Tuesday, September 30, 2003
So you think the situation in Iraq and the new CIA-White House leak controversy has no impact on your ability to get a job? You think wrong, junior.
Ever since 9-11, we get really uneasy whenever there's anything amiss in the news as evidenced by today's report on the drop in consumer confidence in August. If you've read my blog for some time, you have known me to pound on this time after time, when the consumers don't consume, hiring does not resume.
Another bad poetry moment, thank you, thank you. Someone call Al Sharpton to rewrite.
When you bad all these scandalous episodes together, people once again go back to squirming and begin pulling the purse strings.
That is everyone but my wife who keeps Target's stock quite healthy.
There is just a cloud hanging over the unemployment situation in the U.S. and all the temporary hires for the holiday season aren't going to do much about it. Just like those tax rebates, for whatever didn't go to credit card debts has already been spent and is gone. We're back to the president sitting on Santa's lap this December asking for a break in the economy.
What the U.S. needs is a breakthrough, a big story, something everyone can rally around. Whether it be catching Saddam, Osama or the one-eyed Mr. Taliban, the U.S. needs a feel-good moment stronger than the typical ending of a Lifetime movie of the week.
We need something to take our minds and attention away from glut of death and destruction of Iraq; away from the sound bites and salvos of the Democrats; anything that has nothing to do with a leak problem in the White House. We need good news, good fun and something worth celebrating with a few rounds of beer.
America needs a Chicago Cubs-Boston Red Sox World Series victory.
Call me a whack job if you like, but this country gets goose bumps for stories such as this when it comes to sports. We need an underdog to rise up and win it all. What better than either the Cubs or the Sox taking the title.
Many of you will connect the dots from today to the Winter Olympics of 1980 when the U.S. hockey team stunned the world and took the gold medal and America's collective self-esteem to a higher level. So be it. If we just had something to feel good about again, to get people to take a breath, relax, enjoy and get back to feeling good again. When we feel good, we spend; when we spend, jobs usually get created.
Are we really that emotionally fragile that it takes baseball to lift our spirits? Yes. And it is just about time we snap out of it!
Following the news last week of rising number of families in poverty in the U.S. comes a report stating that the number of uninsured Americans rose by 2.4 million people in 2002 to 43.6 million people.
And just like last week, I would point out that one should expect that figure to only get worse in 2003 and 2004.
Getting back to work is an incredible payoff for anyone currently unemployed. However, one can no longer expect a new job to cover all your problems if you're looking for insurance.
I can't go any further on this topic without first presenting a word from the administration:
"Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson noted that the uninsured rate for children was relatively unchanged at 11.6 percent. Expansions in coverage in two programs aimed at covering the poor and children - Medicaid and the state Children's Health Insurance Program - "helped ease the impact of the economic slowdown," Thompson said."
Granted, it does feel better to know children are protected better today than in years past, but that still doesn't take the sting and stench away from knowing these same children live in homes where their parents are struggling with the most basic of needs.
No jobs, no money, no health care. Have we really fallen this low?
America: Producing healthy children in unhealthy environments.
Ever since 9-11, we get really uneasy whenever there's anything amiss in the news as evidenced by today's report on the drop in consumer confidence in August. If you've read my blog for some time, you have known me to pound on this time after time, when the consumers don't consume, hiring does not resume.
Another bad poetry moment, thank you, thank you. Someone call Al Sharpton to rewrite.
When you bad all these scandalous episodes together, people once again go back to squirming and begin pulling the purse strings.
That is everyone but my wife who keeps Target's stock quite healthy.
There is just a cloud hanging over the unemployment situation in the U.S. and all the temporary hires for the holiday season aren't going to do much about it. Just like those tax rebates, for whatever didn't go to credit card debts has already been spent and is gone. We're back to the president sitting on Santa's lap this December asking for a break in the economy.
What the U.S. needs is a breakthrough, a big story, something everyone can rally around. Whether it be catching Saddam, Osama or the one-eyed Mr. Taliban, the U.S. needs a feel-good moment stronger than the typical ending of a Lifetime movie of the week.
We need something to take our minds and attention away from glut of death and destruction of Iraq; away from the sound bites and salvos of the Democrats; anything that has nothing to do with a leak problem in the White House. We need good news, good fun and something worth celebrating with a few rounds of beer.
America needs a Chicago Cubs-Boston Red Sox World Series victory.
Call me a whack job if you like, but this country gets goose bumps for stories such as this when it comes to sports. We need an underdog to rise up and win it all. What better than either the Cubs or the Sox taking the title.
Many of you will connect the dots from today to the Winter Olympics of 1980 when the U.S. hockey team stunned the world and took the gold medal and America's collective self-esteem to a higher level. So be it. If we just had something to feel good about again, to get people to take a breath, relax, enjoy and get back to feeling good again. When we feel good, we spend; when we spend, jobs usually get created.
Are we really that emotionally fragile that it takes baseball to lift our spirits? Yes. And it is just about time we snap out of it!
Following the news last week of rising number of families in poverty in the U.S. comes a report stating that the number of uninsured Americans rose by 2.4 million people in 2002 to 43.6 million people.
And just like last week, I would point out that one should expect that figure to only get worse in 2003 and 2004.
Getting back to work is an incredible payoff for anyone currently unemployed. However, one can no longer expect a new job to cover all your problems if you're looking for insurance.
I can't go any further on this topic without first presenting a word from the administration:
"Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson noted that the uninsured rate for children was relatively unchanged at 11.6 percent. Expansions in coverage in two programs aimed at covering the poor and children - Medicaid and the state Children's Health Insurance Program - "helped ease the impact of the economic slowdown," Thompson said."
Granted, it does feel better to know children are protected better today than in years past, but that still doesn't take the sting and stench away from knowing these same children live in homes where their parents are struggling with the most basic of needs.
No jobs, no money, no health care. Have we really fallen this low?
America: Producing healthy children in unhealthy environments.
Sunday, September 28, 2003
Hot headlines from this weekend:
State's unemployment claims reach 10-year high The state in question is Wyoming. I'll bet you those dung-kickers still vote overwhelmingly for Bush in 2004.
Criticism of Bush finding more ears The story focuses on the two issues bringing the president the most trouble; Iraq and jobs. The Democrats should stick to nailing Bush more often over the unemployment crisis than Iraq. Remember, the Democrats rolled over and played dead on Iraq when Bush sought approval from Congress.
Blue Cross to cut 1,500 jobs Oh mercy! When a health insurance company the size of this mammoth starts unloading, you know the recovery is still far off.
Jobs are a thing of the past here in America Alan T. Saracevic (column author) has just earned a free pass to guest host my blog based on this one.
Gas prices fall sharply, survey shows I just wanted to prove I can highlight the good news for the unemployed too. Keep in mind, OPEC just cut production and your heating bills will really start to feel the impact of that decision.
State's unemployment claims reach 10-year high The state in question is Wyoming. I'll bet you those dung-kickers still vote overwhelmingly for Bush in 2004.
Criticism of Bush finding more ears The story focuses on the two issues bringing the president the most trouble; Iraq and jobs. The Democrats should stick to nailing Bush more often over the unemployment crisis than Iraq. Remember, the Democrats rolled over and played dead on Iraq when Bush sought approval from Congress.
Blue Cross to cut 1,500 jobs Oh mercy! When a health insurance company the size of this mammoth starts unloading, you know the recovery is still far off.
Jobs are a thing of the past here in America Alan T. Saracevic (column author) has just earned a free pass to guest host my blog based on this one.
Gas prices fall sharply, survey shows I just wanted to prove I can highlight the good news for the unemployed too. Keep in mind, OPEC just cut production and your heating bills will really start to feel the impact of that decision.
Friday, September 26, 2003
Anyone looking for anything of substance concerning the unemployment situation in the U.S. from yesterday's Democratic presidential debate was surely left discouraged. But, that's all anyone should ever expect from debates in today's political climate. The issues are set aside for personal attacks on Bush and each other.
If you want something a wee bit more substantial, click on the links I provided yesterday to the Web pages of each candidate's jobs plan should one be elected president. Now, how much of what you will read is drawn up by the candidate or the handlers is anyone's guess. But, it may provide you with more insight than you'll ever gather from future debates.
One observation from the debate you can make is that Howard Dean is the clear front-runner based on the number of salvos sent his way from the other candidates. Two quick thoughts on Dean, first, his jobs plan seems to only consist of attacking Bush. Go to his page and you'll be hard pressed to find anything original from the governor. Next, based on what I've seen, Bush would wipe the floor clean with Dean as an opponent.
More pressing today is the completely discouraging story making the lead headlines all over the media today on the growing number of Americans living in poverty and the decline in income levels.
"The Census Bureau reported that 34.6 million people, or 12.1 percent of the population, were living in poverty, up from 32.9 million people or 11.7 percent in 2001, when the economy fell into recession after a decade of growth."
Keep in mind, this is focusing in on 2002, not 2003 when things have only continued to get worse.
Statistics are worse for minorities where the Census Bureau found that 23.9 percent of blacks and 21.8 percent of Hispanics were living in poverty. When you consider the fastest growing segment of the population is Hispanic, you're looking at a potential major economic problem in 5 to 10 years.
With the recession out of the way, the decline in income levels come from the unemployment crisis only now receiving its due in the media and on the campaign trail. It's news such as today's poverty report that finally brings the unemployment issue on par with the struggles in Iraq.
I remember during my bout with unemployment when I was mad as hell and I wanted the media to acknowledge the growing unemployment crisis hitting the U.S. Instead, we had Iraq, the Gary Condit mystery, followed by Laci Peterson, and on and on it went. Finally, the issue is up front where it belongs.
The missing portion of the poverty story is what impact will unemployment have on income levels for those who finally cash in and get a job? Face it, after months of unemployment, your income expectations suddenly become more negotiable. Don't think the person across the desk from you doesn't know this also. It's called getting lowballed and not being able to do much about it.
When you mix lower salaries with reduced benefits following rising debts from surviving while unemployed, the "hefty" Bush tax cut probably only brought things back to normal for families ... for about a month.
One month does not equal a lasting surge in the economy, and when the economy doesn't surge, jobs don't get created.
Pack it in for this week, find something enjoyable to do this weekend and get back into the hunt bright and early Monday morning.
If you want something a wee bit more substantial, click on the links I provided yesterday to the Web pages of each candidate's jobs plan should one be elected president. Now, how much of what you will read is drawn up by the candidate or the handlers is anyone's guess. But, it may provide you with more insight than you'll ever gather from future debates.
