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ON Semiconductor, a chip maker trying to meet the high demand for automotive components, expects to eliminate a bottleneck in the production of car chips by the second half of the year at the latest.

In an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday, CEO Hassane El-Khoury said the company is seeing a rush in orders for its products due to an industry-wide shortage of chips.

The shortage, which started when the demand for electronic products like computers increased during the pandemic, has forced automakers like General Motors and Ford to cut back on some vehicles.

“The orders were so popular that we can’t keep up, but we have the capacity,” said El-Khoury in an appearance on Mad Money. “We can support capacity for our chips. We have started the new demand and will get through this in a quarter or two.”

ON Semiconductor served multiple end markets and warned customers of low inventory levels in the later parts of the summer as consumers in their home country were laden with electronics. At the time, due to the economic consequences of coronavirus lockdowns, many companies were unsure whether executives would restrict or refrain from ordering components.

The latest cars, increasingly equipped with connected technologies and other functions, require numerous tiny chips for functions such as power management, power steering and infotainment systems.

The auto market is the biggest driver of all ON Semiconductor end markets, said El-Khoury.

“Driven mainly by the automotive industry, we are very well positioned,” he said. “We’re not just going to grow in the market. We’re going to grow above the market, just like in the industry, really across the strength in each and every one of our end markets, which is a great place.”

Of the five segments that ON Semiconductor serves, the automotive industry accounts for almost a third of sales. The company is also a supplier to industrial and military, communications, computer and consumer markets.

After total revenue declined by around 8% in the first half of 2020 at the start of the coronavirus lockdowns, the computer segment recovered for the first time in the second quarter. Auto sales wouldn’t rise until the fourth quarter, when it was up 6% year over year.

For the full year, ON Semiconductor’s revenue declined 4.8% to approximately $ 5.26 billion. Revenue declined 6% in 2019 to around $ 5.52 billion.

Based on order trends and order backlog, ON Semiconductor forecasts sales of between $ 1.41 billion and $ 1.51 billion in the current quarter. If the short end of the forecast is hit, business would grow at least 10% from the first quarter report last year.

ON Semiconductor shares sold more than 3% on Monday, outpacing declines in the overall market. Despite a negative start to the week, the stock is up more than 23% to $ 40.44.

People gather to ask McDonald’s Corporation to raise workers wages to a minimum wage of $ 15 and to demand union rights on May 23, 2019 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

President Joe Biden announced the American Rescue Plan in January, which includes raising the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour. Since the president’s announcement, there has been a lot of debate about raising the minimum wage, particularly among business leaders.

While much of the American Rescue Plan has focused on COVID-19-related relief, the minimum wage hike is long overdue and the pandemic has only exacerbated the need for wages that can support American workers.

In the past 25 years, the minimum wage has increased by only $ 2.50 – from $ 4.75 an hour to $ 7.25 an hour – and the last increase was in 2009. Additionally, according to the Economic Policy Institute ( EPI) 31% of the workforce who would benefit most from an increased minimum wage.

Opponents of an increase in the minimum wage argue that doing so would harm American companies and force small and medium-sized businesses to lay off workers.

The US Black Chambers, Inc. (USBC) disagrees with this argument. The USBC, which represents 310,000 black-owned companies and 145 Black Chambers nationwide, believes that raising the minimum wage will have a significant impact on millions of Americans and their homes, reducing racial and gender wage inequality.

Even as 41% of black-owned businesses shut down due to COVID-19, black business owners continued to express their support for an increase in the minimum wage as it would have a significant impact on millions of American households and family outflow Poverty.

The EPI estimates that “almost one in four (23%) who would benefit is a black or Latin American woman”.

The USBC met with Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier this month to discuss the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black-owned companies and the way the Biden administration is working to help the companies that do it To offer help and support is needed most.

Even as 41% of black-owned businesses shut down due to COVID-19, black business owners continued to express their support for an increase in the minimum wage as it would have a significant impact on millions of American households and family outflow Poverty.

If black business, facing major obstacles outside of COVID-19, can hit a minimum wage of $ 15 an hour, then why can’t the rest of American business?

Raising the minimum wage won’t be easy for businesses, but it’s a significant step in bringing financial stability to parts of America that have long been overlooked.

Indeed, black-owned companies can see slower growth based on the number of employees they can afford (in addition to less access to capital), but that doesn’t stop the community from taking up the challenge.

Corporate America, let’s hit a minimum wage of $ 15 by 2025.

Ron Busby is President of the US Black Chambers, Inc.

Erick Vazquez receives the Pfizer vaccine during an event to vaccinate approximately 500 healthcare workers and adults over 65 years of age against COVID-19 organized by Labor Community Services, the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, and the St. Johns Well Child and Family Center shaped work of love, in Pico Union, February 13, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA.

Dania Maxwell | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that modified Covid-19 vaccines against new, emerging variants can be approved without the need for lengthy clinical trials.

