among shippers, carriers, forwarders and others when it comes to the geopolitical factors that drive up costs, affect trade volumes, and alter supply chains,' Sultan said. 'Companies doing business internationally continue to shift production as they re-evaluate investment plans and search for durable paths to growth. Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Mexico and a handful of others are emerging as super-connectors for global trade.' The 2025 Index features an in-depth analysis of Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors. Individually and as a group, the six GCC countries are positioning themselves as global trade centers, investing heavily in infrastructure, AI, energy transition, and workforce development. Despite increasing risk to global supply chains, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have become 'beacons of stability' and resilience, the Index concludes. Stability at the top of the 50-country rankings was accompanied by volatility and movement further down in the Index. China, India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, Qatar, Thailand and Vietnam rank 1 through 10. Colombia (No. 21) leaped up the rankings; as Nigeria (43), Bangladesh (39) and Ukraine (40) tumbled. The six Gulf countries all are among the top 11 for business conditions: UAE again tops the rankings for best business climate; Saudi Arabia is third and Qatar fifth. The countries most digitally ready are China, UAE, Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In international logistics opportunities, China, India, Mexico, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia rank highest. In domestic logistics, the leaders are China, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and UAE. 2025 Index Highlights SURVEY COUNTRY RANKINGS Transport Intelligence, a leading analysis and research firm for the logistics industry, has compiled the Index since it was launched in 2009. John Manners-Bell, chief executive of Ti, said: 'Despite global economic headwinds and disruption to shipping lanes over the last year, the Gulf economies have proved exceptionally resilient. Diversification and their focus on investment in transport, the green energy transition, and other major infrastructure projects has laid the foundations for future growth. The improving security situation across the region will only act to accelerate their development as a bridge between emerging superpowers and the West.'
Zawya
10-03-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Oman ranks 58th in 2025 Economic Freedom Index
Muscat: Oman's economic freedom score has gone up from 62.9 to 65.4 making its economy the 58th freest in the 2025 Index of Economic Freedom. The index – released by American think tank The Heritage Foundation – evaluated 184 economies across the globe, assessing economic freedom based on 12 metrics categorised under four key policy areas: rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency and open markets. With its rating increasing by 2.5 points from last year, Oman is now ranked fifth out of 14 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The sultanate's economic freedom score is higher than the world and regional averages and its economy is considered 'moderately free' according to the 2025 Index. Oman scored highest (97.6) in the Tax Burden metric, followed by 82.5 in Monetary Freedom and 78.2 in Trade Freedom metrics among others. The energy sector has been the most important engine of growth in Oman's open economy. Tax rates are competitively low and foreign investment is generally welcome in many sectors. 'Recognising the importance of a more dynamic entrepreneurial environment, Oman has pursued modernisation and diversification of its economy. Fiscal consolidations have progressed with budget surpluses and a low debt level. Oman's sovereign credit rating has been upgraded to investment grade. The financial sector continues to evolve with commercial banks performing well,' the report stated. The sultanate achieved remarkable progress in the 2024 Index of Economic Freedom, rising 39 positions to rank 56th globally, a big climb from its 95th standing in 2023. In the Middle East and North Africa, the UAE leads at 23nd, followed by Qatar (27th), Bahrain (55th), Saudi Arabia (62nd) and Kuwait (88th), among others. Singapore continues to be the world's freest economy, demonstrating a consistently high level of economic resilience and prosperity. Switzerland is the world's second freest economy, followed by Ireland. Taiwan has maintained its fourth highest ranking, the highest the country has ever achieved in the index, while Luxembourg is fifth. Especially notable is the continuing decline of the United States, categorised as 'mostly free'. Its score plummeted to 70.2, one of the lowest levels in the history of the Index. The US is now the world's 26th freest economy. The 2025 report reveals a world economy that, taken as a whole, remains 'mostly unfree'. The global average economic freedom score has increased by 1.1 points to 59.7 from the previous year's 58.6. © Apex Press and Publishing Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Morocco World
09-03-2025
- Business
- Morocco World
Morocco Tops African Countries in 2025 Economic Freedom Index
Rabat – Morocco has secured the top rank of North African countries' list in the 2025 economic freedom index, according to the Index of Economic Freedom. On a global level, the North African country secured the 86 spot with a score of 60.3, while in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region, Morocco's economy ranked 7 out of 14 countries, ahead of Kuwait and following Saudi Arabia. The report noted that the country's score improved by 3.5 points from last year. Morocco's economy is considered 'moderately free' according to the 2025 Index. Published by the Heritage Institute, the report on the economic freedom index takes several factors into account to release the overall score. For these, Morocco has proven itself as well institutionalized in terms of the regulatory environment, with both business freedom (68.9) and monetary freedom (74.7) above the world average, while labor freedom (48.5) is below the world average. Meanwhile, the open markets components have recorded higher scores, recording 67.2 for trade freedom, and 75 for both investment freedom and financial freedom. The report also indicates that the 'trade-weighted average tariff rate is 13.9 percent,' adding that investors, both foreign and domestic, generally enjoy equal treatment under Morocco's law. Additionally, the North African country's 'competitive financial sector continues to grow and offers a range of financing options. The stock exchange does not limit foreign participation.' This commendable progress in elevating its economic freedom is attributed to Morocco's ongoing reforms encouraging greater private-sector dynamism, which in turn improved competitiveness and productive base diversification in the market. It also signaled Morocco's monetary stability has been maintained with relatively modest inflation. While the report pointed to obvious improvements in the country's economic freedom index, it however mentioned that 'some challenges will require deeper institutional reforms.' It particularly argued that although 'procedures for setting up and registering private enterprises are more streamlined, licensing requirements are still relatively costly.' Read also: HCP: Morocco's Economy Generated 82,000 Jobs in 2024 The report also raised concerns over Morocco's labor market rigidity, indicating that it 'still discourages dynamic job growth,' while there exists a marginalization of much of the labor force in the informal sector. The Index of Economic Freedom evaluates the economic policies and conditions of 184 countries for the period of July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. It is based on 12 indicators grouped into four main pillars, namely Rule of Law (property rights, government integrity, judicial effectiveness), Government Size (government spending, tax burden, fiscal health), Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom), Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom). Each indicator is scored on a scale from 0 to 100, with the average of all 12 forming the country's final score. The report then classifies countries into five categories: Free (80 to 100 points), Mostly Free (70 to 79.9 points), Moderately Free (60 to 69.9 points), Mostly Unfree (50 to 59.9 points), and Economically Repressed (0 to 49.9 points). In the North Africa region, Mauritania ranked 119th (Mostly Unfree category), Egypt 145 (Mostly Unfree category), Tunisia 149 (Economically Repressed category), and Algeria 160th (Economically Repressed category). At the global level, the top five positions went to Singapore (84.1 points), Switzerland (83.7 points), Ireland (83.1 points), Taiwan (79.7 points), and Luxembourg (79.5 points). Tags: Economic Freedom IndexMarket freedomMorocco's economic freedom index