One observation from the debate you can make is that Howard Dean is the clear front-runner based on the number of salvos sent his way from the other candidates. Two quick thoughts on Dean, first, his jobs plan seems to only consist of attacking Bush. Go to his page and you'll be hard pressed to find anything original from the governor. Next, based on what I've seen, Bush would wipe the floor clean with Dean as an opponent.
More pressing today is the completely discouraging story making the lead headlines all over the media today on the growing number of Americans living in poverty and the decline in income levels.
"The Census Bureau reported that 34.6 million people, or 12.1 percent of the population, were living in poverty, up from 32.9 million people or 11.7 percent in 2001, when the economy fell into recession after a decade of growth."
Keep in mind, this is focusing in on 2002, not 2003 when things have only continued to get worse.
Statistics are worse for minorities where the Census Bureau found that 23.9 percent of blacks and 21.8 percent of Hispanics were living in poverty. When you consider the fastest growing segment of the population is Hispanic, you're looking at a potential major economic problem in 5 to 10 years.
With the recession out of the way, the decline in income levels come from the unemployment crisis only now receiving its due in the media and on the campaign trail. It's news such as today's poverty report that finally brings the unemployment issue on par with the struggles in Iraq.
I remember during my bout with unemployment when I was mad as hell and I wanted the media to acknowledge the growing unemployment crisis hitting the U.S. Instead, we had Iraq, the Gary Condit mystery, followed by Laci Peterson, and on and on it went. Finally, the issue is up front where it belongs.
The missing portion of the poverty story is what impact will unemployment have on income levels for those who finally cash in and get a job? Face it, after months of unemployment, your income expectations suddenly become more negotiable. Don't think the person across the desk from you doesn't know this also. It's called getting lowballed and not being able to do much about it.
When you mix lower salaries with reduced benefits following rising debts from surviving while unemployed, the "hefty" Bush tax cut probably only brought things back to normal for families ... for about a month.
One month does not equal a lasting surge in the economy, and when the economy doesn't surge, jobs don't get created.
Pack it in for this week, find something enjoyable to do this weekend and get back into the hunt bright and early Monday morning.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Every election year there's always these great voter registration drives that have never made a great deal of sense to me. Call me old fashioned, but if you don't care enough to get informed and register on your own, fine, don't vote.
Following along that belief, and facing little unemployment or jobs news, I thought I would link to each of the Democratic candidates for president Web pages outlining their plans for creating jobs here in the U.S.
By no means is this an endorsement of any one candidate, economic plan or the Democratic Party, but with CNBC's big debate today, I thougt the timing was right.
By the way, the debate airs on CNBC at 4 p.m. ET and shown again on MSNBC at 9 p.m. ET.
John Edwards: It starts on the 10th page of a 64-page pdf.
Joe Lieberman: The info exists at the center of this page.
Howard Dean: Umm, I read a lot about Bush's plan, but not Dean's.
John Kerry: I keep confusing him with former Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey.
Dick Gephardt: Has always been a favorite of labor.
Wesley Clark: If he blows it tonight, his jobs plan may not mean anything.
Carol Mosley Braun: This is actually taken from a candidate questionnaire supplied by the AFL-CIO off of Braun's site.
Bob Graham: He's the one the other candidates keeping asking questions of since they don't fear his getting a bunch of air time.
Dennis Kucinich: Isn't this the same guy who opened his speech by singing a patrotic song at a candidate forum?
Al Sharpton: He runs great smack, but produces a lousy Web site.
It's your call on whether or not you want to learn more about these candidate's plans for fixing the unemployment crisis in the U.S. I'm just supplying the mechanism to finding out more.
Following along that belief, and facing little unemployment or jobs news, I thought I would link to each of the Democratic candidates for president Web pages outlining their plans for creating jobs here in the U.S.
By no means is this an endorsement of any one candidate, economic plan or the Democratic Party, but with CNBC's big debate today, I thougt the timing was right.
By the way, the debate airs on CNBC at 4 p.m. ET and shown again on MSNBC at 9 p.m. ET.
John Edwards: It starts on the 10th page of a 64-page pdf.
Joe Lieberman: The info exists at the center of this page.
Howard Dean: Umm, I read a lot about Bush's plan, but not Dean's.
John Kerry: I keep confusing him with former Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey.
Dick Gephardt: Has always been a favorite of labor.
Wesley Clark: If he blows it tonight, his jobs plan may not mean anything.
Carol Mosley Braun: This is actually taken from a candidate questionnaire supplied by the AFL-CIO off of Braun's site.
Bob Graham: He's the one the other candidates keeping asking questions of since they don't fear his getting a bunch of air time.
Dennis Kucinich: Isn't this the same guy who opened his speech by singing a patrotic song at a candidate forum?
Al Sharpton: He runs great smack, but produces a lousy Web site.
It's your call on whether or not you want to learn more about these candidate's plans for fixing the unemployment crisis in the U.S. I'm just supplying the mechanism to finding out more.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Hey, time for me to log off, but this just in. Gen. Wesley Clark, the current Democratic presidential flavor of the moment, has just released his jobs plan. (It's a New York Times site so you may need to register to read it.)
I don't have time to comment right now, but I thought I would pass it along and we'll catch up on it tomorrow.
I don't have time to comment right now, but I thought I would pass it along and we'll catch up on it tomorrow.
You just had to expect it, didn't you?
The telemarketing industry wasn't just going to lie down on Oct. 1 and let the FTC rip the headsets off of its workers. So, the industry went to court and blocked the implementation of the national no-call list leaving open the door, or line if you will, to eventually shredding the list and allowing the telemarketing industry to continue on with its service to millions of Americans.
The legal move protects thousands of jobs across the country and probably saved your snail mail and email boxes from exploding with unsolicited amounts of junk. This industry isn't just going to go away. It has too much money and has been far too successful for too long to have it just suddenly stop. Plus, there are several other industries that would hate to see telemarketing go away in its present form.
Let me put it to you another way. Did all the deaths from cigarette smoking kill the tobacco industry? So what makes you think inconvenient phone calls will bring down telemarketing.
For those of you showing little sympathy to the people currently enjoying employment through telemarketing, take heart. The Direct Marketing Association says the no-call list violates the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. Well, I can't help but think John Ashcroft's Patriot Act violates some Amendments too, so telemarketers, don't rest so easy in your ergonomic office chairs.
The FTC is appealing the ruling. Stay tuned.
Good grief. Just as gas prices were beginning to settle back down making it economically affordable for the unemployed to carry on with life in their cars, OPEC tightens its fist on production rising gas prices up again.
Let's hear it for mass transit, baby!
What makes the rise in prices hurt more this time than earlier in the summer is it will also have a direct impact on your heating bills.
"OPEC's move comes at a bad time, right before the start of winter heating season in the USA. Oil prices affect the cost of all heating sources used in the USA, including natural gas, which is used in more than half of U.S. homes."
Yet another reason to finally begin weaning ourselves off of the oil coming from the Mideast when there are increasingly more options available elsewhere in the world.
So, out of work and stripped of unemployment insurance, many of the unemployed must now face higher gas and heating costs coupled with skyrocketing increases in health insurance and rent costs at the start of 2004.
Even if the national unemployment rate falls to 5.9 percent by the end of the year, that number still represents millions of people, many with families, who still have to struggle with trying to get by at the costliest time of the year. And I still submit to you that as we draw closer to the holiday, many companies will have layoffs to try and save their way to a better bottom line at the end of the fourth quarter.
Why here's a company just today making such layoff plans. And another. And still another. All today, and I found them with very little effort.
As far as lowering the unemployment rate during the fourth quarter, how many of those jobs filled will actually be more than temporary or come with benefits? The new trend for benefits in 2004 is too provide health insurance, but strip out vision and dental.
Advice Time: If you have a vision and dental plan through a spouse, get those check-ups out of the way now! Don't count on your HR staff to give you a fair enough warning. Get in the chair now!
As desperate as things continue to get for the unemployed, just think how things may become if all those telemarketers begin shelling out resumes for the same jobs you're looking to land. I'm not saying they have the same skills or are qualified, but your resume could become another piece of straw in the haystack of resumes that could soon be flooding the job landscape.
The telemarketing industry wasn't just going to lie down on Oct. 1 and let the FTC rip the headsets off of its workers. So, the industry went to court and blocked the implementation of the national no-call list leaving open the door, or line if you will, to eventually shredding the list and allowing the telemarketing industry to continue on with its service to millions of Americans.
The legal move protects thousands of jobs across the country and probably saved your snail mail and email boxes from exploding with unsolicited amounts of junk. This industry isn't just going to go away. It has too much money and has been far too successful for too long to have it just suddenly stop. Plus, there are several other industries that would hate to see telemarketing go away in its present form.
Let me put it to you another way. Did all the deaths from cigarette smoking kill the tobacco industry? So what makes you think inconvenient phone calls will bring down telemarketing.
For those of you showing little sympathy to the people currently enjoying employment through telemarketing, take heart. The Direct Marketing Association says the no-call list violates the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. Well, I can't help but think John Ashcroft's Patriot Act violates some Amendments too, so telemarketers, don't rest so easy in your ergonomic office chairs.
The FTC is appealing the ruling. Stay tuned.
Good grief. Just as gas prices were beginning to settle back down making it economically affordable for the unemployed to carry on with life in their cars, OPEC tightens its fist on production rising gas prices up again.
Let's hear it for mass transit, baby!
What makes the rise in prices hurt more this time than earlier in the summer is it will also have a direct impact on your heating bills.
"OPEC's move comes at a bad time, right before the start of winter heating season in the USA. Oil prices affect the cost of all heating sources used in the USA, including natural gas, which is used in more than half of U.S. homes."
Yet another reason to finally begin weaning ourselves off of the oil coming from the Mideast when there are increasingly more options available elsewhere in the world.
So, out of work and stripped of unemployment insurance, many of the unemployed must now face higher gas and heating costs coupled with skyrocketing increases in health insurance and rent costs at the start of 2004.
Even if the national unemployment rate falls to 5.9 percent by the end of the year, that number still represents millions of people, many with families, who still have to struggle with trying to get by at the costliest time of the year. And I still submit to you that as we draw closer to the holiday, many companies will have layoffs to try and save their way to a better bottom line at the end of the fourth quarter.
Why here's a company just today making such layoff plans. And another. And still another. All today, and I found them with very little effort.
As far as lowering the unemployment rate during the fourth quarter, how many of those jobs filled will actually be more than temporary or come with benefits? The new trend for benefits in 2004 is too provide health insurance, but strip out vision and dental.
Advice Time: If you have a vision and dental plan through a spouse, get those check-ups out of the way now! Don't count on your HR staff to give you a fair enough warning. Get in the chair now!
