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Construction job losses lead way as Florida unemployment soars

2009-03-29T14:22:00.001-04:00

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By Jeff Harrington, Times Staff Writer

As Florida's unemployment soared to 9.4 percent in February — and crept into double digits in the bay area — a familiar culprit lurked behind the data.

Construction jobs, or lack thereof.

Construction accounted for 40 percent of the nearly 50,000 jobs lost statewide from January to February, according to seasonally adjusted figures released Friday. Florida's construction work force has been retreating for nearly three years. In the past year alone, the industry has shed 115,000 jobs, shrinking by 21 percent.

It's no secret that the housing bust paved the way into the recession. Now there's mounting evidence it's keeping the state from climbing out of its economic doldrums.

Blame two fronts. First, we're still waiting for a housing recovery, and second, the credit crunch means builders of office parks and shopping centers can't get financing. They are idle and laying off workers.

"Nonresidential construction had been relatively strong up until the end of last year," when credit for new projects dried up, said Scott Brown, chief economist with Raymond James Financial in St. Petersburg.

"Now we're in the middle of financial panic, and you don't just unpanic. It takes time before confidence is restored."

Many of the states at the epicenter of the recession were epicenters of the housing boom. California's unemployment rate just reached 10.5 percent; Nevada is at 10.1 percent. That goes a long way in explaining why Florida's unemployment rate, now hovering near a 33-year high, far outpaces the national average of 8.1 percent.

It also explains why Cape Coral/Fort Myers (12 percent) is witnessing among the highest unemployment rates among Florida metro areas. In the past couple of years, Cape Coral has transformed from one of hottest housing markets in the country to the second-worst foreclosure rate behind Las Vegas, with one out of every 65 units in the foreclosure process last month.

Nearly three years into the housing slump, new home construction in Florida is still off by double digits year over year. Foreclosures are partly to blame. Why order a new home from a builder when a foreclosure is available more cheaply down the street?

"There's very little incentive for builders to put new products on the market," said Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness. "We think construction will continue to decline, probably through 2010, because there's so much product out there."

Rising layoffs are feeding the problem. Higher unemployment translates into less demand for offices, which puts even more contractors out of work.

While plenty of office building construction is on hold, the recession has also eaten into the renovations business. When tenants change offices, floor plans usually get a thorough makeover. That's not happening much lately, said Tom Kennedy, a real estate broker with Grubb & Ellis Commercial Florida.

"Businesses have been very quick to lay off people and conserve their resources," Kennedy said.

Real estate industry veterans have come to the aid of their laid-off colleagues, most prominently with Real Estate Lives, organized by Tampa real estate attorney Ron Weaver.

Weaver's group is working with 168 unemployed people so far. This week it alerted clients to openings for a civil engineer, a construction project manager and title company workers.

"We've gotten over 100 major job leads and have placed 24 people," Weaver said.

Though it's leading the pack, construction has plenty of company in the job loss category. Year over year, professional and business services lost about 100,000 jobs in Florida, while the category of trade, transportation and utilities contracted by 86,500 jobs.

The job count in the state's most resilient industry, health care, slipped slightly month-to-month but is still up 2 percent from a year ago.

Some economists have projected that the national unemployment rate will climb toward 10 percent this year, with hard-hit states like Florida and California continuing to outpace the rest of the country.

"There's no real definition of a depression, but some would say whenever you have double-digit unemployment for an extended period of time, it qualifies," said Brown of Raymond James Financial. "So we're getting closer to that in Florida."

Rebecca Rust, chief economist with the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, which oversees the unemployment program, dismissed talk of depression. She said the term should only be used for comparisons on a national level.

Nevertheless, Rust deemed the current recession the worst since 1974-75 and said Florida's economy is expected to worsen throughout the year.

In past recessions, unemployment has been a lagging indicator, continuing to rise even after the economy started rebounding. The latest state analysis used for budgeting purposes predicted Florida's unemployment would peak at 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010.

Florida's jump in February, which represents 874,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9.25 million, is up significantly from January's revised rate of 8.8 percent. A year ago, Florida's unemployment was 4.3 percent. Not included in the breakdown are discouraged jobless who are no longer actively seeking work.

The Tampa Bay area's unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent, with Hernando County suffering the most at 12.7 percent. The bay area has shed more than 51,000 jobs over the year, third-highest among Florida metro areas.

Times staff writer James Thorner contributed to this report. Jeff Harrington can be reached at jharrington@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8242.

Union out in force over job-loss fears

2009-03-29T14:20:00.000-04:00

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NORWALK

By STEVE KOBAK

Hour Staff Writer

About 60 AT&T employees marched in front of CVS on the corner of Connecticut Avenue and Willard Street to protest layoffs and cutbacks by the phone carrier service despite a reported spike in profits.

The protest -- which took place down the street from AT&T's Norwalk branch -- occurred as Communications Workers of America Local 1298 officials were negotiating a new contract. The current union contract expires April 4.

"All we want is to keep our jobs and our standard of living," said Mike Duffy, a steward for Local 1298 and a 10-year AT&T employee. "I want to be able to go home every night to my family and know I have job security."

The Norwalk protest was one of a handful of statewide demonstrations held by Local 1298 to get the word out about the layoffs and a possible strike that will occur if contract negotiations fail.

AT&T announced in December that 12,000 employees nationwide would be laid off and Local 1298 members are worried that their jobs are in danger.

"It's about our livelihood and how we make a living," said Bruce Stern, an installation and repair technician for AT&T. "Every three or four years we have to go through this."

Union members were also incensed that layoffs took place despite the almost $1 billion revenue increase reported by the company in 2008.

Marching in front of a giant inflatable rat, protesters wore red shirts with Local 1298 logos and slogans like: "If provoked, will strike." Gilbert Pabellon, a 10-year AT&T employee who held a sign reading: "AT&T + AIG= Corporate Greed."

"The bottom line is I want a future," said Pabellon. "I want to support my family and I want to retire from this company."

Information on the negotiations was not available, as union officials were still in meetings with executives at press time.

Consumer spending up, but income sags on job cuts

2009-03-29T14:19:00.001-04:00

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Consumer spending up, but income sags on job cuts
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — After a half year of declines, consumer spending edged up for a second month in February even though incomes sagged under the weight of further job losses. The spending increases were seen as a hopeful sign that this key sector of the economy is staging a modest rebound that could help pull the country out of the recession.

Consumer spending rose by 0.2 percent last month after an even bigger 1 percent jump in January, which was the largest one-month gain in 3 1/2 years, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Those gains followed a record six straight monthly declines as consumers tightened their belts in the face of a deepening recession.

Americans' incomes slipped further in February, dropping by 0.2 percent, the fourth drop in the past five months, as wages and salaries continued to be battered by the massive layoffs that have occurred as the recession, already the longest in a quarter century, has deepened.

Consumer belt-tightening has caused the personal savings rate, which was hovering near zero a year ago, to jump sharply. It stood at 4.2 percent in February after being at 4.4 percent in January. That was the first time in more than a decade that the savings rate has been above 4 percent for two straight months.

A separate report Friday showed that the Reuters-University of Michigan's survey of consumer confidence rose to 57.3 in March, still near a three-decade low but higher than the February reading of 56.3.

Economists said the slight rise in consumer confidence and the back-to-back increases in consumer spending after string of declines provided some reason to hope that at the very least the steep slide in the economy could be coming to an end.

"The fact that consumers have stopped retrenching is the most hopeful sign for the economy in a long time," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

Consumer spending is closely followed because it accounts for about 70 percent of total economic activity. Spending fell at a rate of 3.8 percent in the July-September quarter and then by a 4.3 percent rate in the fourth quarter, the biggest quarterly drop in 28 years.

While economists had feared that spending would fall further in the current quarter, the results from January and February have led many economists to believe that this key sector could actually show a slight positive of around 1 percent.

The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, fell at an annual rate of 6.3 percent, the government reported Thursday, the biggest GDP drop since 1982. Economists still believe that GDP will show a big decline in the January-March quarter, even if consumer spending turns positive just because of all the other negative forces weighing down growth at the moment from falling business spending to weak exports and continued declines in housing construction.

But analysts said the GDP decline could be a slightly less severe 5 percent in the first quarter, moderating to a 2.5 percent drop in the April-June quarter, a zero reading in the third quarter and a small positive of perhaps 1 percent in the fourth quarter.

Part of the reason analysts believe that any recovery will take awhile to begin are the ongoing problems in the financial sector which are keeping banks from resuming more normal lending to banks and businesses and the expected further wave of job layoffs in the months ahead as companies continue to slash payrolls.

And consumers, even if they stop slashing spending, are not expected to go on a buying spree anytime soon, given those job losses and the hit to their investment holdings.

"Consumers have lost massive amounts of wealth in their stock investments and their home prices. They are still feeling the pressure to boost savings," said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight.

The rebound in consumer spending and the slight uptick in consumer confidence followed better-than-expected readings earlier in the week showing that orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rose in February by 3.4 percent, the first increase after six monthly declines, while sales of both new and existing homes increased last month.

"I think we have seen the end of the biggest part of the downswing for the economy but it is going to take awhile for the economy to level off and then to start picking up," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.

He said the tax cuts which will soon start showing up in people's paychecks in the form of lower withholding amounts plus other parts of the $787 billion stimulus bill should start to bolster the economy. He predicted the recession will come to an end around September.

But Wyss and many other economists are looking for at-best a tepid recovery in the early stages, in part because of the severe problems facing the nation's financial sector and the need for many baby boomers, who are now approaching retirement, to rebuild their investments.

Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, said that Americans remain "unnerved and frightened by the loss in value of their homes and their investments, particularly retirement savings. This is their penance after a decade of excess borrowing and spending."

The consumer spending report showed that a price gauge tied to spending rose by 0.3 percent in February and was up 0.2 percent excluding food and energy, indicating that the recession has contributed to a significant moderate in inflation pressures.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Consumer spending up, but income sags on job cuts

2009-03-29T14:19:00.000-04:00

Jobless Claims Data Points to Possible 750k Loss in Nonfarm Payrolls

2009-02-26T12:49:00.000-05:00

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(CEP News) - The upside surprise in U.S. initial jobless claims points to a continued deterioration of the U.S. labour market, and the possible loss of up to 750,000 jobs in February's official nonfarm payrolls report. Initial claims rose to 667k in the week ending Feb. 21, well above the 625k level economists had expected. The previous week's reading was also upwardly revised to 631k, the U.S. Department of Labor reported.

Continuing claims rose above expectations as well, coming in at 5.112 million compared to the 5.025 million expected.

Ken Maylan of ClearView Economics called the rise in initial claims "painful," but noted that on an adjusted basis, weekly claims exceeded 1 million claims in the 1982 recession.

The continued increase in claims isn't likely to end any time soon, according to HFE economist Ian Shepherdson. However, he also noted that the current level is still well short of the peaks reached in the mid-1970s and early 80s.

"We fervently hope that does not happen but we are not confident," he said in a client note. "Companies are throwing in the towel as they recognize that no sector is safe."

As a result, Shepherdson is forecasting February's official nonfarm payrolls report to show a loss of up to 750,000 jobs. That would follow a record loss of 598,000 jobs in January, which boosted the unemployment rate 0.6 percentage points to 7.2%.

Also in Thursday's jobless claims report, the less volatile four-week moving average for initial claims rose to 639,000, up from 620,000 in the week prior, while the four-week moving average for continuing claims rose to 4.932 million, up from 4.843 million in the previous week.

By Stephen Huebl, shuebl@economicnews.ca, edited by Sarah Sussman, ssussman@economicnews.ca

CEP Newswires - CEP News ? 2008. All Rights Reserved. www.economicnews.ca

The Copying, Broadcast, Republication or Redistribution of CEP News Content is Expressly Prohibited Without the Prior Written Consent of CEP News.

A copy of CEP News disclaimer can be found at http://www.economicnews.ca/cepnews/wire/disclaimer.

Thrifts lost $3B in 4Q; post record annual loss

2009-02-26T12:48:00.000-05:00

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By DANIEL WAGNER –

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. thrifts lost $3 billion in the fourth quarter and more than $13 billion last year, a record annual loss.

The Office of Thrift Supervision said Thursday that net losses last year surged to $13.44 billion, from $649 million in 2007. But the fourth-quarter loss was actually better than the $4.4 billion loss in the prior quarter and the $8.8 billion loss in the year-ago period.

Thrifts last year set aside $38.7 billion for losses on bad mortgages and other loans, the highest point since 1991, due mainly to increased mortgage delinquencies.

"While painful to the bottom line, the industry is better positioned to absorb loan losses," said James Caton, OTS director of financial monitoring.

Thrifts are important to consumer lending because they must have at least 65 percent of their lending in mortgages and other consumer loans.

But troubled assets now account for more than 2.5 percent of assets, up from nearly 1.7 percent a year ago.

Thrifts need to set aside so much money for loan losses because home prices likely will continue dropping "for some time," said OTS economist Sharon Stark. Northeastern cities with strong financial services industries will be especially hard hit, she added.

The yearly results exclude Seattle-based thrift Washington Mutual Inc., whose failure in September was the largest in U.S. history, and Pasadena, Calif-based IndyMac Bank, which failed in July. Their performance is included in 2007 figures.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., which acquired Washington Mutual's assets, said Thursday it will eliminate about 12,000 jobs as it folds in the company's operations.

There were 26 problem thrifts at the end of 2008, up from 11 a year earlier, but OTS director John Reich said two-thirds of the lending institutions remain profitable.

"What started out to be a housing problem ... has expanded to the broader economy," and now affects virtually all businesses and financial institutions, Reich said.

The agency, a part of the Treasury Department, is working with other regulators on a plan to streamline loan modifications. Thrift mortgage origination fell 43 percent last year to $404.9 billion from $716.2 billion in 2007.

Separately, Reich said the agency is launching a new unit to monitor thrifts with more than $10 billion in assets. The new "large bank unit" will be working onsite at about 25 thrifts.

The agency also will create new standards for reviewing enforcement actions on thrifts that do not meet minimum standards.

Apple Board Forced Into Spotlight With Jobs on Leave

2009-02-26T12:45:00.001-05:00

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By Connie Guglielmo

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc.’s directors, after taking a back-seat role for years to Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, were forced to respond to investors yesterday as they pushed for an update on Jobs’s health.

Apple’s co-lead directors, Arthur Levinson and Bill Campbell, each answered questions at the company’s annual meeting on how the board has handled disclosures about Jobs’s health, succession planning and executive pay at Apple. In past years, Jobs has dominated the meeting, with board members sitting quietly in the first row of the audience.

“The dynamism of him controlling the meeting has changed,” Scott Adams, a representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said in an interview after the meeting. His organization owns 18,218 Apple shares. In the past, “Jobs would not allow questions to go to directors.”

