Posts Tagged ‘Jobs’

Obama Touts Jobs Plan for Veterans

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October 20th, 2011

Companies have promised to hire 25,000 veterans

Here’s a drop of good news: President Barack Obama on Wednesday praised a series of companies that have promised to hire 25,000 veterans or military spouses within two years, calling it a sign of patriotism and business savvy. He pushed his economic agenda anew to a military audience.

No fighting for jobs

"We ask you to fight, to sacrifice, to risk your lives for your country," Obama told an audience of thousands of people at Joint Base Langley-Eustis. "The last thing you should have to do is fight for a job when you come home. Not here. Not in the United States of America."

Major companies

In their comments, Obama sought to assure veterans and their families that the country was behind them and that employers are, too. The American Logistics Association, which includes major companies like Tyson Foods Inc. and Coca-Cola Co., is pledging to hire 25,000 people by the end of 2013. The president said that every company should want to hire veterans because of their leadership experience, mastery of cutting-edge technology and other skills. Obama is asking Congress to approve separate tax credits worth thousands of dollars for businesses that hire veterans who’ve been out of work for at least six months, including those with disabilities.

Returning Heroes tax credit

Obama has proposed a Returning Heroes tax credit of up to $5,600 for businesses that hire unemployed veterans who have been out of work for six months or more, as well as a Wounded Warriors tax credit of nearly $10,000 for unemployed veterans with service-related disabilities who also have been looking for work for at least six months.

Vote for it

"When I first proposed this idea in a joint session of Congress, people stood up and applauded on both sides of the aisle," Obama said about tax credits to encourage hiring of veterans. "So when it comes for a vote in the Senate, I expect to get votes from both sides of the aisle. Don’t just applaud about it. Vote for it."

Jobs bill

As Obama has been traveling, lawmakers back in Washington were taking the first steps to break his nearly $450 billion jobs bill into pieces for possible votes. It’s the only way elements of the measure stand a chance of passing, given that Senate Republicans blocked action on the full package last week. The bus trip has given the president the opportunity to promote elements of his jobs plan in places the White House says would benefit most should the measures pass.

Teacher layoffs

Obama has spoken at high schools and community colleges where the administration says new spending would prevent teacher layoffs, as well as a small, regional area airport near Asheville, N.C., where Obama pressed for government funds to renovate an outdated runway.

Latest on jobs

Today’s news on jobs is that new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, according to a government report on Thursday that showed layoffs in recent weeks had dropped to levels last seen in April.

Tags: Jobs, Military spouses, unemployment, Veterans
Posted in Business, Economy, Employment, Finance, Personal / Internet, Retirement | No Comments »

Your Job May Be Going Out the Window

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October 4th, 2011

Change affects everyone

Things are changing. Money, freedom, rights, jobs…You can see it all around you. The countries fronting onto the Mediterranean Sea are going bust, one after they other; Greece, Portugal, Spain is grumbling, Italy is shivering and so it goes on. Other countries are in the midst of social revolution: Yemen, Libya, Syria, and more will follow. Hellooo, was that a touch of social revolution last week in Wall Street and on the Brooklyn Bridge? We are not immune.

More to come

By the year 2018, the manufacturing industry will lose 1.2 million more jobs, the mining and oil/gas extraction industry will lose another 104,000 jobs and even the utility companies will see 59,000 job losses according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). First will be the outsourcing people. But outsourcing and foreign competitors aren’t the only reasons we’re witnessing shrinking industries. The needs of our economy have changed in recent years while companies have become leaner and meaner in order to survive.

Manufacturing

And though these cuts and shifts have been painful for millions in the past and present, they are making our country more competitive for the future. We’ve seen dramatic advancements in technology and operations techniques that have more than doubled the output per worker since 1970. Our manufacturing industry has progressed from making simple household appliances, cars and textiles to producing cutting-edge medical technologies, life-saving medicines and light-speed computer processors with worldwide demand.

Hardship

But as any nation’s economy grows and progresses, the loss of older industries and professions will be a cause of hardship for many. And many of those professions lost will be middle-class jobs. These middle-class professions may soon face the fate of the milk man, the telegraph operator, the stagecoach driver and the switchboard operator, joining them in obsolete-job heaven.