As desperate as things continue to get for the unemployed, just think how things may become if all those telemarketers begin shelling out resumes for the same jobs you're looking to land. I'm not saying they have the same skills or are qualified, but your resume could become another piece of straw in the haystack of resumes that could soon be flooding the job landscape.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Flying into the face of optimism for an unemployment recovery and a fruitful economy comes news impacting the auto industry. According to a Goldman Sachs analysis, the Big 3 automakers here in the U.S. could be shipping 50,000 jobs off of the assembly line in the next four years.
"Analysts with the Wall Street investment bank calculated that the closure or divestitures of 10-13 parts and assembly plants provided for under new labour contracts, plus regular attrition, could result in the loss of 50,000 hourly jobs in the United States."
Who on the union's side of the bargaining table spent his or her downtime sniffing glue? How do you let that go by without an objection?
The labor contract has yet to be ratified by the rank and file of the United Autoworkers union. Based on a story such as this, we'll see if the rank and file falls in line.
"Analysts with the Wall Street investment bank calculated that the closure or divestitures of 10-13 parts and assembly plants provided for under new labour contracts, plus regular attrition, could result in the loss of 50,000 hourly jobs in the United States."
Who on the union's side of the bargaining table spent his or her downtime sniffing glue? How do you let that go by without an objection?
The labor contract has yet to be ratified by the rank and file of the United Autoworkers union. Based on a story such as this, we'll see if the rank and file falls in line.
Just the other day I received a call from my stepbrother telling me how he was turning down a $100,000+ a year job overseas. My brother is currently in the military making a fraction of that salary. His skills from the military will probably lead him to a career in auto mechanics, but it almost certainly won't be paying him more than $100,000 a year.
"Wake up, crackhead," I yelled into the phone as my brother isn't the sharpest tool in the drawer and I saw this as a once in his lifetime opportunity.
In his defense, the overseas job is in Iraq.
In my defense, it's still more than $100,000 a year!
My wife grabbed the phone from me and began yelling at my brother as well. She really didn't care whether or not he took the job; she wanted to know where she could forward my resume.
I realize an overwhelming amount of the news from Iraq concerns the rising daily death toll of U.S. soldiers, but those stories are simply not capturing the entire picture of what's going on in Iraq.
"The Baghdad that (Time reporter Brian) Bennett sees is a city where gunfire erupts every night and dozens of Iraqis are reported dead in the morning. Looting and robberies are common. "There is a mounting terrorist threat, and the people who want to kill American soldiers are getting more organized," he says.
But he also sees a city where restaurants are reopening daily, where women feel increasingly safe going out to shop, where more police means intersections aren't as clogged as they were this summer. "My neighbors are nice,'' he says. ''My street is a pretty quiet place."
When Bennett visited the USA a few weeks ago, he realized that, five months after the U.S. invasion, the Iraq he lives in doesn't mesh with the bleak picture that friends here are getting from the media."
Contractors from the U.S. are landing multi-million dollar deals to rebuild Iraq and they are looking for people to go over there and get the job done. My brother repairs Humvees and other large vehicles for the military, he's exactly the type of person needed in Iraq along with other people skilled in various reconstruction trades.
The danger zone in Iraq has always seemed to have been centered on Baghdad and the "Tikrit Triangle," which isn't surprising since it was the base of Saddam Hussein's power. You rarely hear the same reports from parts north and south of that troubled region of Iraq.
I'm not about to get into policy regarding Iraq, that's not the purpose of the blog, but when presented with an opportunity such as this, and based on the slowly recovering job market at home, is it worth going to Iraq to make that kind of money with benefits and living expenses combined? My brother's job offer would allow him to live on a compound away from the population where the real problems start and end.
I look at it like this, if you're unemployed, single, and always had a soft spot in your heart for the Peace Corps, why not inquire about the opportunities? Hey, this is much better than the Peace Corps, at least with this; you're getting paid mad dollars!
My brother has resisted my arguments and plans on returning to the U.S. once his time with the Army is done. At that moment, he will join the great number of unemployed people in the U.S. scraping for whatever type of job they can find. He might score one right away, make some nice pocket change and live happily ever after.
I hope that's the case.
Of course, he could also find himself like too many other people who are unemployed for months desperate for any job, any place, at any price.
I hope then he doesn't regret not going to Iraq and making a difference. A difference not only in his life, but also in the lives of so many others.
"Wake up, crackhead," I yelled into the phone as my brother isn't the sharpest tool in the drawer and I saw this as a once in his lifetime opportunity.
In his defense, the overseas job is in Iraq.
In my defense, it's still more than $100,000 a year!
My wife grabbed the phone from me and began yelling at my brother as well. She really didn't care whether or not he took the job; she wanted to know where she could forward my resume.
I realize an overwhelming amount of the news from Iraq concerns the rising daily death toll of U.S. soldiers, but those stories are simply not capturing the entire picture of what's going on in Iraq.
"The Baghdad that (Time reporter Brian) Bennett sees is a city where gunfire erupts every night and dozens of Iraqis are reported dead in the morning. Looting and robberies are common. "There is a mounting terrorist threat, and the people who want to kill American soldiers are getting more organized," he says.
But he also sees a city where restaurants are reopening daily, where women feel increasingly safe going out to shop, where more police means intersections aren't as clogged as they were this summer. "My neighbors are nice,'' he says. ''My street is a pretty quiet place."
When Bennett visited the USA a few weeks ago, he realized that, five months after the U.S. invasion, the Iraq he lives in doesn't mesh with the bleak picture that friends here are getting from the media."
Contractors from the U.S. are landing multi-million dollar deals to rebuild Iraq and they are looking for people to go over there and get the job done. My brother repairs Humvees and other large vehicles for the military, he's exactly the type of person needed in Iraq along with other people skilled in various reconstruction trades.
The danger zone in Iraq has always seemed to have been centered on Baghdad and the "Tikrit Triangle," which isn't surprising since it was the base of Saddam Hussein's power. You rarely hear the same reports from parts north and south of that troubled region of Iraq.
I'm not about to get into policy regarding Iraq, that's not the purpose of the blog, but when presented with an opportunity such as this, and based on the slowly recovering job market at home, is it worth going to Iraq to make that kind of money with benefits and living expenses combined? My brother's job offer would allow him to live on a compound away from the population where the real problems start and end.
I look at it like this, if you're unemployed, single, and always had a soft spot in your heart for the Peace Corps, why not inquire about the opportunities? Hey, this is much better than the Peace Corps, at least with this; you're getting paid mad dollars!
My brother has resisted my arguments and plans on returning to the U.S. once his time with the Army is done. At that moment, he will join the great number of unemployed people in the U.S. scraping for whatever type of job they can find. He might score one right away, make some nice pocket change and live happily ever after.
I hope that's the case.
Of course, he could also find himself like too many other people who are unemployed for months desperate for any job, any place, at any price.
I hope then he doesn't regret not going to Iraq and making a difference. A difference not only in his life, but also in the lives of so many others.
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Hot headlines from this weekend:
U.S. Jobs: Next Stop, India? Next stop? Try first stop in you're in the computer field.
Industry slashes jobs as mortgage boom fizzles out Now that mortgage rates are on the rise, you'll start to find that a steady career in real estate may turn out to be nothing more than the employment flavor of the moment. That moment is quickly going away.
Guns, gay marriage and jobs, jobs, jobs Yeah, instead of making the economic survival of its state the top priority, Wisconsin will throw itself into a fever pitch over guns and gay marriage issues. Cheeseheads!
Senco to consolidate, cut 125 jobs Hmmm, I thought someone (Mr. Commander and Chief) keeps telling us the unemployment problem is going to get better? This must just be a blip on his radar.
Airport contractor may cut 225 jobs I hope Bush has a big radar because we still seem to keep finding a lot of blips!
U.S. Jobs: Next Stop, India? Next stop? Try first stop in you're in the computer field.
Industry slashes jobs as mortgage boom fizzles out Now that mortgage rates are on the rise, you'll start to find that a steady career in real estate may turn out to be nothing more than the employment flavor of the moment. That moment is quickly going away.
Guns, gay marriage and jobs, jobs, jobs Yeah, instead of making the economic survival of its state the top priority, Wisconsin will throw itself into a fever pitch over guns and gay marriage issues. Cheeseheads!
Senco to consolidate, cut 125 jobs Hmmm, I thought someone (Mr. Commander and Chief) keeps telling us the unemployment problem is going to get better? This must just be a blip on his radar.
Airport contractor may cut 225 jobs I hope Bush has a big radar because we still seem to keep finding a lot of blips!
Thursday, September 18, 2003
Hurricane Isabel may be wrecking havoc along the Carolina coastline, but her impact on the employment situation in the region may be beneficial for some people as its going to take a number of construction types to rebuild and reinforce the area after the storms subside.
The one industry that stands to be hurt the most is insurance with eight companies in particular owning up to three-fourths of the property insurance accounts in the region.
The companies are according to Weiss Ratings:
State Farm Insurance; Nationwide Corp.; Allstate Insurance Group; Citigroup Inc.; USAA Group; Erie Insurance Group; NC Farm Bureau Insurance; and Zurich Financial Services Group.
Give it one to three months and each of these companies will be sending out rate increases. However, I once again fail to have sympathy for these companies as insurance is nothing more than a necessary evil for the consumer and an educated gamble for the insurer. However, unlike your trip to Vegas, insurance companies are always cashing in, it's just that when they talk about beating the house, they mean your house!
Some call it encouraging news, others see mixed results, but the number of unemployment claims were down last week by 29,000 from the previous week.
"The drop in initial claims was the largest one-week decline since a 31,000 decrease in the week ended April 5, and brought claims well below Wall Street forecasts for 410,000 after the 422,000 originally reported last week."
However, the number of people drawing unemployment benefits overall rose to 3.68 million which I will point out again does not count those who have exhausted their benefits. Also, remember there are a large number of people who have yet to begin claiming unemployment while living off the rest of their severance packages from their former employers.
Keeping the focus on those who have lost their benefits, non-profit organizations that lend a helping hand to those who really fall down on their employment luck are also feeling the pinch of today's economy and are finding it as difficult as ever to assist those in need.
"... for possibly the first time since Ronald Reagan attacked the public welfare state, non-profits face the very real prospect of significant, continuing declines in government funding, their second-largest source of revenue. Many state and local governments, facing budget shortfalls, have already pared back. Congress, staring down $500-billion-plus annual deficits, is beginning to debate cuts or slower spending in some social programs."
A large part of the problem here is the federal government is passing the burden on to the states who pass on to their counties and cities who then have less and less for the non-profits. When states and cities continue to cut vital services in the fields of public safety, you know the local charities, food banks and hospitals are going to get less than a fair share.