Standing up to address a packed room, Levinson, the CEO of Genentech Inc., said yesterday that “nothing has changed,” since Apple’s disclosure on Jan. 14 that Jobs was taking a five- month medical leave.

“He certainly remains the CEO -- he’s responsible and deeply involved in all strategic matters,” said Levinson, who’s served on Apple’s board since 2000. “If there’s new information that we deem important to disclose, that will happen. At this point we feel we’ve met all disclosure obligations and responsibilities.”

Apple’s Disclosures

Corporate governance experts have faulted Apple’s board, which includes former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt, for not talking about Jobs’s health sooner and in more detail after concern about his weight loss last year caused movements in the stock price. Jobs, a cancer survivor, missed the annual meeting for the first time in more than a decade.

While giving shareholders updates isn’t a hard and fast rule, Apple’s board will probably be compelled to talk more about Jobs’s health if anything changes significantly, said Jahan Raissi, a partner at Shartsis Friese LLP in San Francisco. He was a former senior counsel in the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“If in two months it comes out that something changed and people knew two months ago and they didn’t say anything, there could be hell to pay,” Raissi said in an interview. “If they don’t say anything more, then it’s reasonable to believe that the company doesn’t know any different information.”

Apple rose 93 cents to $92.09 at 9:33 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares had gained 6.8 percent this year before today.

Biggest Assembly

Yesterday’s gathering -- held in the same auditorium at Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters where Jobs typically introduces new products -- was the biggest public assembly of directors at an annual meeting in the past three years.

Levinson and Intuit Inc. Chairman Campbell, seated in the front row, were flanked by four other independent directors: Gore, J. Crew Inc. CEO Millard “Mickey” Drexler, Avon Inc. CEO Andrea Jung and former International Business Machines Corp. finance chief Jerome York. The only board members absent were Jobs and Schmidt.

Last year, Jobs was joined by Gore, Schmidt, Levinson and Campbell. In 2007, Levinson, Campbell and Schmidt also attended.

On Jan. 5, Jobs said treatment for his weight loss was “relatively simple.” Nine days later, he announced he would take leave after learning his health issues were “more complex” than he originally thought.

SEC Probe

The SEC started an investigation into the disclosures to determine whether investors were misled, a person familiar with the matter said last month. The review doesn’t mean investigators have seen evidence of wrongdoing. Apple general Counsel Daniel Cooperman declined to comment on the SEC investigation yesterday.

Jobs, who co-founded Apple in 1976 and was ousted in a management coup in 1985, returned to lead the company in 1997. One of the first things he did was to replace all but two of the board members. His picks included Campbell, a former Apple executive, and York, an adviser to Tracinda Corp. CEO Kirk Kerkorian.

“It’s a very secretive culture, a very closed culture,” said Conrad Mackerron, director of corporate social responsibility for As You Sow, an environmental advocacy group in San Francisco. The group, which met with Jobs two years ago to talk about Apple’s environmental policies, submitted a shareholder proposal asking that the company provide more details on its effort to cut carbon emissions. “It’s hard to talk in an open manner.”

No Mobile Phones

Only shareholders were allowed into the meeting hall and able to ask questions. Reporters, and latecomers, watched the 75-minute event on video in a separate room. Apple banned the use of mobile phones, personal computers, cameras and recording devices. Apple typically doesn’t make a transcript of the event available.

Campbell, 68, used his time at the microphone to talk about the board’s decision to vote against a “say-on-pay” proposal. Campbell said the board wanted to retain the flexibility to reward executives as “we see fit.”

“You can sense there’s more disclosure,” in that board members were forced to answer questions, said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis, who has recommended investors buy Apple’s shares since June 2004. “It’s a good thing that Apple is more transparent.”

Investors still want more information, said Andy Hargreaves, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon.

“If I was a shareholder, I would have been upset if I heard them say, ‘He was fine, it’s a hormone imbalance’ and then nine days later, hear him say ‘I’m taking leave,’” said Hargreaves, who rates Apple shares “outperform.” “That’s misleading at best. It’s possible that things change that quickly. That’s why the lack of disclosure is disconcerting.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at cguglielmo1@bloomberg.net

Limited Predicts First-Quarter Loss, Cuts 400 Jobs

2009-02-26T12:43:00.000-05:00

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By Allison Abell Schwartz

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Limited Brands Inc., the owner of the Victoria’s Secret chain, predicted a first-quarter loss and cut 400 jobs as consumers reduce spending on lingerie.

The loss will be 7 cents to 12 cents a share, the Columbus, Ohio-based company said today. Eight analysts estimated profit of 2 cents a share, on average. Sales at stores open at least a year may decline by “high-single digits” on a percentage basis, executives said on a conference call with investors and analysts.

Saks Inc. and Macy’s Inc. are among retailers eliminating jobs to slash costs as declining home values and the highest unemployment in 16 years cause consumers to reduce spending. Limited is also suspending pay increases, reducing capital spending and slowing store growth, Chief Administrative Officer Martyn Redgrave said on the call.

“There is extraordinary uncertainty and lack of visibility in all of our businesses,” Redgrave said. “In this unprecedented environment, we are choosing to take aggressive actions.”

Limited fell 73 cents, or 8.2 percent, to $8.19 at 11:52 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares lost 11 percent this year before today.

Fourth-quarter net income dropped 96 percent to $16.1 million, or 5 cents a share, after a writedown on the value of its La Senza brand. Revenue fell 8.7 percent to $2.99 billion.

The retailer took a charge in the period for the elimination of about 10 percent of the jobs at its corporate headquarters. Most of the jobs cut at Limited Brands will remain on its payroll until March 7, spokeswoman Tammy Roberts Myers said in an e-mail.

Profit excluding the pretax impairment charge and severance costs was 68 cents a share, the company said. Fourteen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated profit of 65 cents.

Full-year profit will be 60 cents to 85 cents, the company said. Fourteen analysts estimated profit of 88 cents, on average.

Limited’s 3,014 retail locations include Bath & Body Works and Henri Bendel as well as Victoria’s Secret.

To contact the reporter on this story: Allison Abell Schwartz in New York at aabell@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 26, 2009 11:55 EST

UW-L cutting $5 million, job losses possible

2009-02-21T18:49:00.000-05:00

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2009/02/19/news/01uwl.txt

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The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will likely cut $5 million from its budget in the next two years.

UW-L’s administration had been planning for cuts anywhere from $2 million to $6 million.
UW-La Crosse senior Nicole Holden takes notes during her Program Planning in Recreation class Wednesday at Wimberly Hall. UW-la Crosse is expected to cut $5 million of their budget over the next two years but aims to preserve a quality classroom experience when doing so. PETER THOMSON photo

“It is like going to the doctor when you have a problem,” said UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow. “You hope it’s not as bad as it might be — our problem is: It is as bad as it might be.”

Gow said while he can’t rule out staffing cuts, he hopes enough savings can be found elsewhere.

Five million dollars is about 6 percent of UW-L’s $82 million general program revenue budget.

UW-L will have to deal with cuts, while trying to grow enrollment and continuing hiring through the Growth, Quality and Access plan.

“We want to protect the classroom experience for students,” said Gow. “We’ll need to take a careful look at all the other things we do.”

UW-L will evaluate vacant positions. If that doesn’t produce enough savings, the university could be forced to layoff workers, said Gow.

“Personally, that is the hardest part of this situation and the biggest challenge that anyone that is leading a university will face,” said Gow. “We are going to make every effort to get though this with minimal job loss.”

Since the UW System Regents have yet to set tuition levels for the next two years, UW-L isn’t sure how much will be offset by increased tuition. UW-L officials estimated the $5 million based on possible 5.5 percent tuition increases each year over the next two years.

The budget calculations also figure in money from the federal stimulus package.

“People had hoped the federal money would soften impact,” Gow. “But this recession is so severe that even with federal money we will still need to make cuts.”

UW-L will continue Growth, Quality and Access hiring with an emphasis on classroom teachers, said Gow.

“We’ve made a commitment to students. The tuition was increased to provide them more teachers, more sections of classes and smaller classes, and we have to live up to that commitment,” said Gow.

Other schools, for the most part, aren’t hiring so UW-L is attracting some amazing candidates, said Gow.

“That is the only silver lining in this whole thing,” he said.

Building plans at UW-L such as the stadium, academic building and residence halls are not funded though the state’s operating budget, and aren’t affected, Gow said.

Western Technical College has calculated a possible impact of $350,000 in cuts over the next two years, said Western President Lee Rasch.

The college will know more after details come from the system. It hopes any staffing cuts will be through attrition, he said.

“The challenge will be trying to increase capacity to serve more students, particularly dislocated workers,” said Rasch.

Although Viterbo University was not directly affected by the governor’s budget, President Rick Artman said he was grateful for the governor’s support through the three percent increase over the next two years in the Wisconsin Tuition Grant for need-based students attending private colleges in Wisconsin.

History

In the last three bienniums, UW-L has had budget cuts amounting to $9.5 million and a total loss of 70 faculty and staff positions.

2001-03 biennium: UW System had $55 million in cuts, meaning a loss of $2 million for UW-L.

2003-05 biennium: UW System had $100 million in cuts, meaning a loss of $4.2 million for UW-L.

2005-07 biennium: UW System had $90 million in cuts, meaning a loss of $3.3 million for UW-L.

2009-02-21T15:44:00.001-05:00

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Automakers Seek $14 Billion More, Vowing Deep Cuts

DETROIT — The price tag for bailing out General Motors and Chrysler jumped by another $14 billion Tuesday, to $39 billion, with the two automakers saying they would need the additional aid from the federal government to remain solvent.

In return, the two companies also promised to make further drastic cuts to all parts of their operations, in the hope that they can eventually strike a balance between their bloated cost structures and a dismal market for new car sales.

G.M., for example, said it would cut 47,000 more of its 244,000 workers worldwide; close five more plants in North America, leaving it with 33; and cut its lineup of brands in half, to just four: Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick.

The Pontiac brand will have a much smaller role, if any, in G.M.’s future, and the company also said it would phase out its Saturn brand, which it once hoped would build small cars to counter the best of the Japanese brands.

G.M. also said it had made progress in discussions with the United Automobile Workers union and its bondholders to reduce its costs further.

The cash crisis will require fast action by the administration’s new cabinet-level Presidential Task Force on Autos, which is overseeing the reorganization of G.M. and Chrysler.

The deteriorating finances of the two companies present the Obama administration with two options, neither of them appealing.

It can provide the money in the hopes that the companies will stabilize, and no longer have to keep pushing workers into a growing pool of people without jobs. But there are no guarantees, as the Treasury Department learned on Tuesday when the automakers filed updates on their restructuring plans, that they might not be forced to come back again with requests for more money.

But if the federal government balks at the automakers’ requests, that would mean the two companies probably would have no choice but to file for bankruptcy protection, because they are losing hundreds of millions of dollars each month.

And the car companies said on Tuesday that the cost of a bankruptcy reorganization, with the government providing financing to help it through that process, would be far greater than their latest loan requests. Without such help, the companies would have to liquidate, creating staggering new job losses.

In a statement, the administration said Tuesday night that its task force would be reviewing the carmakers’ reports in coming days, adding that “more will be required from everyone involved — creditors, suppliers, dealers, labor and auto executives themselves — to ensure the viability of these companies going forward.”

The third Detroit auto company, Ford Motor, has not received federal assistance and has no requests pending.

By March 31, the presidential task force is expected to rule on whether G.M. and Chrysler have restructured enough to be viable businesses for the long term.

Big questions remain, including whether G.M. and Chrysler, as well as Ford, will be able to cut their unionized labor costs to parity with foreign automakers, as was required in the original loan agreement from last December.

The companies have been in marathon negotiations with the United Automobile Workers on reducing costs, as well as determining how they will finance health care trusts for retired blue-collar workers and their surviving spouses.

G.M. is also pushing for a deal with its bondholders to help it reduce its debt to $9 billion, from $27 billion. The U.A.W. said on Tuesday it had reached “understandings” with the Detroit companies on modifications to their contracts. Ron Gettelfinger, the union’s president, said “discussions are continuing” regarding how to fund the health care trusts at each of the companies.

Rick Wagoner, G.M.’s chief executive, said there had been “good progress” in talks with both the union and bondholders.

On the concessions in the U.A.W. contract, he said, “the things that have been negotiated really take a big bite out of what needed to accomplish.”

G.M.’s restructuring plan extends to its global operations. It will cut 47,000 jobs worldwide by the end of this year. It also said it would close 14 plants in North America by 2012 — five more than were included in its Dec. 2 loan request.

Mr. Wagoner said on Tuesday that the revamping plan was “comprehensive, responsive and achievable,” and could help the company break even by 2010. Both G.M. and Chrysler said they expected to begin paying back their federal loans by 20

Borders lays off 136 more Latest job cuts follow 2 years of losses topping $150 million

2009-02-21T15:41:00.001-05:00

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Borders lays off 136 more Latest job cuts follow 2 years of losses topping $150 million

The Ann Arbor News
Beleaguered Borders Group Inc. marked another painful milestone in its quest to downsize and cut costs Thursday when it laid off 136 people, including 94 in Ann Arbor.

The changes mean total employment has dwindled at the bookseller's Ann Arbor headquarters on Varsity Drive from 1,300 several years ago to 770 today.

The latest job cuts follow two months of upheaval in the corporate ranks at Borders, which has been struggling to restructure and return to profitability after two straight years of losses topping $150 million. Financial results for 2008 will be released at the end of March.

In January, former chief executive George Jones was ousted and replaced with private equity executive Ron Marshall. A few other executives also were replaced.

Earlier this month, the jobs of six vice presidents and 10 department directors were eliminated. Several people were promoted from within to take over those duties.

Last summer, Borders - the nation's second largest bricks-and-mortar bookseller behind rival Barnes & Noble - laid off 275 employees, including 156 locally, as part of a previously announced plan to trim $120 million in expenses.

"While reducing payroll is never easy and we respect the impact it has on employees and their families, it is one of the necessary steps we must take along with other non-payroll expense reductions to help get this company back on track financially,'' Marshall said in a written statement.

Thursday's job cuts represent 12 percent of Borders' corporate employment base and affected departments ranging from marketing to human resources to sales. Workers whose jobs were eliminated are being offered transition pay, severance and job placement assistance, the company said in a statement.

"It seems like they are trying to avoid bankruptcy and trying to avoid taking the company private,'' said Ken Ahern, an assistant business professor at the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business. "It's not unusual to do all these kinds of changes if things aren't going well.''

On Thursday, Borders' stock (NYSE:BGP) closed up 3 cents to 54 cents a share.

Contact Stefanie Murray at smurray@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6932.

