Good morning, CFOs. A new approach toward labor in Oklahoma; automakers are hit by a lack of parts; plus, Jamie Dimon still wants everyone in the office. Is a $3 billion building the answer?

Hiring is stalling out in much of America, but in small towns like this one, one company is on a recruiting spree, Lauren Weber writes, reporting with new details from Tahlequah, Okla.

Provalus, which provides big companies with outsourced services such as insurance-claims processing and cybersecurity monitoring, is expanding revenue by 35% to 40% a year with an unusual playbook: investing in rural America. The company has around 250 open jobs now, with hundreds more in the pipeline.

Instead of locating its service and technology jobs in a metro area or sending them to countries such as the Philippines, Provalus seeks out small towns, mostly in the South, looking for places where the average individual income hovers around $30,000. There, according to company executives, Provalus finds people who are eager for jobs that will teach them 21st-century skills but who have few opportunities. It is a stab at reversing decades of disinvestment in rural communities, and a model for creating jobs in often-overlooked pockets of the country.

“There is an untapped labor market in rural America,” said Chuck Ruggiero, an outsourcing executive who founded Provalus in 2017, years after the 9/11 attacks prompted him to look for ways to create jobs in the U.S. “They have the grit, the grind, and many have the aptitude.”

Monday

Earnings: Steel Dynamics and W.R. Berkley

Tuesday

Earnings: 3M, Capital One Financial, Chubb, Coca-Cola, Elevance Health, Equifax, EQT, GE Aerospace, General Motors, Halliburton, Intuitive Surgical, Lockheed Martin, Nasdaq, Netflix, Northrop Grumman, Omnicom Group, Paccar, Philip Morris International, PulteGroup, Quest Diagnostics, RTX, Texas Instruments and Waste Connections

Wednesday

Earnings: Amphenol, AT&T, Boston Scientific, CME Group, Crown Castle, FirstEnergy, GE Vernova, Globe Life, Hilton Worldwide Holdings, IBM, Kinder Morgan, Lam Research, Las Vegas Sands, Lennox International, Molina Healthcare, Moody’s, Northern Trust, NVR, O’Reilly Automotive, Raymond James Financial, SAP, Teledyne Technologies, Tesla, Thermo Fisher Scientific, United Rentals and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies

Thursday

Earnings: Blackstone, CBRE Group, CenterPoint Energy, Deckers
Outdoor, Digital Realty Trust, Dover, Dow, First Citizens BancShares, Ford Motor, Hasbro, Honeywell International, Intel, Newmont, Norfolk Southern, PG&E, Pool Corp., Roper Technologies, Southwest Airlines, Textron, T-Mobile US, Tractor Supply, Union Pacific, Valero Energy and West Pharmaceuticals

Friday

Earnings: Booz Allen Hamilton Holding, General Dynamics, HCA Healthcare, Illinois Tool Works, Procter & Gamble and Sanofi

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the consumer price index for September.

S&P Global releases both its Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers’ Indexes for October.

Assembly lines inside a Michigan factory that churns out high-end Jeep SUVs ground to a halt last week and won’t resume production until early next month.

The cause, according to an official for the United Auto Workers, is a shortage of aluminum.

Ford has paused production at three plants for the same reason. Between the two automakers, thousands of workers in Michigan and Kentucky are now collecting unemployment.

The automotive supply chain—a sprawling web of companies across the world—is in focus in a way it hasn’t been since the early 2020s, when a severe shortfall of semiconductor chips hobbled the industry. Auto executives routinely tout a lesson from that moment: Don’t rely too heavily on any one supplier. Now, supplies of multiple items are gummed up at the same time.

📰 Other headlines

• Heard on the Street: Luxury Brands’ Stiffest Competition Is the Stuff They Have Already Sold
• Gucci Owner Kering Nears $4 Billion Sale of Beauty Unit to L’Oréal
• A New Challenge for China’s Economy: ‘Involution’
• Brazen Heist at Louvre Museum Snatches Priceless Royal Jewels
• Smucker vs. Trader Joe’s, Lululemon vs. Costco: Fight Over Brands Goes to Court
• Runaway Insurance Costs Bring Back Talk of Price Caps
• The Warning Signs Lurking Below the Surface of a Record Market
• How China Took Over the World’s Rare-Earths Industry

Where senior finance leaders confront today’s expanding remit. Connect on capital, regulation, technology, and talent — and lead with clarity.

Request Information.

In the third episode of “Leaders,” a new podcast hosted by Alan Murray from The WSJ Leadership Institute, Kristin Peck, Zoetis CEO, shares how she builds a culture that excels.

Listen ┃ Watch

The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

You can reach us by replying to any newsletter, or email Walden at walden.siew@wsj.com.