So, the poor and unemployed are left with little in the way of public support while the federal government focuses in on spending billions of dollars it doesn't really have on improving the conditions in Iraq.
Before you Bushies begin zipping emails my way, I'll grant you this, President Bill Clinton was guilty of the same practice of shifting more and more of the burden of funding such non-profit programs to the states as well. (And, yes, he was guilty of a few other things as well, but we're getting off topic here). However, Clinton didn't set the country up to be picking up the entire tab for the reconstruction or Bosnia as we are currently doing in Iraq.
To keep things timely, the American Red Cross says its disaster relief fund has no money to assist those hit by Hurricane Isabel.
Did you catch that?
The Red Cross didn't say it is a little short of money;" it said it had none, zero, zilch. How appropriate that that's about the same amount of support the federal government is currently giving to the unemployed. If you don't believe me, ask some of the people at some of these non-profits ... provided you can find one where the door still opens and the lights are still on.
The one industry that stands to be hurt the most is insurance with eight companies in particular owning up to three-fourths of the property insurance accounts in the region.
The companies are according to Weiss Ratings:
State Farm Insurance; Nationwide Corp.; Allstate Insurance Group; Citigroup Inc.; USAA Group; Erie Insurance Group; NC Farm Bureau Insurance; and Zurich Financial Services Group.
Give it one to three months and each of these companies will be sending out rate increases. However, I once again fail to have sympathy for these companies as insurance is nothing more than a necessary evil for the consumer and an educated gamble for the insurer. However, unlike your trip to Vegas, insurance companies are always cashing in, it's just that when they talk about beating the house, they mean your house!
Some call it encouraging news, others see mixed results, but the number of unemployment claims were down last week by 29,000 from the previous week.
"The drop in initial claims was the largest one-week decline since a 31,000 decrease in the week ended April 5, and brought claims well below Wall Street forecasts for 410,000 after the 422,000 originally reported last week."
However, the number of people drawing unemployment benefits overall rose to 3.68 million which I will point out again does not count those who have exhausted their benefits. Also, remember there are a large number of people who have yet to begin claiming unemployment while living off the rest of their severance packages from their former employers.
Keeping the focus on those who have lost their benefits, non-profit organizations that lend a helping hand to those who really fall down on their employment luck are also feeling the pinch of today's economy and are finding it as difficult as ever to assist those in need.
"... for possibly the first time since Ronald Reagan attacked the public welfare state, non-profits face the very real prospect of significant, continuing declines in government funding, their second-largest source of revenue. Many state and local governments, facing budget shortfalls, have already pared back. Congress, staring down $500-billion-plus annual deficits, is beginning to debate cuts or slower spending in some social programs."
A large part of the problem here is the federal government is passing the burden on to the states who pass on to their counties and cities who then have less and less for the non-profits. When states and cities continue to cut vital services in the fields of public safety, you know the local charities, food banks and hospitals are going to get less than a fair share.
So, the poor and unemployed are left with little in the way of public support while the federal government focuses in on spending billions of dollars it doesn't really have on improving the conditions in Iraq.
Before you Bushies begin zipping emails my way, I'll grant you this, President Bill Clinton was guilty of the same practice of shifting more and more of the burden of funding such non-profit programs to the states as well. (And, yes, he was guilty of a few other things as well, but we're getting off topic here). However, Clinton didn't set the country up to be picking up the entire tab for the reconstruction or Bosnia as we are currently doing in Iraq.
To keep things timely, the American Red Cross says its disaster relief fund has no money to assist those hit by Hurricane Isabel.
Did you catch that?
The Red Cross didn't say it is a little short of money;" it said it had none, zero, zilch. How appropriate that that's about the same amount of support the federal government is currently giving to the unemployed. If you don't believe me, ask some of the people at some of these non-profits ... provided you can find one where the door still opens and the lights are still on.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
I wanted to suggest three books worth reading that deal with the topics of working in America, employment and the state of living in these here United States.
The links to each of these book titles go to barnesandnoble.com for no real reason other than it's what came to mind when I decided to do this. Trust me, I'm not making a nickel off of this little blog ... not that I'm not open to the idea.
The Two Income Trap This is the book USA Today highlighted earlier this week on the ongoing struggles of today's middle class.
The Betrayal of Work The sub-title is "How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 35 Million Americans" which may not have been a factor in your life a year ago, but may really be one now during this unemployment crisis.
And finally, Nickel and Dimed which I will highly recommend as the author tries to make due on the paltry wages earned as a waitress, cleaning woman, sales clerk, etc. What I find amusing is these are the same types of professions politicians grovel over in their speeches, but completely forget about once they get into office.
And yes, I would include the Democrats in that scenario as well. Tell me, how much better did the working class in the U.S. really do during the Clinton administration? I'm not saying things weren't better for the middle and upper class, but for the hourly earner, Clinton didn't do much better than his predecessors.
Democrats use the hourly earners in the U.S. like a chess player uses its pawns ... as disposable cogs towards a greater goal.
My final suggestion regarding these books, should you currently be unemployed, is not to go out and actually buy the books, my apologies to the authors for this suggestion, but go out and check them out from your local library. I'm not so sure about the first two books, but I can assure you Nickel and Dimed is surely in a library near you and worth the investment of time.
As I told you earlier this month, (or was it last month?) tobacco king RJ Reynolds is slashing 40 percent of its workforce citing stiff competition but not its inability to market its product as it had in the past.
"Last month, RJR's parent company said its quarterly profit and sales fell sharply from year-ago levels because of increased competition from discount cigarette brands."
Shareholders were thrilled with the news as the company stock jumped 10 percent in morning trading. RJ Reynolds says it is looking to consolidate some of its operations and outsource other company functions. Uh-Oh! If you didn't receive your company pink slip today, be afraid, because it sounds as if you soon will.
Obviously, RJ Reynolds was not among the 21 percent of U.S. companies seeking to hire additional staff during the fourth quarter of 2003.
So ... do things get any more exciting today in regards to unemployment? Not really. Although I do find it fascinating that unemployment continues to improve in other parts of the world including Great Britain where unemployment has hit a 28-year low.
My latest edition of an "unnamed business publication" predicts that unemployment will continue to go down, but only so slightly, by the end of the year. The mark set by the publication is 5.9 percent.
Now the only question is how do you get to be in that .2 percent of the unemployed who will suddenly find employment, and what type of employment will that be?
The links to each of these book titles go to barnesandnoble.com for no real reason other than it's what came to mind when I decided to do this. Trust me, I'm not making a nickel off of this little blog ... not that I'm not open to the idea.
The Two Income Trap This is the book USA Today highlighted earlier this week on the ongoing struggles of today's middle class.
The Betrayal of Work The sub-title is "How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 35 Million Americans" which may not have been a factor in your life a year ago, but may really be one now during this unemployment crisis.
And finally, Nickel and Dimed which I will highly recommend as the author tries to make due on the paltry wages earned as a waitress, cleaning woman, sales clerk, etc. What I find amusing is these are the same types of professions politicians grovel over in their speeches, but completely forget about once they get into office.
And yes, I would include the Democrats in that scenario as well. Tell me, how much better did the working class in the U.S. really do during the Clinton administration? I'm not saying things weren't better for the middle and upper class, but for the hourly earner, Clinton didn't do much better than his predecessors.
Democrats use the hourly earners in the U.S. like a chess player uses its pawns ... as disposable cogs towards a greater goal.
My final suggestion regarding these books, should you currently be unemployed, is not to go out and actually buy the books, my apologies to the authors for this suggestion, but go out and check them out from your local library. I'm not so sure about the first two books, but I can assure you Nickel and Dimed is surely in a library near you and worth the investment of time.
As I told you earlier this month, (or was it last month?) tobacco king RJ Reynolds is slashing 40 percent of its workforce citing stiff competition but not its inability to market its product as it had in the past.
"Last month, RJR's parent company said its quarterly profit and sales fell sharply from year-ago levels because of increased competition from discount cigarette brands."
Shareholders were thrilled with the news as the company stock jumped 10 percent in morning trading. RJ Reynolds says it is looking to consolidate some of its operations and outsource other company functions. Uh-Oh! If you didn't receive your company pink slip today, be afraid, because it sounds as if you soon will.
Obviously, RJ Reynolds was not among the 21 percent of U.S. companies seeking to hire additional staff during the fourth quarter of 2003.
So ... do things get any more exciting today in regards to unemployment? Not really. Although I do find it fascinating that unemployment continues to improve in other parts of the world including Great Britain where unemployment has hit a 28-year low.
My latest edition of an "unnamed business publication" predicts that unemployment will continue to go down, but only so slightly, by the end of the year. The mark set by the publication is 5.9 percent.
Now the only question is how do you get to be in that .2 percent of the unemployed who will suddenly find employment, and what type of employment will that be?
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
A positive sign gets our morning off to a kick today as Manpower announces that 21 percent of companies surveyed were planning to hire additional staff during the fourth quarter of this year.
The rest of the survey breaks out with 11 percent expecting to cut and the rest holding steady through the end of the year.
There wasn't a region of the country that looks to be hiring more than any of the others although the winning industries include financial, insurance, real estate, (which is on a ad buying splurge of late), transportation and public utilities. As one might also expect, the retail industry will take on its usual holiday labor force as will the wholesale industry.
Overall, count that as a 10 percent gain in hiring overall. The nationwide survey covered 16,000 companies and the Manpower CEO says signs for a job recovery are optimistic.
I'll remain guardedly optimistic, but I'll take some good news for a change.
The rest of the survey breaks out with 11 percent expecting to cut and the rest holding steady through the end of the year.
There wasn't a region of the country that looks to be hiring more than any of the others although the winning industries include financial, insurance, real estate, (which is on a ad buying splurge of late), transportation and public utilities. As one might also expect, the retail industry will take on its usual holiday labor force as will the wholesale industry.
Overall, count that as a 10 percent gain in hiring overall. The nationwide survey covered 16,000 companies and the Manpower CEO says signs for a job recovery are optimistic.
I'll remain guardedly optimistic, but I'll take some good news for a change.
Monday, September 15, 2003
The more economists continue to fan the flames of an economic recovery, the worse I feel for anyone unemployed and expecting a quick fix.
I'll even grant you the fact that there are at least some signs of an economic recovery, but I wouldn't go as far as today's group of economists that are predicting strong economic growth during the second half of the year.
"The group expects gross domestic product, the country's total output of goods and services, to grow at a 4.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter and a 4 percent rate in the October-December period.
"That forecast, if correct, would mark the first time since 1999 that GDP has grown at a rate of 4 percent or better for two consecutive quarters."
The group also predicts this will spark an upward swing in employment that hasn't existed since, oh, let's see, the Bush administration.