2008 Job Losses: Bad News, But Hardly 1945

2009-01-11T23:35:00.000-05:00

www.jobberz.com

2008 Job Losses: Bad News, But Hardly 1945
Comparing last year's job losses to those of more than 60 years ago isn't quite fair. That said, there's still room for things to get worse
By Peter Coy

The U.S. is in the grip of a bad recession, but let's not scare ourselves silly by making things seem worse than they really are. Headlines blared "worst since 1945" on Jan. 9 after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the U.S. economy lost 524,000 jobs in December and 2.6 million for 2008 as a whole. Fact is, it's ridiculous to compare job losses in 2008 to ones more than 60 years earlier, when the U.S. population and economy were much smaller.

In percentage terms, the U.S. lost 1.9% of its payroll employment in 2008, according to data released Jan. 9. That's bad, all right. But it was only the fifth-worst on the list behind 1945 (6.6%), 1949 (3.4%), 1982 (2.3%), and 1944 (2.1%). That's according to calculations by Harm Bandholz, an economist at UniCredit Group in New York. Bandholz, by the way, was one of the people who highlighted the "worst since 1945" in his research report headline.

In a note before the government report came out, financial blogger Barry Ritholtz warned against the temptation to exaggerate the significance of the December job loss. Ritholtz is bearish on the economy and said, "I do not expect to see any sort of jobs recovery until deep into 2010 at the earliest." But he said monthly numbers don't reveal too much because they fluctuate. Noted Ritholtz: "A 500k job loss is still less than a third of a percent of the labor force."

If you want to make long-term historical comparisons of recessions, a better measure to use is the unemployment rate. The Labor Dept. says it reached 7.2% in December, up from 6.7% in November. That's bad. But it's still not as bad as in the early 1990s, when it hit 7.6%, let alone the early 1980s, when it topped out at 10.8%.

How Bad, How Fast?
Is it good news that things aren't quite as awful as the headlines say? Not exactly. It could just mean that, as bad as things seem now, the economy has room to get even worse. In fact, the U.S. economy almost certainly will lose more jobs this year. The only thing economists disagree on is whether the economy will get worse at a faster or a slower pace in the months ahead.

Certainly December was a gloomy month. The only sectors that posted gains were education and health care, and government. The economy suffered big losses in retail, manufacturing, construction, temporary help, and finance, among other sectors. Swiss Re's Chief U.S. Economist Kurt Karl wrote on Jan. 9 that one key indicator says the current recession will be at least as bad as the one at the beginning of the 1980s. Capital Economics Senior Economist Paul Ashworth said on Jan. 9 he expects the U.S. unemployment rate to peak at 9.5%—and not reach that level until the second half of 2010, nearly three years after the recession began.

On the relatively optimistic side of the economic outlook, Ellen Zentner, senior U.S. economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, said before the report that December 2008 might end up being the worst month of the recession in terms of job losses. Zentner was the most accurate forecaster of November payroll losses in Bloomberg's monthly survey. She underestimated the loss, which turned out to be 533,000 jobs, but others were even further off. (The November job loss was revised upward on Jan. 9 to 584,000.)

Zentner thinks things will start looking up in the new year. "The buzz is that December's numbers are abysmal, shocking even. But the general hope, or the feeling really, is that December could be the worst of those dismal numbers," she says. "The losses will not be as great going forward."

Employers Front-Loading Job Cuts
Jessica Hoverson of MF Global (MF) in Chicago is gloomier than Zentner about the 2009 outlook. Before the report, Hoverson, who is a fixed-income and foreign-exchange futures analyst, said: "We see the next couple of months as exceptionally poor. I wouldn't be surprised if we moved into down 700,000 or 800,000 jobs [per month] in this environment."

Tig Gilliam, CEO of the North American group of temporary-help giant Adecco, says job losses in December and January are being amplified by employers who want to cut a lot now so they won't have to dribble out smaller cuts in the months to come. Says Gilliam: "I've had more and more conversations where companies are saying it's clear now that this economic turnaround isn't coming quickly. They're saying we've got to get in front of this."

Coy is BusinessWeek's Economics editor.

U.S. Job Losses in Dec. Could Be Worst in 60 Years

2009-01-11T23:32:00.000-05:00

www.jobberz.com

WASHINGTON — U.S. job losses in December could be the worst in almost 60 years as companies scramble to cut costs even deeper to survive the country's economic and financial storms.

A barometer on layoffs is expected to show Thursday that the number of newly laid off people signing up for state unemployment insurance last week rose to 540,000, up from 492,000 in the previous week, according to economists' projections.

Just days into the new year, managed care provider Cigna Corp., aluminum producer Alcoa Inc., data-storage company EMC Corp. and computer products maker Logitech International were among those announcing layoffs to cope with a recession that has just entered its second year. The flurry of job cuts suggest the employment picture will remain grim this year.

U.S. private employers shed close to 700,000 jobs in December, far more than economists had estimated, a report by ADP Employer Services said on Wednesday, suggesting a more comprehensive government report on Friday will be dismal as well.

"This is shockingly awful," Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York told Reuters.

"If the recent relationship between the ADP numbers — after their recent revisions — and the official payroll data holds, then we should expect a number of about minus-700,000 on Friday, the biggest drop in 59 years."

The number of people continuing to draw jobless benefits is projected to stay near 4.5 million, demonstrating the troubles the unemployed are having in finding new jobs.

Electronic unemployment filing systems have crashed in at least three states in recent days due to the crush of newly jobless Americans seeking benefits.

"Businesses were panicked at the end of the year and those that had been holding off on layoffs are now capitulating," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

With jobs disappearing, shoppers held tight to their wallets and pocketbooks last month.

Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, predicts retail sales out Thursday will show a drop for December and the worst holiday shopping season since at least 1969.

For all of 2008, employers likely slashed payrolls by at least 2.4 million. That's based on economists' forecasts for a net loss of 500,000 additional jobs in December, as well as the job losses already reported every month last year by the government. Some, however, think the number of jobs cut last month will be higher — around 600,000 or 700,000. The Labor Department will release that report Friday.

If the conservative, 2.4 million estimate of payroll reductions for 2008 proves correct, it would mark the first annual job loss since the previous recession in 2001. It also would be the worst year of job losses since 1945, when employers slashed nearly 2.8 million jobs. Though the number of jobs in the United States has more than tripled since then, job losses of that magnitude would be sober testimony to the nation's economic woes.

With employers throttling back hiring, the unemployment rate is expected to jump from 6.7 percent in November to 7 percent in December, which would be the highest in 15-1/2 years. That figure also will be released Friday.

President-elect Barack Obama, who takes over Jan. 20, is proposing a mammoth $775 billion package of tax cuts and government spending over two years to revive the moribund economy. With add-ons by lawmakers, the package could swell to $850 billion, his advisers say.

Even with a big government stimulus, economists still believe the unemployment rate will keep climbing, hitting 8 or 10 percent by the end of this year. Obama's economic advisers estimate that a $850 billion recovery package would lower the jobless rate to about 7.4 percent and create 3.2 million jobs by the first quarter of 2011.

Vanishing jobs, tanking home values and shriveled investments have forced consumers to cut back sharply on their spending. In turn, businesses have retrenched as well.

Consumers and companies are folding under the negative forces of the collapsed housing market, a global credit crunch and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The recession, which started in December 2007, already is the longest in a quarter-century.

The expectation of more job losses ahead "will only perpetuate the vicious downward cycle propelling the economy," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economic at the Economic Outlook Group.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

December's job losses push unemployment rate to 7.2 percent

2009-01-11T23:28:00.001-05:00

www.jobberz.com

BY CARRIE MASON-DRAFFEN | carrie.mason-draffen@newsday.com; PATRICIA KITCHEN
January 10, 2009

The U.S. economy continued its employment free fall in December with a loss of 524,000 jobs, fewer than some market experts had predicted but staggering nonetheless.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which released the jobs data Friday, characterized the losses as "large" and "widespread" across the economy.

The unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent last month, the highest in almost 16 years, according to Bloomberg News. That compares with 4.9 percent in December 2007, when the current recession officially began.

Manufacturing lost the most jobs in December - 149,000. The professional and business-service category, which includes temporary staffing companies, came in second, with 113,000 jobs lost. Health care continued to post the highest gains, adding 32,000 jobs.

All told for 2008, the economy racked up a 2.6-million job loss, the most since 1945, Bloomberg said.

"The latest numbers are more evidence that we are in big trouble and that we need a dramatic change in economic policy," said Gregory DeFreitas, professor of economics at Hofstra University in Hempstead and director of the school's labor studies program.

Indeed, in a news conference Friday, President-elect Barack Obama underscored the need for an economic stimulus plan.

"Clearly the situation is dire," he said. "It is deteriorating and it demands urgent and immediate action."

Revised numbers in the latest report show that the hemorrhaging was worse in November and October than the original data showed. October's loss was revised to 423,000 from 320,000. And November was revised to 584,000, from 533,000.

As bleak as the job numbers are for the general population, they are downright dire for teens and minorities. Teens have a 21 percent jobless rate. African-Americans, with 12 percent unemployment, have the highest rate among minorities. Hispanics had the second highest, 9.2 percent. By contrast, Asians have a 5.1 percent jobless rate.

The reasons for the higher unemployment rates for teens and minorities, which are historically higher, are myriad, jobs experts said.

DeFreitas attributes teens' higher jobless rate in part to a trickle-down effect in an anemic job market. "If adults can't get decent-paying jobs, it's that much harder for young people to get jobs," he said.

He also noted the federal government has been cutting back on programs that provide job training for non-college-bound young people. "These folks have been really hurting," he said.

For minorities he noted that discrimination and fewer college graduates among them play a role.

James Parrott, chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute, an Albany-based economic-policy think tank, noted that the discrimination in part explained why blacks disproportionately work in more volatile sectors of the economy.

"Blacks are concentrated in industries that are seasonal and cyclically volatile," he said, "and so they are the among the first to lose their jobs."

Job losses

423,000 October*

584,000 November*

524,000 December

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/news/ny-bzjobs105993713jan10,0,7495063.story

Economist sees more job losses coming

2008-12-19T11:43:00.000-05:00

www.jobberz.com

Economist sees more job losses coming

Friday, December 12, 2008 By Chris KnapeThe Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- Recovery from the recession may come more slowly than in the past, although West Michigan is better positioned to move forward than the rest of the state and some other areas of the nation.

That was the assessment of economist George Erickcek, of the Kalamazoo-based W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, during his annual forecast speech for The Right Place Inc. on Thursday.

He discouraged people from looking from at distressed financial markets simply as markets.

"You should look at them as a system," Erickcek said. "If a truck jackknifed on Int. 96, it doesn't matter if you're driving a Chevette or a Lexus, you're stuck."

He said 2009 is likely to see a 2.4 percent decline in employment in the Grand Rapids area after a flat 2008.

Erickcek forecasts a very small increase in 2010. Goods-producing jobs are expected to take the biggest hit, while service and government jobs are expected to be down slightly.

The outlook for the broader region, including Holland and Muskegon, showed similar overall expectations.

"Flat is good," he said, dryly.

Erickcek expects a timid goods-producing job rebound when the recession ends, likening it to the "job-loss" recovery the nation saw after the 2000 recession.

His forecast also suggested now is not a good time to start a business.

The silver lining is it could be worse. West Michigan's relatively steady downturn has been far less dramatic than the state's as a whole.

Meanwhile, the Grand Rapids area was the leader among 12 communities Erickcek compared in terms of job creation as a percentage of total employment.

"Grand Rapids is keeping pace with manufacturing job loss with the rest of the nation," he said.

"We are separate from the rest of the state. It's hard to make people see that, but we are."

Nevertheless, West Michigan's positive news is much harder to sell to companies whose first look at the state includes the far more dismal employment outlook on the east side of the state.

"If this forecast holds true, and let's hope we're wrong, that means 10 straight years of employment declines in our state," Erickcek said.

"When people outside the state look at the numbers, they see a state in decline. That has to make economic development much more difficult in West Michigan."

StoryText SizeMich. Nov. Unemployment Rises To 9.6 %

2008-12-19T11:40:00.001-05:00

www.jobberz.com

POSTED: Wednesday, December 17, 2008
UPDATED: 11:41 am EST December 18, 2008

LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan's unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent in November, the highest monthly rate since March 1992, state officials said Wednesday.

The November rate was three-tenths of a percentage point higher than in October.

The Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth said total employment fell by 35,000 and unemployment rose by 16,000, as the labor force continued to contract.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 2.2 percentage points higher than in November 2007, generally following a national trend of rising unemployment. Michigan's jobless rate remained higher than the national unemployment rate, which was 6.7 percent last month.

State officials attribute the labor market's deterioration to fallout from the national recession.

Total employment in Michigan has fallen every month since January. November also marked the fifth straight month of payoll job reductions in the state. About 103,000 jobs were lost in those five months, representing 90 percent of the state's over-the-year losses.

The only major industry in Michigan to see job gains in the last year was education and health services, gaining 12,000 jobs.

Manufacturing lost 38,000 jobs since November 2007, while trade, transportation and utilities lost 21,000 jobs and the construction sector lost 17,000 jobs.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Web site marketplace for low-cost services

2008-12-04T09:21:00.000-05:00

Web site marketplace for low-cost services
Repairmen, caterers, small companies, others listed on Jobberz.com, many without paying fee.
Neal Haldane / Special to The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081204/BIZ04/812040363/1001/BIZ

ROCHESTER HILLS -- When Jim Bartlett started seeking customers for his computer repair business three years ago, he needed help. Help came in the form of a free Web site called Jobberz.com.

"I found it somewhere on the Net and I had just gone into business for myself," said Bartlett, who operates TeK NuTZ I.T. of Oxford. "It was free, local and right what I needed. It was only a matter of putting my information up there."

That first year, about $12,000 of his $15,000 in revenues came from Jobberz.com referrals. Today, Bartlett's residential and commercial computer service business is booming. In fact, with so much business, Bartlett said he doesn't even need his Jobberz.com listing.

Bartlett's firm was one of the first to sign on when Shawn Hanaee started Jobberz.com after finding out how much it cost for professionals to remodel his Oakland County condo. At the same time, a friend of the family had been laid off and was looking for side jobs to bring in some money.

So Hanaee created Jobberz.com to link people who want to earn some cash on the side with those seeking handymen (the most demanded category), electricians, painters and others to do work. He taught himself Web site creation and launched it in 2005.
"The whole goal for me was to help people find people and get connected with each other," said Hanaee, who has his own full-time job with Sprint. "Everyone is looking to make extra money doing side jobs."

ZCD Transportation of Rochester Hills has used Jobberz.com for about a year. Christi Palmer says the firm receives a lot of referrals from the site, which has been a particularly effective way to market its nonemergency transportation service for people who need rides to doctor appointments, therapy sessions and dialysis treatments.

