IT'S OK TO QUIT – Much like it takes kissing a few frogs before finding the right partner, career satisfaction happens through trial and error. And so people who aren't afraid to job hop in their 20s have more satisfying and higher paying jobs in their 30s and 40s, suggests a new study by four US and Canadian economists, spotted by The Atlantic's Derek Thompson. Thompson quotes one of the researchers, Henry Siu:

People who switch jobs more frequently early in their careers tend to have higher wages and incomes in their prime-working years. Job-hopping is actually correlated with higher incomes, because people have found better matches—their true calling.” (Read the full story.)
Young people are more often unemployed not because it's harder for them to find a job (I'd beg to differ, in European markets at least) but because they're more likely to quit. And I can hear you coming, Boomers: this is not a trait of entitled, ungrateful Millennials. It's a trait of youth — probably something to do with a more adventurous mind and fewer responsibilities – that has remained steady since the 1970s, the researchers say. Where this generation differs is that when they quit a job, today's young people are more likely to explore something completely different. (This typical Millennial: 4 jobs and 3 industries in the 6 years since graduation.)

As in any study, causality is a tricky thing and researchers don't go into why job hoppers get better jobs and better pay in their prime years. One reason could be that job changes are where you're most likely to see big compensation increases; within one company, raises are usually incremental. Another could be that a frequently changing career isn't so much the sign of a lack of loyalty these days but of a dynamic, adaptive mind and go-getter personality. And that's what the best employers look for and reward. So go ahead, experiment!

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SWEET DEALS – The dream of a fiscally unified Europe is a long ways away, as the morning's news demonstrate. More than 300 companies have negotiated tax deals with the government of Luxembourg, some with rates as low as 0.25% instead of the country's official 29%, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which compiled leaked documents. Thanks to these deals, hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate revenue have circulated through Luxembourg's financial system – and been spared from the taxman not just in Luxembourg but also in the companies' countries of origin. The US and EU have been fighting a losing battle against such tax havens.

The system is perfectly legal in Luxembourg – "competitive" is the word Luxembourg's chief executive for finance used – and tax optimization walks a fine line between the legal and the moral that is hard to legislate or litigate anywhere. So the ICIJ is playing the naming-and-shaming game with an interactive graphic showing all 343 companies and the sweet deal they received. Big names include Apple, Amazon, GE, AIG or PepsiCo, and many of the usual suspects in finance, pharma or consumer goods.

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GESUNDHEIT – Remember when Apple could brag that it never got viruses? Not anymore. A malware has been infecting Chinese iOS devices through a third-party app store where it's been downloaded more than 350,000 times, according to security firm Palo Alto Networks. It's called WireLurker. What it's lurking for is still unclear.



The malware first infects a Mac and then reaches USB-connected iOS devices, where it automatically installs malicious applications. It uses enterprise permissions and nonthreatening confirmation dialog boxes to access even non jailbroken devices. Larry Seltzer lays out the whole process on ZDNet. And he has some common sense advice:

Don't use third-party app stores, keep operating system software up to date, don't pair iOS devices with untrusted desktop systems and don't accept an unknown enterprise provisioning profile unless an authorized, trusted party explicitly instructs you to do so. (Read the full story.)
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