I'm only one person against a slew of think tank brainiacs, but I wouldn't expect to see this upward swing in hiring until at least the end of the first quarter of '04. If you can find employment before then, hats off to you, but for a majority of the unemployed it's spring or bust.
One must keep in mind the current economy is a fragile, fickle thing with Iraq, trade deficits, the deficit itself, and the looming threat of terrorism still hanging over each promising economic report.
Businesses enjoyed a modest rise in sales in July, however, many sectors continue to keep their inventories low as the lingering doubts listed above are hanging over many industries as well. Get all the think tanks to crunch all the numbers they want, until the corporate heads begin to buy into an economic recovery, it and an end to the unemployment crisis isn't going to come any time soon.
To close today's list of stories comes another story from USA Today, which by the way seems to be the only news source willing to put a daily focus on the economy and the jobless situation in the U.S.
Cut from a book titled, "The Two Income Trap," USA Today focuses on the hardships faced by the middle class in this country, the same middle class politicians are always fighting to win over come election time.
In short, it's even tougher today to survive as a middle class family than ever before.
Reasons for the sour outlook on the middle class include, a rising cost of living exceeding the gains in salaries, soaring credit card debts (I still say that's the silent economic killer in this country) and a lack of savings for retirement and children's college funds.
Some damning facts from the story include:
- 92 percent of the record 1.6 million (bankruptcy) filers in the year ended June 30 were middle class, according to a Harvard University study.
- The average employee contribution toward health insurance premiums is $2,412 for family coverage this year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That's a 13 percent increase over 2002.
- About 80 percent of low- and moderate-income homeowners spent more than half of their income on housing in 2001, according to the Center for Housing Policy. Many experts say no more than 36 percent of gross monthly income should go toward credit card bills, car payments and mortgages combined.
- Credit card debt for middle-income families is soaring — up 75 percent to $5,031 between 1989 and 2001, according to a new report by Demos, a non-partisan public policy organization. About one-third of (divorced) families owed an entire year's salary on their credit cards. (I don't know about you, but I only wish I had a credit card debt of $5,031.)
- Nearly 90 percent of families with children who file for bankruptcy cite three reasons: job loss, divorce or medical problems, according to the Consumer Bankruptcy Project at Harvard University, the largest study of consumer bankruptcy in America.
Keep in mind, this is with two-income households, we're not talking about the many thousands of households where one or both earners have found themselves out of work.
All kinds of people can keep fanning the flames of an economic recovery all they want, but is it fair to say we're on our way back when the divide between the haves and have-nots continues to grow wider and wider? The only economic recovery I'll buy into is the one that provides opportunities for everyone who seeks them.
I'll even grant you the fact that there are at least some signs of an economic recovery, but I wouldn't go as far as today's group of economists that are predicting strong economic growth during the second half of the year.
"The group expects gross domestic product, the country's total output of goods and services, to grow at a 4.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter and a 4 percent rate in the October-December period.
"That forecast, if correct, would mark the first time since 1999 that GDP has grown at a rate of 4 percent or better for two consecutive quarters."
The group also predicts this will spark an upward swing in employment that hasn't existed since, oh, let's see, the Bush administration.
I'm only one person against a slew of think tank brainiacs, but I wouldn't expect to see this upward swing in hiring until at least the end of the first quarter of '04. If you can find employment before then, hats off to you, but for a majority of the unemployed it's spring or bust.
One must keep in mind the current economy is a fragile, fickle thing with Iraq, trade deficits, the deficit itself, and the looming threat of terrorism still hanging over each promising economic report.
Businesses enjoyed a modest rise in sales in July, however, many sectors continue to keep their inventories low as the lingering doubts listed above are hanging over many industries as well. Get all the think tanks to crunch all the numbers they want, until the corporate heads begin to buy into an economic recovery, it and an end to the unemployment crisis isn't going to come any time soon.
To close today's list of stories comes another story from USA Today, which by the way seems to be the only news source willing to put a daily focus on the economy and the jobless situation in the U.S.
Cut from a book titled, "The Two Income Trap," USA Today focuses on the hardships faced by the middle class in this country, the same middle class politicians are always fighting to win over come election time.
In short, it's even tougher today to survive as a middle class family than ever before.
Reasons for the sour outlook on the middle class include, a rising cost of living exceeding the gains in salaries, soaring credit card debts (I still say that's the silent economic killer in this country) and a lack of savings for retirement and children's college funds.
Some damning facts from the story include:
- 92 percent of the record 1.6 million (bankruptcy) filers in the year ended June 30 were middle class, according to a Harvard University study.
- The average employee contribution toward health insurance premiums is $2,412 for family coverage this year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That's a 13 percent increase over 2002.
- About 80 percent of low- and moderate-income homeowners spent more than half of their income on housing in 2001, according to the Center for Housing Policy. Many experts say no more than 36 percent of gross monthly income should go toward credit card bills, car payments and mortgages combined.
- Credit card debt for middle-income families is soaring — up 75 percent to $5,031 between 1989 and 2001, according to a new report by Demos, a non-partisan public policy organization. About one-third of (divorced) families owed an entire year's salary on their credit cards. (I don't know about you, but I only wish I had a credit card debt of $5,031.)
- Nearly 90 percent of families with children who file for bankruptcy cite three reasons: job loss, divorce or medical problems, according to the Consumer Bankruptcy Project at Harvard University, the largest study of consumer bankruptcy in America.
Keep in mind, this is with two-income households, we're not talking about the many thousands of households where one or both earners have found themselves out of work.
All kinds of people can keep fanning the flames of an economic recovery all they want, but is it fair to say we're on our way back when the divide between the haves and have-nots continues to grow wider and wider? The only economic recovery I'll buy into is the one that provides opportunities for everyone who seeks them.
Sunday, September 14, 2003
Hot Headlines from this weekend:
Unemployment offices face overflow For whatever reason, I never added those people who are living off the last few morsels of their severance packages to the list of upcoming unemployment starts. My bad!
Some financial jobs not returning to Lower Manhattan It could also be that they're simply not returning anywhere!
U.S. jobs lost since 2001 gone for good, study says OK, this headline qualifies as the most depressing of the weekend, week, month ...
Candidates agree growth in jobs needed What a stunning development this must have been in the race for governor in Louisiana. Job growth needed, who knew?
Finding light after series of odd jobs Must read material for those of you who felt like saying, "Screw this unemployment crap, I'm starting my own business." I say go for it!
"The greatest failure is the failure to try." - William Arthur Ward
Unemployment offices face overflow For whatever reason, I never added those people who are living off the last few morsels of their severance packages to the list of upcoming unemployment starts. My bad!
Some financial jobs not returning to Lower Manhattan It could also be that they're simply not returning anywhere!
U.S. jobs lost since 2001 gone for good, study says OK, this headline qualifies as the most depressing of the weekend, week, month ...
Candidates agree growth in jobs needed What a stunning development this must have been in the race for governor in Louisiana. Job growth needed, who knew?
Finding light after series of odd jobs Must read material for those of you who felt like saying, "Screw this unemployment crap, I'm starting my own business." I say go for it!
"The greatest failure is the failure to try." - William Arthur Ward
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Even in the unsteadiest of times, some people just don't know how well they have it. For instance today's USA Today story on the number of people burned out and ready to quit their jobs.
"High performers are 32 percent more likely than lower performers to say they'll be looking for a job in the next year. That's because many of them feel under-rewarded and under appreciated, according to the survey of more than 1,100 full-time employees by New York-based Sibson Consulting."
Someone get these people to their mommies. You mean to tell me there are still thousands of people out there who whine about not feeling appreciated and loved by their employer? Please. The other two reasons for wanting to leave a job make more sense than this dribble about not feeling the love.
"Fifty-three percent say they are unhappy with pay, up from 44 percent in 2002, according to a poll by CareerBuilder.com. And 45 percent are unhappy with career advancement opportunities, up from 36 percent in 2002."
If you believe you can make more, go do it. If you want to chase after bigger and better opportunities, have at it. But to go on about not feeling respected by one’s peers or superiors, blow out your ass. Earn respect and you will receive it. As we all know, there are thousands of qualified people out there willing to take a job in a second and would rather have a paycheck than have the boss stroking the ego.
If you don't buy my argument, run it by the additional 3,000 jobless filing claims for the first time last week. Better yet, go to those who have been without work for more than a year, sometimes two.
If you've got something better than money, feel free to educate me on what it is because respect doesn't buy bread and milk or pay the rent. It never has, it never will.
As Danny DeVito's despicable character accurately puts it in the movie Heist: "Everybody needs money! That's why they call it money!"
Needing respect. What's next, are people going to be throwing down in the office because one person scuffs the another's wingtips?
On another worthy topic, I had someone send me an email recently blaming the H-1B visa program for much of the current unemployment problem we're facing in the U.S. In short, and as I understand it, using the H-1B visa program, a business can bring a "qualified" person over from a foreign country to work a job in the U.S. provided that person is given a comparable wage to similar native-born workers in that industry. This program is most widely used in the tech industry.
Many an unemployed techie has complained that this program is putting many of them out of work and is unfair. Both points deserve further examination.
Regarding putting many of the techies out of work:
"Though the number of H-1B visas is limited by law to 195,000 per year -- a number that will drop to 65,000 in 2004 -- amounting to just 0.13 percent of the total U.S. labor force, the programs have their greatest impact on high-tech jobs, which are among the best-paying in the economy."
Excuse me, but 0.13 percent isn't a staggering number, plus, the high-tech industry is still the fastest growing industry in the world and showing few signs of slowing down. Understand, if you're out of work, I feel your pain, but the numbers just don't play out correctly to be blaming the H-1B program for all the tech employment troubles.
Regarding whether or not it's fair, listen, it's a free market and if these people taking advantage of the H-1B program have the required training, education and skills necessary to do the job better, then they deserve the job.
In a free market and a global economy, that is what it's coming down to anymore when it comes to finding and keeping a job in the U.S. The most skilled people in the world are seeking to apply their talents here in the U.S., not China, India, Europe or the Middle East. They want to work here, where you live, in your office, at your desk.
It's simply the hard truth of employment in the U.S.
Ask yourself this, are you the best at your job and does what you do make a difference in the bottom line for your employer? If you can answer yes to those questions and get the person interviewing you to believe it, more often than not, you're going to get the job. Trust me, you're probably not going to be asked those questions, it's your job to leave that impression behind.
Before anyone suspects I've gone Benedict Arnold on you, understand, I'm not against people coming to America to find work, I'm against American companies sending those jobs overseas for pitiful wages in third world countries offering substandard working conditions. Now, that's worth getting angry about.