Hanaee said he pays about $130 a month to host the site and spends his spare time keeping Jobberz.com up and running. Hanaee keeps close tabs on the listings, removes telemarketers and get-rich schemers from the site, and relies on Jobberz.com to find people to fix up his own home. For example, he found someone to repair sprinkler heads in his yard for $125 instead of the $400 a company was going to charge.

The first three ads are free but Jobberz.com does charge for additional listings and for those who add photos or want more prominent placement on the site. Most listings are from Michigan, but people from California, New Jersey, Nevada and even Hawaii advertise on the site.
"I want to allow it to grow," he said. "I'm one guy doing this. I want to take this to the next level. My goal is to have it get big -- like MySpace big."

Neal Haldane is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081204/BIZ04/812040363/1001/BIZ

GM announces more production cuts in North America

2008-11-21T13:48:00.000-05:00

www.jobberz.com

Robert Snell / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. is telling workers this morning it will make further production cuts at several factories, according to people briefed on the discussions.
GM announced it will shut down plants in Orion Township, Oshawa, Ont., and Lordstown, Ohio, for an additional week in January and reinstate a week-long shutdown in Wentzville, Mo., in December.

The Detroit automaker also moved up a temporary week-long shutdown in January at its plant in Kansas City that makes the Chevrolet Malibu and Saturn Aura and said it will stop operations at its Oshawa truck plant in May 2009, about two months earlier than previously announced.

GM has announced thousands of factory layoffs so far this year and is cutting its salaried staff in order to pare expenses and conserve cash.
"The impetus really is the extreme unpredictability in the market right now," GM spokesman Chris Lee said. "In some cases, we are adjusting our plant production schedules more frequently to respond to the market than we ever have in the past."

Dave Green, president of UAW Local 1714 in Lordstown, Ohio, said workers were told at 8 a.m. that the plant would be shut down for an extra week Jan. 5. Along with previously announced shutdowns, the plant, which employs about 5,000 workers who make the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5, will be shut down from Dec. 23 until Jan. 20.
Cobalt sales were down 62 percent last month compared to a year ago and G5 sales were off 69 percent.

When the plant reopens, about 130 workers will be laid off, and the rate of production will be slowed, said Green, adding that workers were bracing for deeper cuts.
"It's almost a bit of a relief," he said. "It could have been worse. Don't be sorry for us, go buy a Cobalt."

In other moves, GM will reinstate scheduled overtime at its plants in Delta Township, Spring Hill, Tenn., Arlington, Texas., and Ft. Wayne, Ind. The automaker also will slow the speed of its production line at the Kansas City plant earlier than previously announced. The change in production speed will happen Jan. 20 instead of the first week of February.
The new cuts come as GM tries to boost its cash reserves and pursues a piece of $25 billion in federal aid after warning it might not have enough money to meet minimum funding requirements early in 2009.

On Thursday, congressional leaders asked Detroit's Big Three automakers to present a plan by Dec. 2 for restructuring their businesses and how they would spend $25 billion in government loans.
GM has lost about $73 million since 2004, including more than $20 billion this year, and suffered a 45.1 percent sales decline last month, its worst since the end of World War II, when adjusted for population growth.

The automaker outlined a plan in July to increase liquidity by $15 billion, and earlier this month announced an additional $5 billion in cost savings, including more job cuts.
The automaker ran through $6.9 billion in the third quarter, leaving it with $16.2 billion in cash, securities and readily available assets, down from $21 billion at the end of June.
The cash problem forced GM this month to halt talks to acquire rival Chrysler LLC from private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Gettelfinger: Jobs bank 'almost gone'

2008-11-21T13:43:00.000-05:00

http://www.jobberz.com/

Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News

Reports that the United Auto Workers union is in talks to dismantle the controversial jobs bank program are premature, according to people familiar with the situation.
The possibility of more concessions from the union has emerged as Detroit's Big Three automakers are seeking $25 billion in emergency loans from the federal government as they burn through cash amid plunging car and truck sales.

Congress this week rebuffed proposals to give the automakers aid through the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package or by easing restrictions on $25 billion in loans through the Energy Department, a program that was funded in September, to allow the companies to use the money for immediate needs rather than solely to retool plants to make more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The companies could still get the aid, but they have to present Congress with a plan by Dec. 2 showing how they can become financially viable and how they would spend the loan money.
That could include negotiating additional concessions from the UAW, and sources at both Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. say they have been talking to the union throughout the hearing process as part of their ongoing negotiations.
The automakers and the union have not specifically discussed eliminating the jobs bank, a source familiar with the situation said.

GM anticipates that the future of the jobs bank will be part of its ongoing talks with the union as the company seeks additional ways to cut costs.

As The Detroit News reported Thursday, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said that the jobs bank wasn't a major factor anymore because the number of workers in it had whittled down significantly under provisions of the labor agreement reached with the auto companies last year.
Gettelfinger said the jobs bank has been reorganized (which pays workers 95 percent of their wage while on layoff), adding that Ford has taken 40,000 workers out since 2005 and GM has removed about 47,000. Currently, Chrysler has 711 workers in the jobs bank, GM has 1,404 and Ford has 1,476.
"It's not gone yet but it's almost gone," Gettelfinger said. "We're on the verge of eliminating that provision." And new language in the 2007 contract stripped it to a "mere shadow of what it used to be."
While the specific provisions vary from company to company, idled union members now have a limited number of times they can reject offers of work at other facilities before losing their jobs. Company sources said these provisions would have allowed them to eliminate all or most of the workers still in their jobs banks by now, were it not for a dramatic drop in car and truck sales that has forced each of the automakers to cut production and idle more workers.

Gettelfinger testified on Capitol Hill this week alongside the chief executive officers of Detroit's Big Three. He said that the union continues to talk to the automakers and has worked with them in recent years to reduce costs by agreeing to a range of concessions on health care, wages, factory work rules and other issues in recent years, including as part of last year's labor talks on new national contracts.

Eliminating the program entirely would be a tough sell for Gettelfinger, who is unlikely to support any change that would put these workers out on the street. Additional buyouts remain an option, but the idea of nearly bankrupt automakers paying idled workers to leave is also likely to draw sharp criticism from some in Congress.

Michigan to lose more than 100,000 jobs next year, say U-M forecasters

2008-11-21T13:41:00.000-05:00

www.jobberz.com

Jaclyn Trop / The Detroit News

ANN ARBOR -- Michigan will lose even more jobs in 2009 than the 81,000-plus that have vanished already this year, and won't see an gains in hiring until sometime in 2011, according to a new economic forecast released today.

A total of 108,000 jobs will be lost next year in the state, according to a survey released today by economists at the University of Michigan's Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics. They predict state unemployment will exceed 10 percent in each of the next two years -- the highest rate since 1984. And while the economists expect some form of a government-approved rescue package for Detroit's Big Three automakers, they forecast that by 2010 the auto industry will employ less than a third of the workers it had a decade earlier.

The nationwide economic recession coupled with the precarious position of the Big Three automakers is a "troublesome gateway to the year ahead," according to U-M economist George Fulton.

"The potential consequences of myriad alternatives are impossible to predict at this point, but none of them is any good fro Michigan," Fulton said. "The hard times are here to stay."
The first half of 2009 will be especially rough for the already suffering auto, construction and retail sectors. Fulton and colleague Joan Crary forecast that the state will lose 53,000 manufacturing jobs next year and another 24,000 in 2010, with about two-thirds coming from the auto industry. Michigan already has lost 74,000 manufacturing jobs during the past two years.

After enduring an eight-year stretch of job losses tracing back to mid-2000, the state economy now faces the confluence of a U.S. economy in recession and the very real fear of bankruptcy among major players in its core industry: domestic automobile manufactures, Fulton added.
Fulton and Crary made the presentation during a two-day economic outlook session attended by more than 200 academics and analysts.

They said, though, that a surprising number of small, non-auto-related businesses continued to grow. They include agriculture and chemical and medical businesses. In fact, education and health services -- the only industry sector expected to see employment gains -- will gain 22,000 jobs during the next years, they said.

Although the economists said they expect 2010 will be "much better" than 2009, modest job gains aren't expected across the board in the state until sometime in 2011.

GM-Chrysler deal to mean big job cuts

2008-11-13T11:04:00.000-05:00

www.jobberz.com

GM-Chrysler deal to mean big job cuts
Closing of facilities also is expected
BY TIM HIGGINS • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • October 29, 2008

Progress is being made in merger talks between GM and Chrysler owner Cerberus Capital Management, the Free Press was told Wednesday, but some issues remain. As reported earlier, financing of the deal is keeping it from occurring.

GM is pushing the federal government for some sort of assistance, including $10 billion in aid, while Cerberus is said to be continuing talks with another suitor, Renault-Nissan, about a potential deal, hoping to have some resolution within two to three weeks -- if not sooner.
It's believed Cerberus prefers a deal with GM, which could give the private equity firm a larger stake in GM's financing arm, GMAC. GM's stock surged Wednesday 8.2% on reports that GM and Cerberus had resolved some issues keeping them from a deal.

The U.S. Energy Department is working on temporary rules for the $25-billion loan program that could be completed as soon as next week. The Bush administration is considering setting up a $5-billion loan from that fund for GM.

In Michigan, up to 25,000 jobs could be cut because of a merger, including up to 10,000 hourly jobs and up to 15,000 white-collar jobs, said Patrick Anderson, chief executive officer of Anderson Economic Group. Outside Michigan, he estimated, up to 15,000 more factory jobs could be cut. He predicted 10 production facilities, including three in Michigan, would be closed.
"Michigan would be the most affected state in the country by far," he said. "We have by far the largest concentration of managerial and technical employment. An unavoidable effect of the merger is the combination of many managerial, technical functions between Chrysler and General Motors and that will mean the reduction in a good number of well-paid, professional jobs."

Analysts have predicted a merger would mean thousands of job cuts as GM rushes to eliminate duplicated functions. Other analysts have said the merger could mean 30,000 job cuts.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm and her office are preparing for a merger in case it occurs, aiming to have a rapid response ready to go if something occurs similar to what the state had for when Pfizer announced big job cuts in Ann Arbor. "We're looking at this from a SWAT team approach," Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said. "We're looking at what can and what will we be able to do immediately to help people and communities, what will we be able to do in the short term and what will we be able to do in the long term."

GM sees the potential for cost savings in a merger with Chrysler and is eyeing the smaller automaker's supposed cash. While Chrysler has indicated losses of more than $1 billion during the first half of this year, the automaker has said it ended June with $11.7 billion in cash.
GM is burning through more than $1 billion in cash a month and analysts have predicted the company could run out sometime next year.

The two companies, independently, have been taking steps to save money and reduce spending. Chrysler, for example, announced last week it would eliminate about 5,000 white-collar jobs on top of the 29,000 it already has marked for elimination.

Contact TIM HIGGINS at 313-222-8784 or thiggins@freepress.com. Business writer Justin Hyde contributed to this report.

Former Mexican president: Get over Michigan job losses

2008-11-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

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Former Mexican president: Get over Michigan job losses

Ron French / The Detroit News

Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, isn't a shy man. He calls President Bush the "cockiest" politician he's ever met; he talks glowingly of John McCain and less so of Barack Obama. And, he has a message for Michigan factory workers who have lost their jobs.
Get over it.

Those jobs aren't coming back, and Michigan should focus instead on the high-tech and service industries.

"In the end, Michigan factories have to compete with factories in Mexico and China," Fox said in a telephone interview Thursday. "Companies like General Motors and Ford and Maytag don't have an option. They either close the doors and fire their workers, or they move where they can gain economic competitiveness."

Fox, an outspoken critic of U.S. immigration policies and the person most identified with American jobs moving across the border, will speak at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Community Arts Auditorium at Wayne State University.

Fox's speech and a question-and-answer session afterward are free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Tickets can be reserved by calling (313) 577-5550 or on-line at www.focis.wayne.edu.

The president of Mexico from 2000-2006, Fox has promoted a North American Union similar to that of the European Union, with a single currency.
Fox argues Americans helped create economic policies such as NAFTA that moved jobs to Mexico, and now are complaining about it, even though the United States continues to benefit.
"As long as you have salaries of $15 to $20 an hour, you will keep losing jobs to economies that pay $5 an hour," Fox said. "This great nation of the United States has to understand that the way we opened our markets, was to learn how to compete. Now that we have learned how to compete, the leaders of the United States is building walls. That's a big, big mistake. We should be building bridges, building opportunities.

"The loss of manufacturing jobs is a problem not only of Michigan but of the United States, and is a product of the new economy," Fox said. "(But) you cannot look at it from an individual perspective. That's the way General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were able to compete. That is good for the Michigan economy and also good for Mexico."
Fox's biography, "Revolution of Hope," offers a less-than-glowing impression of President George W. Bush. Fox and Bush, the former Governor of Texas, were close allies when the two men came into office in 2000, but relations turned frosty after Fox rebuffed Bush's request to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Fox calls Bush a "windshield cowboy" and mocks his "grade-school Spanish."
The former president made it clear who he favors in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Fox said his views are more in line with those of McCain, the Republican nominee. "What I see with McCain is experience," Fox said.

You can reach Ron French at (313) 222-2175 or rfrench@detnews.com.

Michigan's job-loss streak is the longest since Great Depression

2008-11-13T10:55:00.000-05:00

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ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Michigan has endured six straight years of job losses and the next two years will see even more—the longest stretch of employment loss in the state since the Great Depression, say University of Michigan economists.

Since mid-2000 to the end of this year, the state will have lost 336,000 jobs and it will lose another 33,000 jobs in the next two years, they say. Most of these losses are in manufacturing.
Moreover, unemployment in Michigan is projected to rise from an average of 6.8 percent this year to 7.5 percent next year and 7.7 percent in 2008—the highest rates since 1992.

"The Michigan economy is fighting its way through a long stretch of stormy weather, trying to ride out the turbulence generated by the ongoing restructuring among the domestic automakers," said U-M economist George Fulton. "With Big Three market share continuing to decline for 2007 and 2008, auto industry downsizing will not have run its course by mid-2007.

"The Michigan labor market will continue to flounder. Dreary as this outlook may be, we do see some improvement developing over its horizon. By the close of 2008, job growth barely nudges into positive territory."
In their annual forecast of the Michigan economy, Fulton and colleagues Joan Crary and Saul Hymans predict the state will lose 24,000 jobs during 2007 and another 9,000 during 2008—due to heavy job losses in manufacturing.
The state will lose more than 40,000 manufacturing jobs over the course of this year, nearly 30,000 next year and another 24,000 during 2008, they say. The auto industry will account for about 70 percent of these manufacturing job losses.