The new guidelines, published in a 24-page document on the FDA’s website, would release the new vaccines as an amendment to a company’s originally approved emergency application, according to the FDA. The company would have to submit new data showing the modified vaccine produces a similar immune response and is safe, similar to annual flu vaccines.

“Preliminary reports from clinical trials evaluating COVID-19 vaccine candidates in several countries, including South Africa, have contributed to concerns that the vaccine may be less effective against variant B.1.351 than against the original virus,” the wrote Agency found in the document with reference to the strain in South Africa. “Therefore, there is an urgent need to initiate the development and evaluation of vaccines against these SARSCoV-2 variants.”

The updated guidelines come because U.S. health officials, including White House Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anthony Fauci, fear the virus could potentially mutate enough to evade the protection of current vaccines and reverse advances in the pandemic.

For the past few weeks, officials have urged Americans to get vaccinated as soon as possible before potentially new and even more dangerous variants of the virus emerge.

As of Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified 1,661 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, which were first identified in the UK. The agency has identified 22 cases of the B.1.351 strain from South Africa and five cases of P .1, a variant first identified in Brazil.

The FDA approved Pfizer and Moderna’s emergency vaccines in December, and the two drug makers have since announced plans to change their vaccines to target new variants. The guidelines could speed up the regulatory review process for the vaccines.

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Dr. Torian Easterling is the First Assistant Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer for the New York Department of Health

There is one essential element to the success of a vaccination program: people’s trust in the vaccine and the institutions that give it. Trust in the Covid-19 vaccine is just as valuable as our vaccine supply. But after decades of racist divestment and medical abuse, the black and Latin American communities have every reason to be skeptical.

A recent CDC vaccine reluctance survey yielded disappointing – if not surprising – results. In September, 56% of black Americans said they would get vaccinated, and by December – after the FDA approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for emergency use – that percentage had dropped to 46%. By comparison, 70% of white Americans responded that they intend to receive the vaccine in December. Another Kaiser Foundation survey found a similar trend among Hispanic Americans that only 42% would like to receive the vaccine.

But more revealing in these polls is exactly why blacks and Latinos aren’t ready to get the shot. The main reasons were side effects concerns, the vaccine being developed too quickly, and many said they don’t trust the government.

It is clear that much remains to be done. To win the trust of New York Black and Latino people we need to be inclusive, reach communities, hear voices, values ​​and opinions. The responsibility cannot lie with the individual. It must be up to institutions and public health officials to treat people with respect so that they have a reason to trust and make informed decisions. Imagine we put our arms around communities and let them know we have them.

In the past few months, I have participated in dozens of listening sessions with ward groups, faith leaders, and local health care providers in black and Latin American churches. We talked about misconceptions and fears about the Covid-19 vaccine and how decades of racism and poor treatment by the medical community have created suspicion.

When comparing the medical experiences of Black, Latino, and White, the contrast is unsettling and begins literally from the moment we are born. As we know, there are persistent and intolerable differences in maternal health outcomes.

Unfortunately, the unequal treatment continues into adulthood. People of color are less likely to receive the same treatment for everything from palliative care to treating chronic diseases. In many large cities, there is also unequal access to quality healthcare and, often, hospital segregation.

In my own conversations with New Yorkers, trust in government and medicine has been an ongoing issue. And while they are painful, they give us the opportunity to move into a place of healing.

Last summer we heard the call for change when hospital stays and deaths in Covid-19 exposed the health impact of racism and the murder of George Floyd exposed structural racism in our country. The movement prompted the health department to declare racism a public health problem and the city to set up the task force on racial inclusion.

Now we are maintaining that commitment as we introduce vaccines to the city. To build confidence in the vaccine, New York City unveiled a share plan rooted in 33 neighborhoods with high Covid-19 case and death rates, and historical inequalities such as disease burden and crowded living conditions.

Our central topic is community-oriented public relations work at the neighborhood level. Townhalls and webinars provide information about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. However, empowering people to make their own decisions needs to be done in small groups with trustworthy voices. That’s why we partner with hundreds of community-based organizations to be trusted ambassadors. We need to meet people where they are – on the phone, at home, online, or door to door – in the languages ​​New Yorkers speak. Communication must – and was – be open, honest and clear.

We also use data to inform our work. We sent a letter to health care providers across the city asking them to collect the race and ethnicity of the Covid-19 vaccine recipient and report it to the citywide vaccination registry. We’re releasing race and ethnicity data on Covid-19 tests and positivity, and we’ve just added postcode-level data.

We want to know who is receiving the vaccine and where there are gaps so we can get the vaccine to the right places. As the vaccine supply grows, we are working with community partners to identify the best locations for people to be vaccinated and to ensure connection with resources and services. The majority of our city vaccination sites are already in the 33 priority neighborhoods, but we are growing and prioritizing communities with longstanding inequalities that need the vaccine the most.

As we move forward with our vaccine rollout, racial justice will remain our most enduring core value. We know that we have to identify racism, take responsibility and do the necessary work to instill trust in everyday people for our vaccination strategy to be successful.