We shouldn't shy away from competition, we should welcome it; it is part of what has made the U.S. the overwhelming global economic leader. You've got to understand that exporting our jobs overseas is the real problem, that's what's tearing our country apart for thousands and thousands of Americans.
"High performers are 32 percent more likely than lower performers to say they'll be looking for a job in the next year. That's because many of them feel under-rewarded and under appreciated, according to the survey of more than 1,100 full-time employees by New York-based Sibson Consulting."
Someone get these people to their mommies. You mean to tell me there are still thousands of people out there who whine about not feeling appreciated and loved by their employer? Please. The other two reasons for wanting to leave a job make more sense than this dribble about not feeling the love.
"Fifty-three percent say they are unhappy with pay, up from 44 percent in 2002, according to a poll by CareerBuilder.com. And 45 percent are unhappy with career advancement opportunities, up from 36 percent in 2002."
If you believe you can make more, go do it. If you want to chase after bigger and better opportunities, have at it. But to go on about not feeling respected by one’s peers or superiors, blow out your ass. Earn respect and you will receive it. As we all know, there are thousands of qualified people out there willing to take a job in a second and would rather have a paycheck than have the boss stroking the ego.
If you don't buy my argument, run it by the additional 3,000 jobless filing claims for the first time last week. Better yet, go to those who have been without work for more than a year, sometimes two.
If you've got something better than money, feel free to educate me on what it is because respect doesn't buy bread and milk or pay the rent. It never has, it never will.
As Danny DeVito's despicable character accurately puts it in the movie Heist: "Everybody needs money! That's why they call it money!"
Needing respect. What's next, are people going to be throwing down in the office because one person scuffs the another's wingtips?
On another worthy topic, I had someone send me an email recently blaming the H-1B visa program for much of the current unemployment problem we're facing in the U.S. In short, and as I understand it, using the H-1B visa program, a business can bring a "qualified" person over from a foreign country to work a job in the U.S. provided that person is given a comparable wage to similar native-born workers in that industry. This program is most widely used in the tech industry.
Many an unemployed techie has complained that this program is putting many of them out of work and is unfair. Both points deserve further examination.
Regarding putting many of the techies out of work:
"Though the number of H-1B visas is limited by law to 195,000 per year -- a number that will drop to 65,000 in 2004 -- amounting to just 0.13 percent of the total U.S. labor force, the programs have their greatest impact on high-tech jobs, which are among the best-paying in the economy."
Excuse me, but 0.13 percent isn't a staggering number, plus, the high-tech industry is still the fastest growing industry in the world and showing few signs of slowing down. Understand, if you're out of work, I feel your pain, but the numbers just don't play out correctly to be blaming the H-1B program for all the tech employment troubles.
Regarding whether or not it's fair, listen, it's a free market and if these people taking advantage of the H-1B program have the required training, education and skills necessary to do the job better, then they deserve the job.
In a free market and a global economy, that is what it's coming down to anymore when it comes to finding and keeping a job in the U.S. The most skilled people in the world are seeking to apply their talents here in the U.S., not China, India, Europe or the Middle East. They want to work here, where you live, in your office, at your desk.
It's simply the hard truth of employment in the U.S.
Ask yourself this, are you the best at your job and does what you do make a difference in the bottom line for your employer? If you can answer yes to those questions and get the person interviewing you to believe it, more often than not, you're going to get the job. Trust me, you're probably not going to be asked those questions, it's your job to leave that impression behind.
Before anyone suspects I've gone Benedict Arnold on you, understand, I'm not against people coming to America to find work, I'm against American companies sending those jobs overseas for pitiful wages in third world countries offering substandard working conditions. Now, that's worth getting angry about.
We shouldn't shy away from competition, we should welcome it; it is part of what has made the U.S. the overwhelming global economic leader. You've got to understand that exporting our jobs overseas is the real problem, that's what's tearing our country apart for thousands and thousands of Americans.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Help Wanted!
Hundreds of stories, thousands of sources.
If you ever see a story focusing on the unemployment crisis in the U.S. that you find informative and interesting, please send the link to me so I can include it in this here blog of ours. Thanks a million!
Hundreds of stories, thousands of sources.
If you ever see a story focusing on the unemployment crisis in the U.S. that you find informative and interesting, please send the link to me so I can include it in this here blog of ours. Thanks a million!
Storm clouds are off in the distant, but 21 days from now an unemployment storm may be about to strike as the telemarketing industry takes its biggest hit which will, (yes, it will) leave thousands of people who labor away in this industry jobless.
Someone emailed me some stats this afternoon from the Federal Trade Commission's Web site showing the overwhelming number of people in the U.S. who have registered on the No-Call List. The total is 41,717,790 and that total does not yet count the number of registrants being copied onto the FTC roll from various state no-call lists.
To be fair, there are millions of people who own phones that have not registered with the FTC who the telemarketing companies can continue to call. However, these same people who have not registered should be considered undesirable by most businesses. The demographic profile of this group, excluding race, seems to indicate it is an uninformed, unmotivated, lower-income segment of the population with little disposable income and lousy credit records.
Now, can I link to such a profile? No. Is this the working assumption of some if not a majority of businesses using telemarketing? Yes.
Don't be fooled, for all the bad publicity, telemarketing works. For many industries, especially publishing, the largest amount of customer starts come from telemarketing. However, the telemarketing customer historically is the hardest customer to both pay for agreed services and retain for future services.
So, how does the impact the unemployment picture in America?
Twofold. First, although telemarketing has a significant part-time labor force, a significant number of those part-time workers will be laid off within the next three months. The real question is how many of them will file for unemployment?
Second, as mentioned above, the quality of leads developed through telemarketing is going to go down significantly as well. The return on a company's investment will simply not be there when you consider the amount of money spent in retention and collection efforts from that “undesirable� segment of the population. This will further reduce the business and profitability of the telemarketing industry. One can then expect telemarketing firms to downsize or go out of business increasing the numbers of full time telemarketers out of work and on the unemployment rolls.
While it's always been fashionable to bash the lowly telemarketer, it is an industry that was very successful for many years and has provided second incomes in many U.S. households. The big problem with the telemarketing industry is the same one that exists in fast food, the lack of applicable job skills outside of that particular industry. Both industries work from a script to be followed by bodies, not talents. The only difference is the fast food worker had its duties scripted, not its communication skills.
It will be interesting to see impact this No Call List will have not only on the unemployment rolls, but also the economy.
Two pieces of great news on the job front today. First, the Senate has blocked President Bush's controversial bill for new overtime rules for workers.
My belief is the inability to avoid paying workers overtime could help the unemployment figures as clearly there is a need for more work hours. If businesses want higher numbers of work hours, they will have to do so the old fashion way, hire people to work them.
Finally, take this for what it's worth as radio is the least reliable source for information, I heard this morning that the total tonnage of freight being transported in the U.S. has gone up significantly in the last number of weeks. By truck or train, materials and retail goods are shipping out at higher levels than in some time despite higher fuel costs and a sluggish economy.
Will this increase result in a trickle of hiring in the U.S.? Probably not during this calendar year, but stay tuned for 2004.
Someone emailed me some stats this afternoon from the Federal Trade Commission's Web site showing the overwhelming number of people in the U.S. who have registered on the No-Call List. The total is 41,717,790 and that total does not yet count the number of registrants being copied onto the FTC roll from various state no-call lists.
To be fair, there are millions of people who own phones that have not registered with the FTC who the telemarketing companies can continue to call. However, these same people who have not registered should be considered undesirable by most businesses. The demographic profile of this group, excluding race, seems to indicate it is an uninformed, unmotivated, lower-income segment of the population with little disposable income and lousy credit records.
Now, can I link to such a profile? No. Is this the working assumption of some if not a majority of businesses using telemarketing? Yes.
Don't be fooled, for all the bad publicity, telemarketing works. For many industries, especially publishing, the largest amount of customer starts come from telemarketing. However, the telemarketing customer historically is the hardest customer to both pay for agreed services and retain for future services.
So, how does the impact the unemployment picture in America?
Twofold. First, although telemarketing has a significant part-time labor force, a significant number of those part-time workers will be laid off within the next three months. The real question is how many of them will file for unemployment?
Second, as mentioned above, the quality of leads developed through telemarketing is going to go down significantly as well. The return on a company's investment will simply not be there when you consider the amount of money spent in retention and collection efforts from that “undesirable� segment of the population. This will further reduce the business and profitability of the telemarketing industry. One can then expect telemarketing firms to downsize or go out of business increasing the numbers of full time telemarketers out of work and on the unemployment rolls.
While it's always been fashionable to bash the lowly telemarketer, it is an industry that was very successful for many years and has provided second incomes in many U.S. households. The big problem with the telemarketing industry is the same one that exists in fast food, the lack of applicable job skills outside of that particular industry. Both industries work from a script to be followed by bodies, not talents. The only difference is the fast food worker had its duties scripted, not its communication skills.
It will be interesting to see impact this No Call List will have not only on the unemployment rolls, but also the economy.
Two pieces of great news on the job front today. First, the Senate has blocked President Bush's controversial bill for new overtime rules for workers.
My belief is the inability to avoid paying workers overtime could help the unemployment figures as clearly there is a need for more work hours. If businesses want higher numbers of work hours, they will have to do so the old fashion way, hire people to work them.
Finally, take this for what it's worth as radio is the least reliable source for information, I heard this morning that the total tonnage of freight being transported in the U.S. has gone up significantly in the last number of weeks. By truck or train, materials and retail goods are shipping out at higher levels than in some time despite higher fuel costs and a sluggish economy.
Will this increase result in a trickle of hiring in the U.S.? Probably not during this calendar year, but stay tuned for 2004.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
One can't help but wonder how many of our reservists in Iraq are murmuring to themselves, "I didn't sign up for this."
Imagine what waits for them when they come home, apparently a year from now, ugh, as in many cases one might suspect the job they had before leaving home may actually be eliminated before they get back. I realize a reservist can't lose his/her job due to service, but what if that job no longer exists due to company cutbacks? And what about the husbands and wives left behind in the U.S. who may be struggling to make ends meet while the other earner in the family is dodging bullets in the streets of Baghdad? How many of them are currently employed or suddenly unemployed due to the staggering number of layoffs around the country?
Imagine the backlash once these reservists are allowed to return and there's little to no jobs available. Do they get a lovely parting gift such as the Operation Iraq home game? It will be interesting to witness what happens to all these reservists once they come home and what happens to them in terms of the job market.
Continued bad news for those unemployed who have had to move to apartments, the rates for rent have gone up by a third since 1999. I realize this jump reflects better times before the unemployment crisis fully bloomed, but isn't it funny how these rate changes never go backwards during troubled times.