"The state economy reflects not simply the fortunes of the auto industry as a whole, but in particular, the well-being of the traditional domestic producers, or Big Three—General Motors, Ford and the Chrysler Group," Crary said. "From 2001 to 2005, the Big Three's market share plummeted 7 percentage points. The situation went from bad to worse this year as soaring gasoline prices had consumers tightening their belts and focusing on fuel economy. It now appears that Big Three market share will plunge by nearly 3 percentage points this year."
Despite the continued bleak outlook for manufacturing employment, Michigan's economy will add jobs in other sectors—namely, in services, the forecast shows. After adding more than 20,000 jobs this year, service industries will gain nearly 13,000 jobs during 2007 and just under 17,000 during 2008.
Almost half of these gains will occur in private education and health services, the only major industry to have grown throughout the extended downturn in the Michigan economy. About 40 percent of the additions will come from professional and business services and from leisure and hospitality services over the next two years.
In all, the U-M economists say that in any analysis of Michigan's economic prospects, the "elephant in the room" clearly is the well-being of the Big Three automakers.
"The risks associated with the auto industry remind us of how vulnerable the Michigan economy is to the uncertainties that lately seem to define the domestic companies," Fulton said. "These troubled times in Michigan stress how critical it is for these companies to get their houses in order.

"More to the point, though, these troubled times scream out for a strategy of investing in other activities, activities that show promise in the new economy. The issue is being discussed frequently these days in Michigan, and a fairly compelling argument has been made for investing in a more highly skilled work force and growing the knowledge-based economy. Such a strategy would be in step with the evolving new economy, recognizing that regardless of the fate of the domestic auto industry, we are not going back to the good old days."

GM slashes 1,600 jobs at three US plants

2008-10-17T08:49:00.000-04:00

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DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) — General Motors will lay off 1,600 workers at three US plants, as it slashes production in the face of a sharp drop off in sales, officials said Thursday.
"Unfortunately we've had a lot of these announcements lately," said GM spokesman Christopher Lee, noting that the automaker said in June it planned to bring production into line with demand.
General Motors has shuttered scores of plants and laid off nearly half its workforce since 2000 as it restructures its business in the face of a steady loss of market share to Asian competitors.
These latest job cuts will not actually come off GM's books immediately because of a labor agreement that requires the company to retrain temporarily laid-off workers.
GM's unionized US workforce stood at 72,000 people in June, down from 133,000 in 2000. Most of the reductions were made through buyouts and attrition.
About 4,500 other jobs cuts have been announced in recent weeks.
The latest cuts will reduce the workforce at GM's truck plant in Pontiac, Michigan to about 1,000 people, said Jim Hall, the bargaining chairman for United Auto Workers union Local 594.
That will halve production of Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks from 55 units to 24 units an hour, Hall told AFP.
About 500 workers at GM's sedan factory in Detroit will be laid off starting January 12, Lee said.
In addition, 400 workers at a two-seat sports car assembly plant in Delaware will be out of work starting December 8.
GM recently announced it is moving up the permanent shutdown of its sport utility vehicle plants in Moraine, Ohio and Janesville, Wisconsin. Both plants produce vehicles that have gone out of fashion with consumers because of the increase in fuel prices.
The automaker also announced plans to permanently close a stamping plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan and reduce production at assembly plants in Detroit and in Wilmington, Delaware, which is one of the few GM assembly plants that builds vehicles for exports.

job loss 4,000 for AZ construction

2008-10-17T08:45:00.000-04:00

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Impact is seen in rise of tools at Tucson pawnshops
By Dan Sorenson
arizona daily star

Tradesmen's tools have been piling up at Tucson pawnshops as the construction sector continues to lead the state in job losses.
Construction lost 4,000 jobs statewide in September, the state Commerce Department reported Thursday. In a 13-month streak of job losses, Arizona has lost 39,000 construction jobs since September 2007.
The statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 5.6 percent in August to 5.9 percent in September, the Commerce Department reported.
An eye-level shelf packed with used professional-grade worm-drive Skilsaws at Super Pawn, 4055 E. Speedway, told the construction industry story.
"Before, we couldn't keep them in stock," said sales associate Gilbert Ugalde, gesturing to the long shelf of name-brand pro framer's power saws. Now, there are still that many and more in the back room, said Ugalde, "and that's with 40 percent off."
A check of Super Pawn and other Tucson pawnshops showed most had heavy stocks of building trade tools, from drywaller stilts and paint sprayers to heavy-duty tile saws and electrical generators.
There were several large electrical generators and air compressors at USA Pawn & Jewelry Co., 2904 N. First Ave., but assistant manager Andre Wynn said the business was also getting diamond rings and plasma TVs.
"People are getting desperate right now," Wynn said.
Arizona's 5.9 percent unemployment rate is now just slightly better than the national average of 6.1 percent. In September 2007, Arizona's rate was just 3.8 percent when the national rate was at 4.7 percent.
Retail trade had a particularly bad month in September, losing 4,400 jobs, which the state's Commerce Department attributes to cutbacks in consumer spending.
Looking for work
The 12 computer stations for job-seeking clients were all in use late Thursday morning at Pima County's Kino One-Stop employment center at 2797 E. Ajo Way.
Della Kirts, a 42-year-old licensed practical nurse, was looking for a job in administration or medical billing.
Kirts said she'd been away from hands-on nursing for several years, that she couldn't bring herself to do it after her mother's death three years ago. In the interim, she'd been working with her carpenter boyfriend installing skylights and laminate flooring.
The help with her job search came just in time, said Kirts. With five children, Kirts said, "I can hear Christmas pounding in my ears."
Arizona has lost more than 59,000 jobs so far in 2008. The statewide unemployment rate for the first nine months of 2008 averaged 4.7 percent, a full percentage point higher than the 3.7 percent average rate for the same period in 2007.
Tucson's unemployment rise followed the statewide trend, rising from 5.4 percent in August to 5.6 percent in September, up almost 2 percent since September 2007.
The Phoenix metro area fared only slightly better. The Phoenix area's unemployment rate rose from 5.1 percent unemployed in August to 5.3 percent for September, up 2 percent since September 2007.
Kirts said she really enjoyed working construction, but that work dried up over the last several months and it was time to put her medical-field experience and credentials to work again.
"I came to the end of my funds and I was down at DES (Department of Economic Security) about benefits. They said, 'Come down to the One-Stop.' It's amazing, the services. You just can't walk in and fill out applications (at employers) anymore. And we don't have Wi-Fi" at home, she said.
Help is available
Many services are available at the One-Stop to help people find jobs, said Murney Brown, a workforce development information specialist at the county employment complex.
The computer stations can be used to write and send résumés, search the Web for jobs, even learn how to advance skills with a typing tutor program that provides a certificate of typing speed to show a prospective employer.
The One-Stop also offers one-on-one sessions with job developers, including a specialist who works only with veterans and can connect them with jobs only open to them.
And the services are not just for the unemployed, said Brown.
Brown said that besides helping the unemployed, the One-Stop helps the underemployed and soon-to-be unemployed — like the restaurant and retail workers who have had their hours cut back "so much they can't survive" on what they're bringing home.
Longtime landscaper John Savala, 44, said he'd worked many jobs — dishwasher, breakfast cook, torch cutter, roofing truss builder, and in pool table manufacturing.
But he was using the One-Stop to look for nursery work, although he'd never worked in a nursery.
After 20 years working in yards, Savala said, "I know the native plants."
And he was hedging his employability bets, too, planning to also get into a program that would give him the credentials in a number of trades so he could do apartment maintenance work.

Obama blasts GOP ticket over latest job loss report

2008-10-04T21:20:00.000-04:00

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Obama blasts GOP ticket over latest job loss report

By RACHEL KIPP • The News Journal • October 4, 2008

The morning after Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate criticized his economic platform, Obama placed blame on the Bush administration for eradicating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the last year.

"We just got a report that America has had its ninth straight month of job loss. Since January we've lost more than 750,000 jobs," Obama said during a speech at Abington High School, northeast of Philadelphia. "When Sen. McCain and his running mate talk about job killing, that's something they know something about."

The Labor Department reported Friday that employers cut 159,000 jobs last month.
Palin made the comment while debating Obama's running mate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, during Thursday's vice presidential match-up in St. Louis, Mo.

With national attention centered on the House of Representatives passing the $700 billion bank bailout, Obama focused his remarks on economic growth.
"Where I come from, and I'm sure where you come from, no opportunity is more fundamental than the sense of purpose, the sense of recognition, of showing up for work in the morning," he said. "There is nothing more fundamental than a good-paying job."
The candidates had been in a virtual dead heat after McCain's numbers inched upward in the weeks following his choice of Palin as a running mate.

As the financial crisis took center stage in the public conscience, however, Obama began to build a slight lead. He was ahead of McCain by seven points in Friday's Gallup poll.
Obama said the revised bailout plan passed Friday by Congress is not the "blank check" for Wall Street "that the current administration initially asked for.
"This is a plan that will help us deal with the immediate crisis and help put the economy on firmer footing," Obama said.

Many of the men and women waiting in line to enter the stadium hoped Obama would weigh in on Thursday's vice presidential debate between running mate Biden and Alaska Gov. Palin.
"I want to know what he thought of the debate," Philadelphia resident Jene Martin said. "I thought Joe Biden did superb and I thought Sarah Palin did not answer questions."
Marin and Oreland, Pa., resident Anne St. Clair both acknowledged Palin was more articulate during the debate than they expected.
"She only talked about what they already coached her to talk about," said St. Clair, a former Wilmington resident.

Obama praised "the third senator from Pennsylvania" for a "great job" during the debate.
"I was so proud of Joe," Obama said. "I think you saw clearly why I thought he would be such a great vice president, especially in these difficult times."
McCain told supporters at a town hall meeting in Pueblo, Colo., that he thought Palin did well.
"You know, I almost felt a little sorry last night for my old friend Joe Biden. She did a magnificent job."

He drew cheers when he declared, "Viva la Barracuda!"
Two quick polls indicated Biden fared better in the debate. A CBS News/Knowledge Networks Poll found 46 percent of uncommitted voters who watched the debate thought Biden won, with 21 percent siding with Palin. A CNN poll found respondents judging Biden the winner by a margin of 51 percent to 36 percent but calling Palin more likable by 54 percent to Biden's 36 percent.

Obama has stopped in the Philadelphia area at least a dozen times during the primary and since being selected the Democratic presidential candidate.
Both tickets are hoping a strong campaign presence in the state will lead to winning Pennsylvania's electoral votes. A win here or in swing states such as Ohio, Florida or Colorado could determine which candidate will move into the White House in January.

Job cuts accelerate, recession fears rise

2008-10-04T21:15:00.000-04:00

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By Glenn Somerville

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers cut 159,000 jobs last month, a ninth straight monthly reduction and the deepest in 5-1/2 years, the government said in a report on Friday that suggested the economy may be in recession.
The Labor Department report showed 760,000 jobs lost so far in 2008. The unemployment rate in September held at a five-year high of 6.1 percent as 121,000 people quit the workforce.
The bleak hiring outlook and a separate report showing a sluggish service sector that barely grew last month added to a string of recent negative news, including weak personal income and spending, declines in manufacturing and declining factory orders and shipments.
"The problems of Wall Street have now hit Main Street with full force," the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, said ahead of the U.S. House of Representatives' vote to approve a $700 billion rescue package for banks and other financial firms.
The proposal, passed earlier this week by the Senate, will enable the Treasury to buy bad assets, including mortgage-related securities from financial firms in hope that will persuade them to resume normal lending and ease a credit market freeze.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson praised lawmakers for passing what he called "key and critical" measures to help protect or at least slow losses of U.S. jobs and savings.
The Treasury will use auctions and other measures to take the illiquid assets from banks, holding them until it can resell them and possibly profit. Paulson said the Treasury will spell out how it intends to act in coming days.

Yahoo CEO Email Tells Of Sweeping Layoffs?

2008-09-29T08:54:00.000-04:00

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Posted By:Jim Goldman

There's little chance that telegrams bring good news; likewise can be said when your email inbox suddenly shows a note from the CEO with the words, "Time for another update."
That's what is greeting thousands of Yahoo's at this hour. (Thanks "M" for sending it along.) Following the company's big unveiling of its new display advertising upgrade today in New York called Apt, which is supposed to do what another upgrade called Panama couldn't, and just ahead of Yahoo's big advertising get-together with Google,
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despite all that hand-wringing by the Feds over whether to challenge it or not, now there comes word of what could be sizeable cutbacks at the company.
CEO Jerry Yang let the troops know that Yahoo
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would be hiring Bain & Co. "to work with the leadership team on identifying ways to leverage our strengths, and improve and accelerate our performance." And while Yang highlights "some great progress this year," having "accomplished a tremendous amount and we're all working hard to continue executing on the company's strategic plan," he says in the very next paragraph that the company is continuing "the work already underway to get fit as an organization."
He says Yahoo is looking for ways to make "process and structural changes to our business that will allow us to work more efficiently." Gettin' "fit" means getting "smaller." And that means job cuts.
Yahoo And Its New Ad Platform "APT"
US ad spending in steepest drop since 2001
Google/Yahoo Ad Deal Keeps Stirring Up The Controversy
He concludes his short note by saying that Yahoo "can benefit greatly from more discipline among all departments and functions across the company. Longer term, getting fit now will enable us to be more successful moving forward."
Translation? Sounds like sweeping layoffs are on the way in Sunnyvale. Seems like Yang, Bain and team are getting ready for a big round of cuts. If you've got details on numbers and departments, send 'em along. Sounds like it might be a few weeks before we get actual numbers on the size of all this.
In the meantime, to borrow a phrase from a weatherman I used to work with in this market as our station was gearing up for a big round of cutbacks several years back: The forecast is for partly cloudy skies and scattered resumes throughout the Silicon Valley.

McCain ad blames Obama for sending Michigan jobs overseas

2008-09-26T09:55:00.000-04:00

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By TODD SPANGLER

In something of a twist, Republican John McCain is blaming Democrat Barack Obama "and his liberal allies" for sending Michigan manufacturing jobs overseas.
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In a 30-second TV ad the McCain campaign is airing in Michigan, the Republican presidential nominee accuses Obama and fellow Democrats of voting against making health care more affordable, reducing energy costs and lowering taxes.
While the Republican campaign has hit Obama repeated on whether he's committed to cutting energy costs or lower taxes, it is a new tactic for the campaign to link that to manufacturing jobs being lost overseas. In fact, during the primary campaign, it was McCain who took hits from rival Mitt Romney for suggesting that a changing economy had caused some of those jobs to be lost and that they might never come back.
Here's the script for McCain's new ad, called "Overseas."
Michigan manufacturing jobs are going overseas.Barack Obama and his liberal allies are to blame.When manufacturers needed help making health care more affordable, they voted no.So jobs go overseas.Help to reduce energy costs? No.More jobs overseas.Lower taxes? No.Even more jobs overseas.They don't understand.Their votes cost Michigan jobs.
The ad makes several claims that are not new to the campaign but that don't exactly reflect Obama's positons. For instance, the Democrat has opposed offshore drilling and a suspension of the gas tax, saying the former won't reduce prices quickly enough (the U.S. Energy Information Administration agrees with him) and the latter is a gimmick that could impact infrastructure work in the nation. Obama has called for investments in new technologies to find alternative fuels or better use ones we have like coal as a way to bring costs down, though McCain argues such a plan is too limited to provide immediate results.
On the taxes front, it has become a daily refrain from the McCain campaign that Obama wants to raise taxes but the candidate says he only wants to raise them on the wealthiest Americans -- those making $250,000 or more a year -- in order to fund tax cuts for middle class Americans.
Finally, the claim that Obama and his "liberal allies" voted against making health care more affordable is based on a vote two years ago that conservatives in Congress claimed would reduce health care costs by dropping government barriers to allowing small businesses to come together in pools that could get coverage more inexpensively. The argument against it -- raised by unions and progressive public interest groups -- was that the same bill would reduce consumer protections, allowing those insurance pools to bypass state regulations that require certain types of coverage.
The legislation was defeated on an almost straight party-line vote in 2006.

