Business

Given the tumultuous state of the economy, employers have plenty to be concerned about in early 2023. Recession fears are swirling. The job market remains extremely tight. Inflation is still a concern. But experts say businesses shouldn’t let those obvious challenges distract them from several under-the-radar obstacles that could trip them up in 2023. One of the big ones? The intersection of remote work and pay transparency. We’ve already touched on the increase in pay transparency laws, but attorneys say the combination of those laws and the ubiquity of remote work is causing headaches for employers.

A Baltimore company behind a service billed as the “Hotels.com for boaters” raised $5 million late last month to add new dimensions to its multipronged business. CEO Jennifer LeRoux said the company plans to use the funding to develop a new marina management software that will help business owners track reservations and other parts of their business. The new software would add to the two other products under the Marinalife umbrella: Snag-A-Slip, a Hotels.com-style site that lets boaters book time at docks, and the Marinalife magazine. LeRoux emphasized that much of the boating industry has failed to keep up with modern technology, giving the startup a strong niche in the market.

Gaithersburg biotech Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) has reached an agreement to sell 1.5 million more doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the U.S. government. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the federal government will partially fund the company’s future work on Covid vaccines, including the development of smaller dose vials and strain selection in line with Food and Drug Administration recommendations, Novavax said in its announcement.

Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) CEO Tony Capuano, 57, will absorb the duties of outgoing President Stephanie Linnartz, as she prepares to step down to take on a new role at Baltimore-based sports apparel firm Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA). The Bethesda hospitality giant said Friday its board voted to appoint Capuano to replace Linnartz as president, effective Feb. 24. Under Armour surprised Wall Street with its announcement in December that Linnartz would be taking over as president.

In a boost for the Port of Baltimore, ocean carrier ZIM Shipping Line plans to expand to weekly service, bringing larger ships with cargo headed for customers throughout the U.S., Gov. Wes Moore announced Thursday. ZIM, one of the port’s major container shipping customers, will double the frequency of its E-commerce Baltimore Express from bi-weekly to weekly service at the end of February, the governor’s office said in a news release. ZIM plans to expand the size of its vessels by nearly 50 percent to carry more cargo. ZIM’s Baltimore Express, which started in the spring between China, Southeast Asia and the East Coast, offers customers the fastest transit time from Asia to Baltimore. The ships will use the Panama and Suez canals.

Industrial psychologists, information security analysts and biochemists weren’t six-figure jobs nationally before the pandemic. But they are now. Those are three of the 12 occupations for which median annual salaries reached six figures nationally between 2019 and 2021, according to a new analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by The Business Journals. Those gains came as salaries soared since the economic recovery ramped up after the initial shockwaves of the pandemic, with a tight labor market and elevated turnover rates fueling significant raises and bonuses throughout much of 2021 and 2022. One of the biggest jumps was for industrial and organizational psychologists, which saw median annual salaries grow from about $92,880 in 2019 to about $105,310 in 2021 — a 13% jump.