When one can't rent, one either ends up at friend's homes, parent's homes or the homeless shelter. You're probably only really welcome at one of the three spots mentioned above, and sorry, it's the least favorable one at that.
In closing, I've been trying to come up with a list of can't-miss industries or jobs where people can find employment, albeit loathsome, on a temporary basis. I must admit, this did not come to mind right away. However, for those of you open to all options, and if you have the assets to pull it off, baby, go shake that moneymaker!
Imagine what waits for them when they come home, apparently a year from now, ugh, as in many cases one might suspect the job they had before leaving home may actually be eliminated before they get back. I realize a reservist can't lose his/her job due to service, but what if that job no longer exists due to company cutbacks? And what about the husbands and wives left behind in the U.S. who may be struggling to make ends meet while the other earner in the family is dodging bullets in the streets of Baghdad? How many of them are currently employed or suddenly unemployed due to the staggering number of layoffs around the country?
Imagine the backlash once these reservists are allowed to return and there's little to no jobs available. Do they get a lovely parting gift such as the Operation Iraq home game? It will be interesting to witness what happens to all these reservists once they come home and what happens to them in terms of the job market.
Continued bad news for those unemployed who have had to move to apartments, the rates for rent have gone up by a third since 1999. I realize this jump reflects better times before the unemployment crisis fully bloomed, but isn't it funny how these rate changes never go backwards during troubled times.
When one can't rent, one either ends up at friend's homes, parent's homes or the homeless shelter. You're probably only really welcome at one of the three spots mentioned above, and sorry, it's the least favorable one at that.
In closing, I've been trying to come up with a list of can't-miss industries or jobs where people can find employment, albeit loathsome, on a temporary basis. I must admit, this did not come to mind right away. However, for those of you open to all options, and if you have the assets to pull it off, baby, go shake that moneymaker!
Saturday, September 06, 2003
Hot headlines this weekend:
Davis: U.S. 'hemorrhaging' jobs under Bush Hey, when you're about to become unemployed yourself, why not take a few shots on the way out the door?
Next on Bush domestic agenda: education HA! So the total amount of time Bush spent focusing on the unemployment crisis was a grand five days!
Manufactured home maker cutting jobs, closing 4 plants This after yesterday's meltdown in the labor pool. But wait, there's more!
PeopleSoft To Cut 750 to 1,000 Jobs From PeopleSoft to PeopleLost as in salaries, benefits and careers, gone.
Dallas Fed president says unemployment has peaked This story came out on Thursday before the gloomy news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today's headline should read, 'Dallas Fed president doesn't know dick about the job market.'
Enjoy your weekend.
Davis: U.S. 'hemorrhaging' jobs under Bush Hey, when you're about to become unemployed yourself, why not take a few shots on the way out the door?
Next on Bush domestic agenda: education HA! So the total amount of time Bush spent focusing on the unemployment crisis was a grand five days!
Manufactured home maker cutting jobs, closing 4 plants This after yesterday's meltdown in the labor pool. But wait, there's more!
PeopleSoft To Cut 750 to 1,000 Jobs From PeopleSoft to PeopleLost as in salaries, benefits and careers, gone.
Dallas Fed president says unemployment has peaked This story came out on Thursday before the gloomy news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today's headline should read, 'Dallas Fed president doesn't know dick about the job market.'
Enjoy your weekend.
Friday, September 05, 2003
As seen below, sour news on unemployment today as non-farm jobs shrunk by 93,000 in August in spite of the unemployment rate falling to 6.1 percent. You'll find no silver lining in the drop in the unemployment rate as even the Labor Department will admit it is more a reflection of the number of people who have exhausted their benefits or have simply given up looking for work.
As if ending the week without prospects or leads isn't tough enough, today's news presents a cloudy future for employment throughout the rest of the year that makes today about as depressing as it gets for job seekers.
I wish I could be more positive, but despite all the spins of an improving economy, the truth is there isn't anything going on worth rallying around for job seekers. Many unemployed Americans must deal with the knowledge that many jobs are simply not ever coming back.
One of the popular answers you'll hear from current office holders is it may be time to go back and learn another trade or find a career in a different industry. Face it, those options take time and money and the unemployed don't have much of either. Couple that with the reductions being made in programs designed to develop or discover new skills and one has to wonder where to turn next?
As soon as someone is willing to provide the answers, I'll be more than happy to share, but today, I can only deliver the facts ... there's no recovery in sight.
As if ending the week without prospects or leads isn't tough enough, today's news presents a cloudy future for employment throughout the rest of the year that makes today about as depressing as it gets for job seekers.
I wish I could be more positive, but despite all the spins of an improving economy, the truth is there isn't anything going on worth rallying around for job seekers. Many unemployed Americans must deal with the knowledge that many jobs are simply not ever coming back.
One of the popular answers you'll hear from current office holders is it may be time to go back and learn another trade or find a career in a different industry. Face it, those options take time and money and the unemployed don't have much of either. Couple that with the reductions being made in programs designed to develop or discover new skills and one has to wonder where to turn next?
As soon as someone is willing to provide the answers, I'll be more than happy to share, but today, I can only deliver the facts ... there's no recovery in sight.
I thought I would share with you a portion of the report submitted today from the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Kathleen P. Utgoff, to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.
"The unemployment rate, at 6.1 percent, was essentially unchanged in August. Nonfarm employment declined by 93,000 over the month. Manufacturers again made substantial job cuts, and employment in several other industries continued to trend down. On the positive side, employment continued to trend up in health care and construction.
Manufacturing employment fell by 44,000 in August. Job losses continued to be pervasive, with some of the more notable over-the-month declines occurring in textiles and apparel, wood products, and electrical equipment. In the past 3 years, some 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost, including a decline of 431,000 this year. In August,
the factory workweek was unchanged at 40.1 hours.
Within the information sector, the telecommunications industry continued to shed jobs. Employment in this industry has declined by 212,000 from its peak of 1.3 million in March 2001. Other sectors in which employment continued to trend down over the month were wholesale trade and transportation and warehousing.
Offsetting some of these losses, employment in the health care industry resumed growth, after showing little change in July. Health care has added over a quarter of a million jobs in the past 12 months.
Construction sector employment was up by 19,000 in August and has increased by 122,000 over the past 6 months. Temporary help employment continued to trend up, although the increases in July and August were notably smaller than the gains in May and June."
While I'm at it, here's what President Bush had to say yesterday about the U.S. economy:
"Our economy is starting to grow again. Americans are feeling more confident. I am determined to work with the United States Congress to turn these hopeful signs into lasting growth and greater prosperity and more jobs."
OK, Mr. President, feel free to start any day now. And, who by the way is "feeling more confident"? The president's advisers really need to start getting out more.
"The unemployment rate, at 6.1 percent, was essentially unchanged in August. Nonfarm employment declined by 93,000 over the month. Manufacturers again made substantial job cuts, and employment in several other industries continued to trend down. On the positive side, employment continued to trend up in health care and construction.
Manufacturing employment fell by 44,000 in August. Job losses continued to be pervasive, with some of the more notable over-the-month declines occurring in textiles and apparel, wood products, and electrical equipment. In the past 3 years, some 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost, including a decline of 431,000 this year. In August,
the factory workweek was unchanged at 40.1 hours.
Within the information sector, the telecommunications industry continued to shed jobs. Employment in this industry has declined by 212,000 from its peak of 1.3 million in March 2001. Other sectors in which employment continued to trend down over the month were wholesale trade and transportation and warehousing.
Offsetting some of these losses, employment in the health care industry resumed growth, after showing little change in July. Health care has added over a quarter of a million jobs in the past 12 months.
Construction sector employment was up by 19,000 in August and has increased by 122,000 over the past 6 months. Temporary help employment continued to trend up, although the increases in July and August were notably smaller than the gains in May and June."
While I'm at it, here's what President Bush had to say yesterday about the U.S. economy:
"Our economy is starting to grow again. Americans are feeling more confident. I am determined to work with the United States Congress to turn these hopeful signs into lasting growth and greater prosperity and more jobs."
OK, Mr. President, feel free to start any day now. And, who by the way is "feeling more confident"? The president's advisers really need to start getting out more.
Thursday, September 04, 2003
Always willing to dole out compliments when I find something worthwhile about the topics of unemployment, job hunting, labor and careers, I recommend visiting MSNBC's effort to examine the present day issues facing the American workforce.
It's a series of eight stories although I don't know if this is a continuing piece or just a one-time package. Either way, like the CNN package I informed you about earlier this week, it's well done and the topics are worth reading even if you find yourself on the rotten end of the unemployment crisis in the U.S.
My favorite story is called "The dark side of productivity" which I would have been more than happy to pen myself if only MSNBC had asked. The story examines whether workers in the U.S. are actually working smarter or harder because there's certainly a big difference as pointed out in the article.
I would tend to agree more with a later point in the story that argues it may be more about fear than drive that's leading productivity to soar in the U.S. with a smaller workforce. Of course the larger, darker side of productivity is the impact it's having on unemployment, but I've gone on about that long enough today. So I'll let someone else go off.
"... it turns out that working harder may be costing the person next to you his or her job. If demand for your company’s widgets doesn’t grow as fast as your company’s productivity, it won’t be able to employ as many people, according to Phil Romero, Dean of the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon."
"Numerically, if demand is growing at 2 to 3 percent but productivity is growing 4 to 5 percent a year, that means you need 2 to 3 percent fewer workers than you needed before," he said. "That’s exactly the situation we’re in now."
Confirmation, baby, of what I've been spilling for weeks. That's it; I'm applying for the next great business college dean's position I see!
It's a series of eight stories although I don't know if this is a continuing piece or just a one-time package. Either way, like the CNN package I informed you about earlier this week, it's well done and the topics are worth reading even if you find yourself on the rotten end of the unemployment crisis in the U.S.
My favorite story is called "The dark side of productivity" which I would have been more than happy to pen myself if only MSNBC had asked. The story examines whether workers in the U.S. are actually working smarter or harder because there's certainly a big difference as pointed out in the article.
I would tend to agree more with a later point in the story that argues it may be more about fear than drive that's leading productivity to soar in the U.S. with a smaller workforce. Of course the larger, darker side of productivity is the impact it's having on unemployment, but I've gone on about that long enough today. So I'll let someone else go off.
"... it turns out that working harder may be costing the person next to you his or her job. If demand for your company’s widgets doesn’t grow as fast as your company’s productivity, it won’t be able to employ as many people, according to Phil Romero, Dean of the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon."
"Numerically, if demand is growing at 2 to 3 percent but productivity is growing 4 to 5 percent a year, that means you need 2 to 3 percent fewer workers than you needed before," he said. "That’s exactly the situation we’re in now."