GM to build $370M engine plant in Flint, Mich.

2008-09-26T09:49:00.000-04:00

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By TOM KRISHER

A new General Motors Corp. engine plant to be built in Flint is good news for the struggling state of Michigan, which has seen massive job losses as the auto industry has contracted under a slumping economy and high gasoline prices.
But GM's top executive says the new four-cylinder engine factory, which will build powerplants for the new rechargeable electric Chevrolet Volt and a new high-mileage compact car, is also a commitment to investing in the United States.
"It's essential that GM respond proactively and aggressively to America's demand for new, more fuel-efficient vehicles, including those with four-cylinder engines," CEO Rick Wagoner said during a ceremony announcing GM's $370 million investment in the new factory.
He said the plant will allow GM to double its global production of smaller-displacement engines by 2011, with more than half the increase coming in North America.
The new plant will build a 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine that will extend the range of the Volt, and a turbocharged version that will power the Chevrolet Cruze, a new compact car to be built in Lordstown, Ohio.
"This will be one of the places. You will be one of the teams that help GM lead into our second century," Wagoner told workers and government officials gathered for the announcement.
Production at the new plant will begin in 2010, and both cars are slated to go on sale in the same year.
The location of the new factory was negotiated in last year's historic contract between the United Auto Workers and GM, UAW Vice President Cal Rapson said. It came in exchange for the union agreeing to a $14 per hour wage rate for some new hires, about half the rate of current workers, and the transfer of GM's massive retiree health care liability from GM to a union-administered trust fund, he said.
The contract, Rapson said, is helping GM get through some tough times, especially as pickup truck and sport utility vehicle sales continue to slump due to economic woes and $4 per gallon gasoline. GM's U.S. sales are down 18 percent so far this year.
"There's no question, especially with what's happened to gas. I'd hate to think where we would be had we not got that agreement," he said.
The local union for the new engine plant also agreed to a new flexible pact with GM that lets workers do multiple jobs, he said.
He said that while GM is committing to retain 300 jobs, there could be more.
"Depending on how well it goes, there can be up to 700 jobs," he said, adding that GM has made no guarantees.
Rapson said he's hopeful the new engine plant will spawn even more jobs in the Flint area with parts suppliers.
Workers from the nearby Flint Engine North plant that closed last month said the announcement is good news for an area hard hit by auto job losses. The new factory, several workers said, brings the prospect of more jobs for the industrial city about 50 miles northwest of Detroit.
"This also means that there's a future for our youth in this area," said Jean Adams-Anderson, a UAW representative at the Flint Engine North complex.
The state of Michigan on Tuesday approved $132.5 million in tax incentives for the automaker to spend $838 million on the new plant and to upgrade four other facilities, including the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant where the Volt will be built.
The Flint investment includes the 552,000-square-foot plant as well as machinery and other equipment. GM says it will invest $21 million in tooling for its suppliers to support the new Flint factory.
The factory, GM said, will have 300 flexible work stations that will allow the company to build different four-cylinder engines without retooling.
The new plant will help GM roll out new models designed to adjust to a shift in demand to smaller cars from trucks, which GM and other automakers say is permanent.
The struggling automaker has lost $57.5 billion in the past 18 months, including $15.5 billion in the second quarter. Its U.S. market share has fallen to about 23 percent this year from a peak of nearly 51 percent in 1962.
The company is banking on the Volt to be its car of the future, although it conceded this week that the Volt won't operate exactly as advertised.
GM initially said the Volt would be able to run 40 miles on its lithium-ion batteries, with a small internal combustion engine recharging the batteries to extend the range hundreds of miles. A top executive said the same thing as recently as last week.
But company spokesman Rob Peterson said Wednesday that engineers changed the design so the Volt engine will power a generator that would run the electric motor after the batteries are depleted. A small amount of power from the generator will recharge the batteries, but most will be used to directly run the car, he said.
He said bypassing the batteries is more efficient, and GM did not intend to deceive people by maintaining that he motor would only be used to recharge the batteries.
"At the end of the day, to the consumer, the vehicle will operate much the same way," he said.
GM shares were down 29 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $10.06 in late afternoon trading.

Chrysler to Fire About 250 as It Trims 1,000 Jobs

2008-09-26T09:43:00.000-04:00

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Chrysler to Fire About 250 as It Trims 1,000 Jobs (Update1)
By Mike Ramsey and Bill Koenig
Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Chrysler LLC, cutting back as its U.S. sales shrink, said it will fire about 250 employees as part of a plan to eliminate 1,000 salaried positions by Sept. 30.
The rest of the reductions will be through buyouts and early retirements, the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. Most of the dismissals will occur tomorrow, Chrysler said.
Firings weren't part of the plan when the automaker announced the reductions on July 23, saying they would take place through ``retirements, special programs and attrition.'' The cuts represent 5.4 percent of Chrysler's salaried workforce. Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli is scaling back after the company's U.S. sales slid 24 percent through August, more than twice the industry's 11 percent decline.
Chrysler, the third-largest U.S. automaker, relies more on pickup trucks, sport-utility vehicles and vans than any of its major competitors. Sales of those vehicles have fallen because of near-record gasoline prices. The automaker is owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP.
The Wall Street Journal reported the firings earlier today.

Fears grow as unemployment hits highest level in years

2008-01-12T11:04:00.000-05:00

By Michael BrennanSaturday January 12 2008
FEARS over large scale job losses in the construction sector are growing as the latest figures show the highest unemployment rate for almost five years.
And unemployment is set to rise again, it was warned last night, even after the figure rose to 171,800 in December -- an increase of 2,100 on the previous month.
In an alarming sign of the knock-on effect of the slowing property market on the building trade, over 106,000 men were seeking benefits. This is an increase of 14,000 over the year, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said in its report on the Live Register.
But there is worse to come, as analysts warned that many construction workers have not found employment after the Christmas break.
Dole
Davy Stockbrokers warned there would be an even sharper jump in the unemployment figures this month, as many building workers joined the dole queues.
"We have heard that many house builders or related workers were not re-employed after Christmas," its economist Rossa White said.
Earlier this week, both the Higher Education Authority and SIPTU warned that young men in the building industry were most at risk from long-term unemployment if the construction sector continued to slow.
And the CSO report appears to have realised these fears. There are now 21,168 men aged under 25 on the Live Register, compared to 12,121 women.
The construction industry employs 288,000 people -- one in eight of the entire workforce -- and accounts for nearly a quarter of all goods and services produced here.
According to the CSO, the unemployment rate was 4.7pc in December, which was both the highest level since 2003, and the highest rate of increase in joblessness since 1991.
The Department of Finance has forecast that unemployment will increase further to 5.6pc this year. And the employers group IBEC also said big losses were inevitable as the property market slowed.
Challenge
"This year, the Irish labour market faces its most significant challenge for some time as redundancies are likely to increase and net new job creation will fall to between 10,000 and 20,000 jobs," its senior economist Fergal O'Brien said.
"The fact the labour market for females has remained strong would suggest that the job difficulties to date have been confined to the construction sector."
IBEC said job creation would be at its lowest rate since the early 1990s.
Alan McQuaid, chief economist of Bloxham Stockbrokers in Dublin, said he thought creating 35,000 new jobs was possible. This would still be just half the rate of growth experienced in 2007.
McQuaid said there was "no doubt that the labour market would be nowhere near as strong as in recent years".
Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar warned of further job losses in the slowing construction sector and a decline in the the number of jobs being created.
"This is a direct result of Government policies which caused Ireland to plummet in international competitiveness league tables," Mr Varadkar said.
"Jobs that have been moved overseas will not come back.''
And Labour enterprise spokesman Willie Penrose called on the Government to take a more energetic approach to job creation.
"'Complacency in the face of mounting numbers on the Live Register will get us nowhere. Much more effort is now required by the Government to protect existing jobs and to attract new investment," he said.
- Michael Brennan

'DO YOUR JOB OR GET OUT'

2007-10-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

By CAROL HOPKINS Of The Oakland Press

No one is faring well in the current state shutdown mess, according to the people who answered The Oakland Press' online survey Friday. Most, like Daniel Mysla kowski of Lake Orion, sound fed up. "Our elected representatives had the whole year to address this budget mess, which they created in previous years," he said. Advertisement"So what gives? Why are we now days before the end of the state's fiscal year, and to the point of a shutdown of state services?
"A month ago, our elected reps were consumed in selfserving term-limit discussions instead of serious budget discussions.
"Where are the priorities and leadership?"
Both parties at fault
Steve Dobkowski of Dearborn saw the budget battle as "the Michigan Republican Party trying to overthrow Michigan's elected governor."
"While she is not perfect, she has been elected leader of Michigan state government by the voters," he said.
"Let the blood be on the hands of Republican legislative leaders for the damage done to Michigan families."
James Phelps of Rochester Hills disapproves of the governor's stance.
"It is time to stop her 'I'min-control' mentality," he said.
"Obviously, she is more interested in maintaining the appearance that it is her state rather than what makes sense."
Approve a continuation
Thomas Sweda of West Bloomfield Township favors a budget continuation.
"Why this governor chooses not to allow services to continue to function for 30 more days while a solution is being sought demonstrates her commitment to only political power and herself. The people of Michigan and the needs of our most vulnerable citizens obviously do not mean as much to her."
Maybe a shutdown is not so bad
Some people speculated a shutdown might prove advantageous.
"If the state government cannot figure out how to spend what they have and no more, maybe a shutdown to balance the budget is good," said James Hunt of Waterford Township.
"Unfortunately they will hold our children and society as hostages by cutting schools and police like always."
Shut it down, offered Denis Potzin of Waterford.
"There will be no difference at all if there is a shutdown. Let the people run things for awhile. We surely won't do any worse, and we will not get all the pay that (government officials) steal from us taxpayers. Let (politicians) get a real job where you get fired if you make the mess they have given us."
Live within your means
Richard Fifield of Oxford is looking at the crisis from his perspective - as a person on a fixed income.
"If I did this with my banking, it would have been closed (by the bank) long ago," he said.
"Get off your duffs and do your job or get out, and let someone who knows what they're doing take over."
State employee tired of sacrificing
M. Hill of South Lyon, a state employee, wrote to complain of being "sick and tired of (Michigan residents) not wanting to pay additional monies but wanting additional services from the state."
"I am tired of the individual egocentric nature of Americans who want something for nothing, don't want to be financially inconvenienced and don't care if others, through no fault of their own, suffer financially so the public can have egocentric wants met for free," he said.
"It is time that our state legislators and the public they represent pay up and quit punishing state employees arbitrarily. It has to stop here."
No more taxes
Many respondents stressed they did not want more taxes.
"This state is bleeding jobs, and all the Democratic leadership can think of is to increase the tax burden on the remaining state citizens to make up the difference in reduced revenues for the state," said J. McDonald of White Lake Township.
"We private sector workers have had to tighten our belts and/or seek work out of state. It is time for some accountability and for state and public education employees to share the pain."
Kevin Snyder of Waterford believes the governor and legislators "should make personal cutbacks like the rest of us have, including her husband and whatever his job may be."
"If you raise the taxes, more people will move out of state, thereby lowering the tax base," he wrote, "and those of us still here will carry the burden. If you raise liquor and tax other items, then people will bootleg out of Indiana or elsewhere, and again those of us left will carry the burden."
Brian King of Waterford has a long list of complaints for officials.
"Our real estate values have plummeted, our unemployment is the highest in the nation, we are No. 1 for people leaving their home state for jobs elsewhere - and our state representatives want to raise our taxes? I cannot think of any more nails to drive into the future economy of the Michigan coffin. Representative means representing the people's will. State reps, do your job and listen to your districts - we do not want more taxes."
Consider the unemployed
"Our economy and state is the worst of all 50 states," said Jeannie Robertson of Farmington Hills.
She scolded the state for not working to keep jobs in Michigan.
"We Michigan citizens deserve to have a government fighting for our people, not sending our revenue and jobs to other countries and states," she said.
"There are too many people unemployed with children that can't even find a job."
Cut the budget
Dave Bridson of White Lake Township believes the governor is "playing games" and would be better off cutting budgets.
"The state is still bringing in revenue and can continue," he said. "There is still plenty of fat to cut from the government, yet she is lying on the ground throwing a temper tantrum to get a tax hike."
Creative solution
Pontiac resident Kevin Verhey suggested hitting politicians in the wallet.
"(State representatives) should be fined $2,500 a day after the deadline," he said. "If they don't get a budget passed by the deadline, then they all lose their jobs.
"You would see a budget passed long before the deadline."
Verhey pointed out politicians were "elected to do this as part of their job."
"If they can't do it, then they should be let go. That's how it works for the rest of us - why not them? 'We the people' are the ones who lose out, not them. They should be accountable."
Bad PR for Michigan
Rochester Hills residents John and Val Cassel believe the shutdown "is just going to send more people away."
"They have had long enough to solve this problem," the Cassels wrote. "The House, Senate and governor should take pay cuts along with the rest of us. They just keep getting raises, prices keep going up, but hard-working people's pay isn't increasing. The shutdown will put more people out of work and then what?
"Also, who do they think they are fooling with their $1.8 billion deficit if they think the people of this state cannot figure out that the budget is $3 billion larger in the first place?"
Charlie Cook of Oxford stressed that Michiganians already have endured increases in fees "across the board for every type of license and an accelerated property tax."
He said Granholm "should be ashamed to even suggest a tax hike when so many people in Michigan have no jobs."
"I cannot begin to count the number of people I know who have left the state in the last year because they lost their jobs - not because the company they worked for moved out of Michigan, but because their employer had to close their doors due to the lack of business," Cook said.
James Hall of West Bloomfield is concerned about the politicians' behavior in the crisis.
"I usually ground my children for a week for acting the way these yahoos are acting," he said. "It doesn't matter which party is responsible, come up with a solution.
"I cannot think of a single reason I should continue to pay any Michigan state income tax, when I'm receiving no services for my money.
"I used to be proud to say I'm from Michigan. Not so much anymore."

