Tag: Jobs Outlook

Sign Of The Times

The number of young people considering a military career has significantly increased for the first time in about five years, buoyed by more positive news out of Iraq.

Military officials predict interest will rise even further because of the worsening economy.

The percentage of young people who said they would probably join the military increased from 9% to 11% in the first half of this year, according to a Pentagon-sponsored survey. The poll questioned 3,304 young people ages 16 to 21.

“We have … a lot more people coming to us now,” said Sgt. 1st Class Chad Benes, a recruiter at the Mount Clemens, Mich., recruiting station.

When economic times are tough the military gets the benefits……I think Obama wanted to strengthen the military, then he will get his wish.  Keep in mind. “an used weapon is a useless weapon” to quote some general from days past.

Jobs Lost Hit 14 Year High

A total of 240,000 jobs were lost last month on a net basis, significantly more than had been anticipated, again pointing to a prolonged and severe downturn. “We’re heading for a deep recession,” Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, told Bloomberg News. “Banish the word mild from your vocabulary. It’s big, it’s bad, and it’s broad-based.”

The Labor Department revised its jobless figures for September, from the initially reported 159,000 net job losses to 284,000. Total employment has declined by 1.2 million in the first 10 months of 2008, with more than half of this fall recorded in the last three months. Economists estimate that the economy must generate an additional 100,000 jobs each month just to keep up with population growth.

Jobs were shed across a number of sectors:

• Manufacturing employment declined by 90,000 in October, including employment in fabricated metal parts (11,000 jobs lost), furniture and related products (10,000) and motor vehicles and parts (9,000).

• Construction employment fell by 49,000. The Labor Department noted that since peak activity in September 2006, construction employment has fallen by 663,000.

• The employment services industry lost 51,000 jobs.

• Retail trade employment declined by 38,000, with auto dealerships (20,000 jobs lost) and department stores (18,000) the worst affected.

• Financial sector employment fell by 24,000 and is down by 200,000 jobs since its peak in December 2006.

The rising unemployment rate is having a devastating social impact. According to the New York Times, only 32 percent of the officially unemployed are drawing state benefit checks because of onerous eligibility restrictions and other conditions designed to drive people off the books.

Moreover, the real jobless rate is far higher than the official 6.5 percent figure. The Labor Department’s monthly report acknowledged that the number of “involuntary part-time workers”—that is, those who are unable to find full-time work, or those whose hours have been cut back to part-time levels—increased in October by 645,000 to 6.7 million.

Also not counted as unemployed are those “marginally attached to the workforce”—i.e., those who wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job in the last year, but not in the four weeks preceding the survey. A total of 1.6 million people were in this category in October. Among the marginally attached were 484,000 “discouraged workers” who have stopped actively looking for employment. Other marginally attached workers include those who were unable to look for work in the preceding four weeks due to school attendance or family responsibilities.

When the involuntary part-time and marginally attached workers are counted, the unemployment rate stands at 11.8 percent, up from 11 percent in September and from 8.4 percent a year earlier.

Commenting on the Labor Department data, the Wall Street Journal’s Sudeep Reddy and Justin Lahart noted, “One of the more worrisome aspects of today’s report: signs that the labor market was declining substantially even before the worst of the credit crisis hit… If conditions were that bad before October, they’re likely to be far worse in the months to come as companies adjust to the new credit environment and consumers retrench with added pressure on housing and credit markets.”

Random Thoughts

These are notes that I have made and they did not make it to a post. Just thought I would share them with my reader for discussion.

1–Do Americans want change? I say no–why? They are afraid of change. In the last 40 yrs or so they have had ample chances for change but everything has stayed the same—the same system, the same types of politicians, the sam economic crises over and over…all has remained the same. There has been several opportunities but safe was always chosen. This election past is more of the same–change in name, but the tune stays the same.

2–On the day of the election, 04 Nov 08, at 0700 hrs the media was still downplaying Obama’s strength in the polls. They even went so far as to say the Ayers was voting at the same place as Obama.

3–PORK? Why is everything but military spending called pork?

4–At 0225 hrs on 05 Nov 08 the Repub mouth-pieces were already throwing Palin under the speeding bus. So much for loyalty.

5–The Repub talkking heads are still hateful. They are concerned with the option of one party rule over Congress and the POTUS. Silly! Southern Dems are more conserv than most Repubs, I do not think there should be any concern.

6–Voting–about 133 million people went to the polls and that translate into 62.5% of the population whiuch is a higher percentage than in past elections. Well done Americans!

7–What does Fiscal Responsibility mean?

8–Jobless rate the highest in 25 years–over 6% and about 1.2 million jobs lost this year alone.

Jobs For Americans

A slogan of the Palin/McCain ticket.  A promise of more joibs created if they are elected.  Nice slogan, but where will thew jobs come from?  Oh yeah, tax cuts will produce more jobs.  Thinking……we have had tax cuts for about 8 years and the unemployment rate keeps climbing to where it is now, at 6.1%.  When Bush took office it was in the 4% neighborhood.  So now explain how the tax cuts will create Jobs, if you please.

In April he said:

In addition to rapid and targeted help for those families hurt by the mortgage crisis, it is essential to reduce the burdens on businesses and workers by lowering taxes, streamlining regulation, tackling health care costs, opening markets to American goods and helping those workers in need. Today’s news also underlines the need to focus on innovation, which grows the economy and creates an urgent need for effective worker re-training.

Basically, this is his message after every jobs report….tax cuts and incentives will create 2 million jobs in the years to come.

From Obama’s , The Blueprint For Change, there are the usual sub-texts about job creation and poverty.  But as with McCain there is NO direct confrontation for the creation of jobs, only vague crap about this program will create “x” amount of jobs, but nowhere do they give specifics.  Like I said just vague promises that may or may not be successful at creating needed employment.

US Hiring Decline

If one is out there looking for work then the sad news is there is little to choose from.

A private survey projects a continued decline in the hiring intentions of U.S. employers during the fourth quarter.

“The continuing softness in hiring activity comes as no surprise as weakening market conditions are causing many companies to carefully adjust their hiring in line with the demand for their product or service,” said Jeffrey A. Joerres, chairman and CEO of Manpower, in a statement Tuesday.

Survey data shows that six of the 10 industry sectors surveyed will decrease hiring slightly during the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter, continuing a downward trend.

Mining is the only sector that expects to raise staff levels during the fourth quarter, according to the survey. Employers in the durable and non-durable goods manufacturing, transportation/public utilities, wholesale/retail trade, finance/insurance/real estate and services sectors all expect to decrease hiring.