Confirmation, baby, of what I've been spilling for weeks. That's it; I'm applying for the next great business college dean's position I see!
A big, though unfortunate, hello to all 413,000 newly unemployed Americans as first time jobless claims rose by more than 15,000. The lethal blow for the unemployed is that productivity rose again meaning the current workforce is leaving little incentive for companies to begin hiring again for the rest of this year ... and possibly into the start of next year.
Think about it, if you were a fat cat CEO, why on earth would you increase your employee costs at a time that the economy is so slowly growing that it still stands on the brink of another possible downturn?
With productivity at such a frantic pace, the U.S. worker can't afford to have the U.S. losing the international trade game. However, the surging anti-American sentiment stemming from the bully tactics used in the build-up to the Iraqi war is having a direct impact on how negotiations are going with other countries on fair trade.
Funny how just three days following the president's salute to Labor Day in Ohio, Bush is getting blasted in editorials for his handling of the unemployment crisis, especially in manufacturing where thousands of jobs continue to be lost overseas.
Today's unemployment news is in direct conflict with Bush's claims that "better days ahead for people who are working and looking for work." Based on the $60 billion Bush is going to request from Congress for Iraq, I guess he could have been speaking about people looking for work in Baghdad.
Think about it, if you were a fat cat CEO, why on earth would you increase your employee costs at a time that the economy is so slowly growing that it still stands on the brink of another possible downturn?
With productivity at such a frantic pace, the U.S. worker can't afford to have the U.S. losing the international trade game. However, the surging anti-American sentiment stemming from the bully tactics used in the build-up to the Iraqi war is having a direct impact on how negotiations are going with other countries on fair trade.
Funny how just three days following the president's salute to Labor Day in Ohio, Bush is getting blasted in editorials for his handling of the unemployment crisis, especially in manufacturing where thousands of jobs continue to be lost overseas.
Today's unemployment news is in direct conflict with Bush's claims that "better days ahead for people who are working and looking for work." Based on the $60 billion Bush is going to request from Congress for Iraq, I guess he could have been speaking about people looking for work in Baghdad.
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
Nothing like the arrival of Labor Day to begin adding to the unemployment rolls in America.
DHL is delivering the bad news to more than 2,800 workers after an acquisition of Airborne Inc. Might this be the start of the holiday layoff season? Well, President Bush would lead us to believe it's not. Bush has announced he will create a new position within the administration to specifically address the unemployment problem, (funny, I thought that was Elaine Chao's job) and he's sent Treasury Secretary John Snow over to China to play hardball with the Chinese over manufacturing troubles related to China's yuan, which I'll assume means dollar.
There's just one really big problem, the Chinese won't fall in line with the U.S. demands. You see, it's in their best interest to keep doing business the way they have because it present China with a decided advantage in the world manufacturing trade. Also, if the U.S. expects China's support in getting North Korea to not go nuclear, the U.S. will have to hold off on pushing hard for a fair trade deal with the Chinese.
North Korea, our newest member of the unemployment axis of evil. Right.
DHL is delivering the bad news to more than 2,800 workers after an acquisition of Airborne Inc. Might this be the start of the holiday layoff season? Well, President Bush would lead us to believe it's not. Bush has announced he will create a new position within the administration to specifically address the unemployment problem, (funny, I thought that was Elaine Chao's job) and he's sent Treasury Secretary John Snow over to China to play hardball with the Chinese over manufacturing troubles related to China's yuan, which I'll assume means dollar.
There's just one really big problem, the Chinese won't fall in line with the U.S. demands. You see, it's in their best interest to keep doing business the way they have because it present China with a decided advantage in the world manufacturing trade. Also, if the U.S. expects China's support in getting North Korea to not go nuclear, the U.S. will have to hold off on pushing hard for a fair trade deal with the Chinese.
North Korea, our newest member of the unemployment axis of evil. Right.
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
Kudos to CNN for its new Your Job 2003 online package. Among the headlines already in the section are "Who's Hiring Now", "Labor Woes to Linger" and "Is Your Boss an Idiot?" Another story in the package informs some on what many of us already know ... most layoffs in the U.S. come after Labor Day.
It's worth posting in your bookmarks along with this little ol' trusty blog.
It's worth posting in your bookmarks along with this little ol' trusty blog.
Having so enjoyed my extended Labor Day weekend, I did still manage to catch President George Bush's speech in Ohio giving hope to the millions of unemployed people in America. In short, Bush knows there's an unemployment problem in America and he's working (wink, wink) to do something about it. Oh yeah, and the president wanted to know if everyone enjoyed the child tax credit you received in the mail?
I'm sure all the single people were just howling in delight.
There was one little blurb in Bush's speech that continues to be overlooked by the media this morning that I couldn't help but choose to pursue. It was such a small part of the speech that it is easy to overlook, but don't.
Bush says that although millions of people are out of work, the American workforce is still by far the most productive workforce in the world.
Those are chilling words for the unemployed as long as Bush is allowed to get away with it.
What you are seeing here is the initial waving of the white flag by the White House on the issue of unemployment. The Bush administration does not have the answer to the unemployment crisis and isn't about to go through economic recovery plan III within the first term of his presidency.
Bush is laying the groundwork for his defense of the Democrat's attack on the unemployment issue by charging that if the American worker's determination and ingenuity weren't so darned productive, we wouldn't be having this unemployment crisis.
Bush is working on spinning the issue so people focus on U.S. productivity, not the unemployment crisis. For Bush, it's not a bad strategy as he doesn't have a fix for unemployment and the unemployed won't be voting for him anyway. Bush will appeal to the co-dependent side of working Americans playing up how unbelievably good they are at what they do and how we work harder here than anywhere else in the world. Bush understands how people are working so hard that they come home broken and tired from the rigors of their careers. He knows the exhaustion they feel from doing the best they can to keep companies running efficiently and effectively. You see, the combination of our productivity and Bush's tax cuts are what make this country the greatest in the world!
Blah, blah, blah.
The greatest country in the world shouldn't have some of its best educated out of work and facing bankruptcy. The most productive country in the world shouldn't have displaced families living in homeless shelters because there isn't any place for them to find work. People who have invested in earning their MBAs shouldn't be caddying at golf courses just to get by.
Trust me, Bush has floated his trial balloon of pushing productivity over unemployment and he has yet to be called on it. He's doesn't have the answer for the unemployment issue and it's doubtful anyone in the administration is even asking any questions. Bush is banking on his popularity with the current working class to overcome the swelling numbers of unemployed citizens.
Here's a little related tidbit I heard this morning on the radio, Louisiana Workforce Development just finished a study that shows half, HALF, of the citizens of New Orleans are currently unemployed.
Is the Big Easy counting children in this study?
New Orleans is the home of the largest seaport in the U.S. and the conventions and tourist business is brisk year-round. Fishing and the oil industry also contribute to the local economy in New Orleans and half of its people are unemployed? The current "official" unemployment rate in New Orleans is 6.7 percent, if so, there are thousands and thousands of people either not claiming or having run out of unemployment benefits.
All of this leads me to the following announcement; today, I am hereby creating the Department of Homeland Job Security.
Like the similarly named federal terrorism task force, I will have a color-coded warning system for threats to job market in America. I will start the threat level system on Yellow or Elevated as Labor Day marks the final month of the third quarter and the last best chance one has to find a full time job that doesn't include the phrase, "Would you like to Super Size that order?"
In the coming months, expect conditions to change that will raise the threat level for the unemployed and all American workers. The reasons for raising threat levels will be fully explained and understandable, you can't always say the same for our terrorism alerts.
Helping those left unemployed in America, this is my challenge; this is my cause.
I'm sure all the single people were just howling in delight.
There was one little blurb in Bush's speech that continues to be overlooked by the media this morning that I couldn't help but choose to pursue. It was such a small part of the speech that it is easy to overlook, but don't.
Bush says that although millions of people are out of work, the American workforce is still by far the most productive workforce in the world.
Those are chilling words for the unemployed as long as Bush is allowed to get away with it.
What you are seeing here is the initial waving of the white flag by the White House on the issue of unemployment. The Bush administration does not have the answer to the unemployment crisis and isn't about to go through economic recovery plan III within the first term of his presidency.
Bush is laying the groundwork for his defense of the Democrat's attack on the unemployment issue by charging that if the American worker's determination and ingenuity weren't so darned productive, we wouldn't be having this unemployment crisis.
Bush is working on spinning the issue so people focus on U.S. productivity, not the unemployment crisis. For Bush, it's not a bad strategy as he doesn't have a fix for unemployment and the unemployed won't be voting for him anyway. Bush will appeal to the co-dependent side of working Americans playing up how unbelievably good they are at what they do and how we work harder here than anywhere else in the world. Bush understands how people are working so hard that they come home broken and tired from the rigors of their careers. He knows the exhaustion they feel from doing the best they can to keep companies running efficiently and effectively. You see, the combination of our productivity and Bush's tax cuts are what make this country the greatest in the world!
Blah, blah, blah.
The greatest country in the world shouldn't have some of its best educated out of work and facing bankruptcy. The most productive country in the world shouldn't have displaced families living in homeless shelters because there isn't any place for them to find work. People who have invested in earning their MBAs shouldn't be caddying at golf courses just to get by.
Trust me, Bush has floated his trial balloon of pushing productivity over unemployment and he has yet to be called on it. He's doesn't have the answer for the unemployment issue and it's doubtful anyone in the administration is even asking any questions. Bush is banking on his popularity with the current working class to overcome the swelling numbers of unemployed citizens.
Here's a little related tidbit I heard this morning on the radio, Louisiana Workforce Development just finished a study that shows half, HALF, of the citizens of New Orleans are currently unemployed.
Is the Big Easy counting children in this study?
New Orleans is the home of the largest seaport in the U.S. and the conventions and tourist business is brisk year-round. Fishing and the oil industry also contribute to the local economy in New Orleans and half of its people are unemployed? The current "official" unemployment rate in New Orleans is 6.7 percent, if so, there are thousands and thousands of people either not claiming or having run out of unemployment benefits.
All of this leads me to the following announcement; today, I am hereby creating the Department of Homeland Job Security.
Like the similarly named federal terrorism task force, I will have a color-coded warning system for threats to job market in America. I will start the threat level system on Yellow or Elevated as Labor Day marks the final month of the third quarter and the last best chance one has to find a full time job that doesn't include the phrase, "Would you like to Super Size that order?"
In the coming months, expect conditions to change that will raise the threat level for the unemployed and all American workers. The reasons for raising threat levels will be fully explained and understandable, you can't always say the same for our terrorism alerts.
Helping those left unemployed in America, this is my challenge; this is my cause.