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2007-10-09T09:05:00.000-04:00

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This guy is a true jobber

2007-08-12T11:28:00.000-04:00

Odd Job: HE CLICKS WITH WEDDINGS
By JENNIFER RICH

Al Gordon is a wedding photographer, a recorder of memories, a family friend, a record keeper. Capturing people's weddings for posterity is his passion.
"It is just as important that people have a great experience doing it (wedding) as having good photos," he explained. "I'm passionate about capturing their story."
Gordon, who has operated Alfred Gordon Photography in Lakewood Business Park since 1992, had a rather unusual introduction into the world of wedding photography.
The trombone player went to college with the idea of being a band director. But when he bought a camera for his fraternity, he soon discovered he enjoyed the life behind the lens.
"I fell in love with the artistic end of it," said Gordon, who shot his first wedding - a friend's - in the early '80s. He's been shooting ever since and estimates he has now photographed about 1,000 weddings.
"Most photographers think of weddings as combat photography," he smiled. "But weddings are my favorite thing. To me every wedding is different, each has its own energy and intensity and I feed off of that."
He's taken pictures of brides on the beach, in fancy hotels and ornate churches and even in barns. The barn wedding was in East Manatee and the bride wanted a photo of herself lying among the hay.
Gordon is nonchalant about people's personal quirks when it comes to their wedding day. He's learned to take it all in stride, from the bride who almost passed out after taking a tranquilizer and drinking several glasses of champagne to the wedding cancellation the morning of the wedding.
He does everything from a four-hour wedding day shoot to a three-day event that includes parties leading up to the big day. His pricing ranges from $3,500 to more than $10,000.
"The pressure is off the charts for the photographer," Gordon admitted. "I always say, if you can photograph a wedding, you can do anything."
Gordon looks forward to each wedding, even after all these years, and he tries to capture the personality of the couple in his viewfinder.
"Most of what happens is funny," he said. "It is important that they have a great experience." One groom has enjoyed Gordon's craftsmanship so much he's had him shoot all three of his weddings.
Gordon travels extensively for wedding assignments with two upcoming events planned in Jamaica and Tennessee. He's taken pictures all over the Southeast.
When he started out as a photographer, the style for weddings was all posed shots. "Everything was posed, even throwing the bouquet," he said. Then in the early 2000s, the pendulum swung the other way and weddings were captured through spontaneous photos. "But brides realized they did want some family photos," Gordon said. "Now it's a good mix."
High school senior portraits and family portraits are also done at the studio, but Gordon's real love is at the altar.
"It's the greatest job in the world to me," he said. "I'm capturing people's memories." x Portrait photographer

Pepsi Bottling to combine units, cut some 700 jobs

2007-08-09T09:11:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (PBG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it would combine some field operations in the United States and Canada and realign its work force to improve productivity, cutting up to 700 jobs.
The largest bottler of PepsiCo Inc. (PEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) drinks said these moves would lead it to record a pretax charge of $30 million to $40 million, or 9 cents to 12 cents per share, in the second half of the year, mostly for severance and other employee-related costs.
The company plans to spend $20 million to $25 million on the restructuring, and expects to reap about $30 million in annualized, pretax savings.
Morgan Stanley analyst William Pecoriello said the move would be a positive for earnings and valuation, since he assumed the savings would either aid earnings directly or be reinvested in the business.
Pepsi Bottling said there will now be six business units in the United States and Canada, instead of eight. The company will eliminate about 150 management positions and up to 550 hourly positions.
The company also said that due to changing customer and consumer demands, it is evaluating its vending machine business. That review could result in an additional non-cash charge in the second half of the year to retire some machines.
Excluding these items and a previously announced benefit, the bottler still expects earnings per share of $2.02 to $2.07 for the full year and operating free cash flow of $540 million to $550 million.
Pepsi Bottling shares were off 2 cents at $36.00 on the New York Stock Exchange in afternoon trade.

Get Ready Detroit

2007-07-31T22:40:00.000-04:00

Get ready Detroit you will soon start hearing us on the radio AM 1270

Website helps job seekers

2007-07-31T14:33:00.000-04:00

Man at work:
Website helps job seekers

Story written by Steve Stein

Looking to make extra money doing a side-job? Check out Jobberz.com, a free online classified advertising service started by Shawn Hanaee.

“That’s my side job,” said Hanaee, 32, who is employed full-time by Sprint/Nextel. He’s been an account executive based at the company’s corporate office in Farmington Hills for seven years and he’s been in the wireless industry for 13 years.

The Rochester Hills resident’s one-year-old website is called jobberz.com (www.jobberz.com). With over 2200 advertisers from across the United States are registered, most from Michigan. There also are numerous advertisers from California, New York, Illinois and Georgia.

Hanaee came up with the idea for the website in February 2004 when he decided to renovate his home without using a contractor. “I asked friends and family if they could recommend people who do certain home improvements,” he said. “I soon began to realize that it seems like everyone has connections to competent people who do side jobs.”

Most of the workers Hanaee hired to work on his home were employed full-time in another industry. For example, there was the carpenter who also was a car salesman and the electrician who also was an eighth-grade teacher. After the renovation was complete, Hanaee figured he spent about one-sixth the cost of hiring professionals.

When Hanaee did some home repair work last summer, it cost him just $200 to have his air conditioner fixed, and two toilets were repaired for $50 – all thanks to finding workers on jobberz.com.

It took several months for Hanaee to teach himself how to design and monitor his website before he got it up and running. He checks it daily for shady advertisers and he’s had to give a few the boot.

Jim Bartlett of Troy was one of the first advertisers to sign up with Jobberz.com, and he’s one of its biggest fan. “I was starting a computer service and repair business about a year ago, and I wanted to advertise online without spending tons of money,” Bartlett said. “Shawn’s website obviously is a good idea because it’s free, and I don’t need to pay for worldwide exposure. I only travel to do work in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula and northern Ohio.”
Bartlett said he’s been getting four or five jobs a month from his jobberz.com ad.

Hanaee said his biggest challenge is getting prospective advertisers to trust jobberz.com because so many internet businesses have come and gone. Once advertisers are on board, Hanaee feels it’s important to not intrude on their time.

“I do not send out bulletins or newsletters,” Hanaee said. “My advertisers only hear from me once a year when I wish them Happy Holidays.

Hanaee is trying to be patient even though his internet hosting cost have risen from $9.95 to $130.00 per month. He’s hoping to get enough people registered at jobberz.com to attract the attention of big Internet company like Google or Yahoo!

‘Hard-to-fill’ jobs growing

2006-09-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

The Philippine Star 09/11/2006

Hiring a worker seems to be getting as difficult as finding a job.

Records from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) showed there is a steadily increasing number of job vacancies as well as workers seeking employment over the past three years.

Based on the DOLE data, a total of 1.3 million job vacancies nationwide were posted in 2004, up from 1.2 million unfilled positions in 2003. This figure rose to 1.37 million last year.

A total of 1.23 million job applicants registered with the DOLE-Public Employment Offices nationwide in 2003. The number of jobseekers dropped slightly to 1.13 million in 2004 and rose again to 1.14 million in 2005.

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) secretary general Augusto Syjuco said that while there are many job openings, there are not many workers who possess the competencies required to fill these positions.

Syjuco said college-degree courses produce some 350,000 graduates annually and only 20 percent of these graduates find jobs, while vocational training courses produce 1.3 million graduates and the graduates from vocational courses enjoy a 60-percent employment rate.

He also said these figures suggest that employers prefer to hire skilled vocational training graduates over college graduates, who may not have the skills and competencies needed to fill the job openings available.

"The problem lies in the so-called job mismatch, which we in the education and training sector must address quickly," Syjuco said.

He said the government is now implementing the "ladderized" education program that aims to enable young Filipinos to complete their college education after undergoing vocational training.

Syjuco said that close to 100 institutions nationwide are now offering ladderized education and more schools are expected to provide the same program soon. — Mayen Jaymalin

Jobberz Press Release

2006-08-25T22:02:00.000-04:00

Jobberz.com Where Everyday People Make Money

For Immediate Release

MICHIGAN, Mich./EWORLDWIRE/8/25/2006--- Tightening budgets compounded by increasing prices related to rising gas costs have made the attraction of additional side job work to supplement regular income an attractive option.

Since its launch earlier this year, Jobberz.com Founder Shawn Hanaee has found the positive reception thrilling to encounter users have shared with him. By offering their skills through Jobberz, would-be workers have been able to locate suitable work that fits into their schedules and offers them a chance to meet rising costs.

After a simple signup process is complete, jobberz can submit their details online and make them available to the public.

"Through direct interaction with colleagues and friends, I found the idea of creating a centralized location for meeting up with potential employers intriguing. With little start-up capital and conservative plans, I've managed to reach across the U.S. with the site and its opportunities - with intensely positive results," said Hanaee.

Although there are a significant number of employment sites, none offer the precision of Jobberz, as a supplement to a regular job. While jobs are posted, additional photos to accompany the posting are offered. Users can see sample work online before they hire or contact anyone.

Those looking for additional side work are invited to submit their jobs online at www.jobberz.com.

thousand jobs

2006-08-21T07:39:00.000-04:00

All who were involved in making possible the exciting announcement on Thursday that Alorica, Inc. will create 1,000 jobs at a new technical support center in North Sioux City can take a well-deserved bow.

The news continues a string of positive metro area job announcements made within the last 18 months: Qwest Communications, 450 new jobs in Sioux City; Interbake Foods, 250 new jobs in North Sioux City; Chief Energy Co., 40 new jobs at a planned ethanol plant in Sioux City; Portionables, 100 new jobs in North Sioux City; Gateway, 130 new jobs in North Sioux City; MachineryLink Inc., 100 new jobs in North Sioux City; BPI, 200 new jobs in South Sioux City; and with the opening of Lakeport Commons in Sioux City, some 200 to 300 new jobs became available.

This metro region has fostered a cooperative spirit and a philosophy of what benefits one, benefits all in terms of economic development. The Alorica announcement defines that philosophy. The tech center will be located in North Sioux City, but all of the metro region stands to benefit.

As we said when Qwest and Interbake made their announcements of 700 new jobs in March 2005, many and varied benefits are attached to major private-sector job-creation announcements. First and foremost is the economic value such investments have as workers take the jobs and spend money. Not to be overlooked, though, are ancillary benefits such as the creation of local excitement and optimism and the positive impact these kinds of announcements potentially can have on continuing efforts to land more jobs.

Andy Lee, Alorica's chief executive officer, is a former Gateway executive who spent time at the computer maker's North Sioux City complex. We applaud him for his decision to expand his growing new company in that same community and welcome Alorica to the metro region.

Firm gives at-risk kids jobs as interns

2006-08-21T07:38:00.000-04:00

Foresters also boosts Flemingdon Park radio station

Miller acknowledges response slow to his youth training plan
Aug. 21, 2006. 01:00 AM
DONOVAN VINCENT
CITY HALL BUREAU

A Toronto life insurance company has launched an internship program for six young people from Flemingdon Park and is investing $75,000 for a local youth radio station.

The initiatives, by Foresters, are being touted by Mayor David Miller as an employment opportunity that came about through his community safety plan. The plan encourages businesses in the city to create jobs and training for young people, especially those from the city's "priority communities'' areas like Flemingdon Park, which has seen gun violence.

The paid internships, which last four months, were announced last week during an event at the recreation centre, which was attended by Miller, local councillor Jane Pitfield (Ward 26 Don Valley West) and Liberal MPP Kathleen Wynn (Don Valley West).

Toronto businesses have been slow to respond to the mayor's call to hire youths from these communities. Youth One, a campaign in which the Toronto Board of Trade challenged its firms to create 1,000 jobs for the city's at-risk youth by Sept. 1, has only managed to create 82 jobs.

George Mohacsi, CEO of Foresters, which has operated at the corner of Eglinton Ave. E. and Don Mills Rd. for 40 years, defended the small number of interns his firm is hiring, saying his company has supported local schools, supported local Meals on Wheels programs and other initiatives.

"It's a start,'' Mohacsi said.

"We've done a lot of community support. We may not have had an internship program, but we've supported this community centre by supporting the infrastructure, volunteered at local schools ... We're making a big initiative largely due to the mayor's community safety program,'' Mohacsi said.

He didn't disclose the amount the interns would be getting paid.

Miller acknowledged six is a small number, but said it was a step in the right direction.

The money for the radio station, which began operating in January and broadcasts out of a recreation centre in Flemingdon Park to a radius of about 300 metres, will go toward 14 honoraria for youth to get experience in broadcasting, and pay for equipment and other start-up costs. The funds come from an annual charity golf tournament the company runs, plus a corporate contribution.

Youths still need jobs

2006-08-12T22:46:00.000-04:00

UNEMPLOYMENT still remains a major problem for many youths in the country, according to a government officer.

Ministry of Youth, Employment Opportunities and Sports principal youth officer William Naisara said many youths who came to the national youth week celebrations, still highlighted unemployment as the main problem they faced.

Mr Naisara said the problems faced by youths would be taken up to the National Youth Advisory Board, which advised the Minister for Youth.

"The board facilitates a consultative structure that reaches all areas in order to gather information," he said.

Mr Naisara said the board met on a regular basis and advised the Minister for Youth who then took the issues up to the Government.

"Unemployment is still a problem for many youths because obviously many are leaving school every year," said Mr Naisara.

"Many find difficulties in getting jobs because it is hard to find the right job that is relevant to their skills.

"That is a challenge for the ministry but we see it as an opportunity to encourage small and micro enterprise development for income generation purposes."

Mr Naisara said the ministry's 14 youth officers who were each delegated one province to look after carried out training on such ventures.

He said the youth officers had income generation project targets and performance targets to achieve as well. He said the officers weren't just there for the indigenous Fijians but for all members of the community.

He said the ministry had youth employment opportunities projects in Suva for the Central/Eastern division, Lautoka for the Western division and Labasa for the Northern division.

"Counselling services on employment are provided like writing curriculum vitaes, doing job searches and how to attend a job interview," said Mr Naisara.

RadioShack will eliminate more jobs

2006-08-12T22:44:00.000-04:00

RadioShack announced plans late Thursday to slash its work force by 400 to 450 people in an effort to reduce overhead and improve its long-term marketplace position, the company said Thursday.

Most of the job cuts will affect positions at RadioShack's Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters.
The exact number of cuts has not been determined but the cuts will include employees at all levels and across various support functions.

RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) said it will notify affected employees in early September.

Earlier this year the electronics retailer announced a turnaround plan designed to lower overhead costs, grow profitable square footage and increase average unit volume.