Machinists

These skilled craftsmen, who specialize in the machine sculpting of high-precision metal parts, work primarily in the waning manufacturing industry.

Supervisors/Managers of Production and Operating Workers

As with other professions, the increase in automation, gains in productivity and competition from overseas has decreased the need for assembly workers in manufacturing. And without assembly workers, there is no one to supervise.

Farmers and Ranchers

The profession championed by America’s earliest founders, including Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, has sadly seen large employment declines in the industrial age of the 21st century.

Computer Operators

Despite its title, this job is less common and less relevant to today’s needs than you might think.

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators and Tenders

These middle-class workers install, operate, and repair the machines that make every day paper products.

Desktop Publishers

Desktop publishers use computers to put together pictures and text to make brochures, books, calendars, newsletters and newspapers.

Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers

Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers are responsible for drawing and constructing fabric patterns and layouts.

Wellhead Pumpers

Wellhead pumpers ensure that oil or gas is properly extracted from fields using pumps and auxiliary equipment.

Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors and Processing Machine Operators

The workers who prepare the incoming and outgoing mail for distribution throughout our complex postal system may become more obsolete in the future.

Semiconductor Processors

This position has the fastest rate of decline on our list, but not for the reasons you might expect. Today’s processing chips, such as the Intel Core i Processors, have semiconductors that are nanometers (one millionth of a millimeter) in size, which is perfect for finely-tuned machines to assemble but far too small for any human to handle during production.

Tags: Job change, Jobs, Obsolete, Social change
Posted in Business, Economy, Employment, Finance, Money, Personal / Internet | No Comments »

The Current War: The Unemployed Vs. The Underemployed

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September 5th, 2011

Hold onto your job at all costs

America’s 14 million unemployed aren’t competing just with each other. They also have to contend with 8.8 million other people not counted as unemployed – part-timers desperately looking for full-time work. When consumer demand picks up, companies will likely boost the hours of their part-timers before they add jobs, economists say. This gives them room to expand without hiring.

More competition

And the unemployed will face another source of competition once the economy improves: About 2.6 million people who aren’t counted as unemployed because they’ve stopped looking for work. As soon as they start looking, they’ll be classified as unemployed and push the percentage rate up. Intensified competition for jobs means unemployment could exceed its historic norm of 5 percent to 6 percent for several more years.

The statistics

There are so many numbers being quoted by those who know and those who don’t that the picture is confusing, except for the fact that America now has too many people out of work. The jobs crisis has led Obama to schedule a major speech Thursday night to propose steps to stimulate hiring.

Example

One American frustrated with part-time work is Ryan McGrath, 26. In October, he returned from managing a hotel project in Uruguay. He’s been unable to find full-time work. So he’s been freelancing as a website designer for small businesses in the Chicago area. Some weeks he’s busy and making money. Other times he struggles. He’s living at home, and sometimes he has to borrow $50 from his father to pay bills. He’s applied for ‘a million jobs.’ "You go to all these interviews for entry-level positions, and you lose out every time," he says. Sure you do. Nationally, 4.5 unemployed people, on average, are competing for each job opening. In a healthy economy, the average is about two per opening.

Another example

Norman Spaulding, 54, quit his job as a truck driver two years ago because he needed work that would let him care for his disabled 13-year-old daughter. After repeated rejections, Spaulding concluded a few weeks ago that the cost of driving to visit potential employers wasn’t worth the expense. He suspended his job hunt. He and his family are getting by on his daughter’s disability check from Social Security. They’re living in a trailer park on Texas’ Gulf Coast. "It costs more to look than we have to spend," he says.

Third example

Emma Draper, 23, lost her public relations job this summer. To pay the rent on her Washington apartment, she’s working part time at the retailer South Moon Under. She’s selling $120 Ralph Lauren swimsuits and other trendy clothes. Her search for full-time work has been discouraging. Employers don’t call back for months, if ever. "You’re basically on their timeline," Draper says. "It’s really hard to find a job unless you know somebody who can give you an inside edge." Retailers, in particular, favor part-timers. They value the flexibility of being able to tap extra workers during peak sales times without being overstaffed during lulls. Some use software to precisely match their staffing levels with customer traffic. It holds down their expenses.

Tags: Job market, Jobs, Unemployment. Under-employment
Posted in Economy, Employment, Finance, Money, Personal / Internet | No Comments »

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