Continue reading Obama Administration Currently Sees Only Moderate Job Growth in 2010

Obama Administration Currently Sees Only Moderate Job Growth in 2010 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Some of the jobs that have disappeared through this recession are gone forever, it seems. Even when the market turns, and even gains momentum, we could be stuck with a fairly weak employment market for a while. The recovery will take longer than we'd like, putting more distance between now and the top of the next market run. We've lost 7.2 million jobs since December 2007, and the predictions of some economists that we'll get them back by 2014 may actually seem optimistic.

Why is the recovery going to be such a grind? Check out the four major reasons after the jump.

Continue reading Four reasons we're stuck with high unemployment for a while

Four reasons we're stuck with high unemployment for a while originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Unemployment is at its highest level since 1983, hitting 9.8% last month. The Department of Labor announced that 263,000 jobs were lost. This follows a revised loss of 201,000 jobs in August (lower than first reported). Nobody expected the August unemployment reprieve to last, and the increase suggests that the forecasted 10.3% unemployment rate for early next year will be realized.

Originally, the forecasted unemployment drop for September was 175,000, according to Bloomberg News, with individual economists surveyed reporting in a range of 100,000 to 260,000.

Continue reading Unemployment rate hits 9.8%

Unemployment rate hits 9.8% originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

U.S. initial jobless claims drop below estimate originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Employment agencies are generally a good economic indicator. General Employment Enterprises Inc. (Amex: JOB) specializes in permanent job placements for professionals in accounting, engineering and information technology, all fields where one would expect to find high demand for qualified applicants. General Employment Enterprises revenue is down a bit in both 4Q 2007 as well as FY 2007. Net income decreased slightly, and diluted EPS remained flat at $0.06. Such results do not bode well for national employment trends if companies are reluctant to hire accounting, engineering and IT professionals, even on a temporary basis.

CEO Herbert Imhoff stated that the decline in contract services (temporary employment) revenues in 4Q was an improvement over the larger decline in 3Q. But the fact that companies have fewer slots for contract employees is a troubling sign. CEO Imhoff also stated it is more difficult to find qualified applicants in the company's specialized fields. One would think that the company would have little difficulty finding placements for qualified candidates. This does not seem to be the case. General Employment is opening another office in California to offer both permanent placements and contract/contract-to-hire opportunities. The company is increasing its advertising budget for job boards and telephone marketing in an effort to enlarge its pool of qualified applicants.

The company has declared a special year-end dividend of $0.10 per share for the second year in a row, but that is merely a stop gap measure designed to placate shareholders who are not seeing any appreciation in the value of their investment. The stock currently trades at $1.65 with much room for improvement.

General Employment: fewer qualified applicants but fewer job slots originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's not every person who can be satisfied by just hanging around in their same old job. Some of us folks are continually driven to seek more and better situations for ourselves. So how do you speed your trek up the ladder of success? What are the secrets to upward mobility? How can an ordinary person get extraordinary results, especially when there are forces that seem to be working against you?

I'll give you some tips that may help you up that ladder of success. These principles are tried and true strategies that you can accomplish yourself, and that may help to open up the ladder above you.

• First and foremost, be good at what you do. Work results stand for themselves and quality will reap success faster than volume will. It's never enough just to get the job done. Get it done right and make things easier for those who follow up on you. Shoddy work will hold you out of the game.

• Make it known to your bosses that you consider making them successful as part of your job description. If your boss wants some improvement in income and status, then it's in his or her best interest to serve you. Leaders of employees are motivated by success just like everyone else. Show your bosses how you can make life better for them.

Continue reading Invest in yourself: Double stepping up the ladder of success

Invest in yourself: Double stepping up the ladder of success originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 28 Jul 2007 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Jobs from blogging: Far more companies are hiring than you'd think

Jobs from blogging: Far more companies are hiring than you'd think originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With baby boomers getting older and Generation X being a slower population growth demographic, expect tight labor markets for a long time.

Friday's unemployment report demonstrates this trend -- the U.S. economy, once again, created less jobs and the unemployment rate continued to drop. One would expect as job creation slowed, unemployment would pick up, that is not the case anymore. The U.S. created a paltry 97,000 for February. Monthly job creation is averaging 122,000 so far in 2007, down from 190,000 last year. However, despite this weak showing, the unemployment rate actually dropped, from 4.6% to 4.5%. This means less people are coming into the job market.

This is going to be a big dilemma for Fed policy makers. NAIRU and the Phillips Curve, the two big labor inflation theories, will be put to the test. If you have open markets, and China and India each possess populations over 1 billion, who cares about these labor inflation theories.

In much of the late 1990s, monthly job creation exceeded 200,000 for many months in a row. Even with February's paltry job growth,we could see unemployment drop way below 4.0%. I read an economist report years ago which said this population disparity between boomers and Generation X would drive the unemployment to 2.5%. It looks like we might be headed in that direction.

3% unemployment rate, anyone? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Think before you answer.

What would a $200,000 salary get you in New York, and what in Cleveland? Well, let's strip it down:

• What would be your purchasing power after accounting for the cost of living? New York's cost of living, for example, is double the national average.
• What about effective tax rates? The tax rate in New York is 25.4% for the $200K salary vs. a tax rate of 20.4% in Cleveland for the $100K salary.
• Different inflation rates? May annual inflation rate in New York metropolitan area was 4.8%, in Cleveland, the rate was 3%.

All these should be considered before deciding. So, have you changed your answer?

Let's start by saying that if you have that choice (of making a six figure salary), then congratulations are in order. You are part of the 5% of Americans who do (according to 2004 census reports). But the real question is - where do you live?

CNNMoney.com used data from 6FigureJobs.com and TheLadders.com to figure out the equivalent of $100,000 after adjusting for the cost of living in the top cities that have the largest numbers of six figures jobs listings. In New York, a $100,000 equivalent salary would require a salary of over $205,000, in Boston more than $137,000, about $101,000 in Cleveland and less than $89,000 in Houston.

So while many six figure jobs are indeed offered in higher cost of living areas, there are still many cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Cleveland and Denver as well as a few others that also have relatively high numbers of six figures jobs to offer. And as if that isn't enough to convince you, sometimes, just to attract talent, companies in those "lesser" cities would offer the same high salaries as in, say, New York.

Would you rather make $200K in NY, or $100K in Cleveland? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.