Since the plan was unveiled in February, RadioShack has closed 480 underperforming stores, consolidated its distribution centers, begun a cost restructuring program and liquidated end-of-life merchandise to make room for a new product assortment. The company also laid off about 300 workers at that time, including employees at its distribution center in Memphis.

The company has more than 6,000 stores nationwide.

Another 93,000 Jobs Disappeared in August

2006-08-07T16:56:00.000-04:00

September 5—The day after President George W. Bush announced the U.S. economy is “looking up” and proposed making most of his millionaire tax cuts permanent, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) confirmed that working families are enduring the worst jobs loss crisis since the Great Depression.

The BLS announced Sept. 5 that the economy shed another 93,000 jobs in August—for a new total of approximately 3.3 million private-sector jobs lost since the president took office.

“Instead of soaking America’s workers with failed economic policies that do not create jobs, that build mountains of debt for our children and destroy our capacity to meet the nation’s needs, the president should rebuild America with investments in what matters most—schools, our health care system and the nation’s crumbling infrastructure,” said AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney. “That is the only way to create and preserve jobs, restore real economic growth and security for working families and secure the nation.”

With 1.9 million unemployed Americans now looking for work for 27 weeks or longer, unemployment dipped slightly to 6.1 percent or 8.9 million workers, according to the BLS report, down from 6.2 percent in July.

Of the 93,000 jobs lost in August, 44,000 were in manufacturing, the BLS said. That made August the 37th straight month of manufacturing job losses, now totaling nearly 1.9 million manufacturing jobs lost since the recession began in March 2001.

Among the approximately 49,000 service jobs lost in August, some 16,000 were in the information sector while telecommunications shed about 7,000 positions. And professional and business services employment edged down 10,000 jobs in August.

Last week, as new unemployment insurance (UI) claims jumped by 50,000 to 409,000, the highest level since mid-July, the newly jobless had growing reasons to fear they will exhaust those UI benefits before they find new employment.

The percentage of jobless workers who used up their regular UI benefits without finding new work—and therefore need emergency UI benefits—reached 43.8 percent in July, the highest figure on record since 1950. And a recent Federal Reserve Bank of New York report says most recent job losses will be permanent—thanks to the employers’ race to the bottom, sending U.S. jobs to countries where workers enjoy far lower wages and few workplace protections. In addition to the steady hemorrhaging of blue-collar industrial jobs to other countries, research operations, such as Forrester Research Inc., have predicted the loss of 3.3 million white-collar jobs to low-wage countries by 2015.

This year, the months still to come could be bleakest for U.S. workers. The nationally respected outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. predicted that, based on recent job trends, U.S. employers would announce an additional 399,000 new job cuts during the final four months of 2003.

America’s working families need jobs, not promises, Sweeney said. The Bush administration has predicted its economic policies, including the tax cut package (called the “Jobs and Growth Plan”) that took effect in July, would create 5.5 million jobs by the end of 2004—344,000 jobs each month, starting in July 2003. “The president is already in the hole, with an August jobs deficit of 437,000 promised jobs that did not materialize,” Sweeney said.

To track the administration’s promised job growth, the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI) launched a JobWatch website. The group said the site will enable the public to better understand if the economy is growing enough to bring down unemployment and raise wages, if job projections are being met and where jobs are growing or going.

“Today’s economy is defined by a seeming contradiction,” said EPI President Lawrence Mishel. “The recession officially ended in November 2001, yet 28 months into this business cycle we are experiencing the largest sustained loss of jobs since the Great Depression.”

US jobs growth weaker than expected

2006-08-07T16:54:00.000-04:00

Go to The Sunday Times
Monday, August 7, 2006

US jobs growth weaker than expected
Reuters

Visitors search for job possibilities on the internet at a job centre.US employers added a smaller-than-expected 113,000 new jobs in July and the unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly to 4.8 per cent, Labour Department data showed.

US employers added a smaller-than-expected 113,000 new jobs in July and the unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly to 4.8 per cent, Labour Department data showed.

The report implied softening job markets that may make it easier for Federal Reserve policy-makers to decide to halt in their two-year-long campaign of interest-rate rises when they meet tomorrow.

Though average hourly earnings continued to rise last month, the unemployment rate was the highest since a matching 4.8 per cent in February and was contrary to Wall Street economists' forecasts that the rate would be unchanged from June's 4.6 per cent.

Analysts had also forecast a more robust 142,000 new jobs would be generated in July. The department revised June's new-job total up modestly to 124,000 from a previously reported 121,000 and said that in May 100,000 jobs were created rather than 92,000.

Still, average hourly earnings increased seven cents for a second straight month to £8.82 in July, a 0.4 per cent increase, the same as in June. In the year through July, average hourly earnings rose 3.8 per cent, down slightly from the 3.9 per cent year-over-year gain posted in June.

During July, the number of people looking for work and employed rose more than 200,000, one reason that the unemployment rate was up.

Manufacturing shed 15,000 jobs last month after adding 22,000 in June and goods-producing businesses overall cut 2,000 jobs after adding 23,000 in June.

Chase to Cut 170 Milwaukee Jobs

2006-08-04T07:59:00.000-04:00

New York-based JP Morgan Chase and Co. will cut 170 jobs in its Chase Bbank Milwaukee offices by February 2007.

The bank plans to reduce its nationwide collection office cites from five to three. The Wisconsin job cuts will come from the home mortgage and home equity collections areas. The positions will be transferred to Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; and Phoenix.

The collections office located in the Cleveland will also be closed.

The employees whose jobs will be cut may apply for positions at Chase offices in other states. Currently, Chase bank employs 1,400 people in Milwaukee.

AOL to cut 5,000 jobs

2006-08-04T07:55:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK — AOL said Thursday it would drop as many as 5,000 employees, or a quarter of its global work force, within six months as the company restructures its business to draw more online advertising dollars.

The announcement came a day after AOL said it would no longer charge high-speed Internet customers for e-mail and other services.

Massive layoffs are expected as AOL stops marketing its dial-up services and reduces its need for customer-support centers.

Pennsylvania lost 7,332 manufacturing jobs in past year

2006-08-01T21:27:00.000-04:00

Pennsylvania experienced a slight loss in manufacturing jobs over the past 12 months, according to the new Pennsylvania Manufacturers Register, an industrial guide published annually by Manufacturers' News Inc. of Evanston, Ill. MNI reports Pennsylvania lost 7,332 industrial jobs (less than 1 percent) since July 2005, a moderate loss compared to the 2 percent loss MNI reported in the 12 months prior.

"Hopefully this indicates a slowing, if not a reversal, of the loss of Pennsylvania manufacturing jobs," said Tom Dubin, president of MNI. "Many of the industrial jobs that could be shipped overseas have already moved."

According to Manufacturers' News, Pennsylvania is now home to 19,727 manufacturing companies employing 930,921 workers, ranking it fifth in the nation by number of plants and jobs. Pennsylvania accounts for 30 percent of the mid- Atlantic region's manufacturing jobs and 29 percent of its plants. MNI's survey profiles both large and small Pennsylvania manufacturers, including startup companies with just a few employees.

Philadelphia remains Pennsylvania's industrial leader with 1,220 companies and 59,616 jobs, according to the register. Pittsburgh accounts for 954 companies and 40,351 jobs, while Erie is home to 406 manufacturers and 25,476 jobs. MNI reports all three cities gained plants over the past 12 months.

The state's largest sector by employment is plastic products, representing 41,697 jobs. Commercial printing follows with 29,882 jobs while pharmaceutical preparations account for 23,797 jobs.

Gene Logic to Cut 80 Jobs

2006-08-01T21:26:00.000-04:00

GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) - Gene Logic Inc., which provides genetic testing services to drug makers, on Tuesday said it will cut about 80 jobs in the restructuring of its genomics division.

The company said the restructuring will result in about $1.5 million in severance and outplacement costs, but will save about more than $8 million per year.
Employees supporting existing products and services for customers will be maintained. The company's preclinical and drug repositioning divisions will not be affected.

The company withdrew its guidance for 2006 and 2007 in June, and announced it would perform a review of its genomics division.

Gene Logic shares rose 4 cents, or 3.3 percent, to close at $1.27 on the Nasdaq.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pennsylvania jobs highest on record

2006-07-31T08:58:00.000-04:00

June joblessness for state was 4.7 percent, with 5.75 million positions in force.
Staff and wire reports | Employment levels in Pennsylvania hit a 16-year high in June, buoyed by gains in education and health services jobs, according to figures released by the state on Monday.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry said total nonfarm jobs hit 5.75 million last month. It's the highest level since collection of seasonally adjusted employment data began in 1990.

Lehigh Valley Local Links

Mobile News | Subscribe Online | Order Reprints ''It's encouraging because it's past the pre-recession peak,'' said Ryan Sweet, an associate economist with research firm Moody's Economy.com in West Chester, Chester County. ''It's at a historical high.''

Last month, the state added a seasonally adjusted 49,500 jobs — a growth rate of 0.9 percent from a year ago. Since mid-2004, the pace of job growth has been hovering at around 1 percent.

The Lehigh Valley has been a significant contributor to state job totals. In fact, the Valley over the past year has added jobs at more than twice the rate of Pennsylvania. In May, the Valley was home to 346,100 jobs, according to the most recent data from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. That's the highest ever and the fourth-straight month of record job totals. Notable categories of job growth were financial services, and professional and business services, both of which set record job totals in May.

Nationally, job growth was up 1.4 percent in June from the same month last year.

The state jobless rate hit 4.7 percent in June, the 12th month it has stayed at less than 5 percent.

Pennsylvania's education and health services sector gained 28,200 jobs in June while professional and business services employment rose by 13,900. Trade, transportation and utilities came in third, up 7,800 jobs. Manufacturing lost ground, down 13,100 jobs.

Sweet sees job growth slowing down for the rest of the year and into 2007, as the state economy gets hit by the same factors expected to affect the U.S. economy: A softening housing market will hurt construction jobs while higher interest rates will curb consumer spending and cut retail jobs.

''It's just going to be slower growth,'' said the economist, who follows the commonwealth's economy. However, ''we don't see Pennsylvania employment contracting.''

Within the state, job growth on a nonseasonally adjusted basis was strongest in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area. Employment rose by 2 percent in June from last year.

Harrisburg-Carlisle and the Williamsport area tied for second, with the number of jobs rising by 1.7 percent to 333,900 and 54,100, respectively. Lebanon came next, up 1.6 percent to 49,500 jobs.

Among heavily populated regions, the Philadelphia area added 18,100 positions in June from a year ago, a growth rate of 0.9 percent, while Pittsburgh tacked on 9,200 jobs, or a pace of 0.8 percent.

Scranton-Wilkes Barre gained 3,600 jobs to 265,500 and Lancaster added 2,600 jobs to 240,600. Reading was up by 2,500 jobs for a total of 172,100. York-Hanover added 1,600 jobs to 178,800.

The Erie area was the only one showing a decline in jobs, down 1,300 to 133,700 for June.

Firefighter Tops Jobs List

2006-07-30T09:36:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK -- If you want a job that carries prestige, you only have to look down the block-- to the nearest firehouse.

Firefighters ranked as the most prestigious occupation according to the latest Harris Interactive Poll. Almost two-thirds of those polled said these everyday heroes deserved very great prestige for what they do.

Doctors and nurses took the numbers two and three slots on the poll. Scientists came in fourth with more than half of people saying the profession was prestigious. Teachers round out the top five. Educators are also the recipients of another distinct honor in this poll -- they're getting more popular all the time. Teachers have seen their praise rating almost double since 1977.

At the bottom of the prestigious professions list: Real estate agents got top rankings by just six percent of respondents. Stock brokers and business executives are also on the low-end of the prestige pool despite their rather hefty pay.

Disney to slash 650 jobs, movie output

2006-07-29T23:30:00.000-04:00

LOS ANGELES - The Walt Disney Co. is restructuring its studio division to emphasize blockbuster franchise films over more adult fare, a move that will mean slashing 650 jobs worldwide, the company announced Tuesday.

Among those who will lose their jobs is Disney's longtime head of live-action production, Nina Jacobsen.

The restructuring will cut Disney's output from about 18 films a year to about a dozen. Of those, about 10 will be released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, a proven family-friendly brand that includes the successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.

Disney's Touchstone label, which is responsible for more esoteric fare by artists like Joel and Ethan Coen of "Fargo" fame, will be cut back to only two or three releases a year. Recent Touchstone films have included the box-office flops "The Alamo" and "The Ladykillers."

The shift, the company explained, will allow Disney films to bolster the resources of other divisions. A hit like "Pirates of the Caribbean," for example, can spawn video games, action figures, cable TV shows and, in the case of "Pirates," give new life to an old Disney theme park attraction.

"When we do it well, the lift it gives to the entire company is so significant," Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios told The Associated Press.

Disney also is consolidating its domestic and international marketing, distribution and home video efforts, the company said.

The shift to more Disney-branded films has been expected for some time, as have staff cutbacks resulting from a reduction in the total number of films.

Surprising, though, was the loss of Jacobsen, who has been head of live-action production for more than a decade.

"Sometimes these things just happen," Cook said. "She is a fantastic executive, very talented, great taste, very smart. She is so capable, she did so many wonderful things at Disney that will be legacies that will last for years to come."

Disney veteran Oren Aviv, president of marketing and chief creative officer of The Walt Disney Studios, was promoted to president of production. He will oversee the live-action development and film production.

Disney CEO Robert Iger had indicated previously that the company planned to pay greater attention to its Walt Disney Pictures brand.

"It becomes a much better investment for us when we make a Disney-branded film," Iger said in September. "We're not going to go out of the non-Disney-branded live-action business, but there has been a dramatic shift."

David Miller, managing director of the brokerage firm Sanders Morris Harris Group, said earlier this month that Wall Street sees the move toward more Disney-branded films as necessary if the entertainment giant wants to realize double-digit growth.

Finding Summer Jobs

2006-07-29T23:27:00.000-04:00

Finding Summer Jobs

When school lets out for the summer, young people all over the country start looking for work. With so many people in the market, the competition for jobs is keen. Here are some suggestions that should improve your chances.

When to Start

To give yourself the best chance for jobs in private industry, start looking in the late winter or early spring. Large businesses usually have personnel offices that will take your application early. Check back with them regularly on your job prospects.

Often, you can get priority for their summer jobs by working part-time or Saturdays during the school year.

Small firms may not take applications until they are about ready to hire, but checking early will let employers know you are interested and you'll get a better idea of your prospects and the best time to apply.

Be Prepared

A useful exercise to help you plan your job search is to write down what you think you have to offer an employer — any work or volunteer experience, plus what you have learned in or out of school that may be useful on a job.

For example, being good at a craft, working around cars or machines, or helping children or working with people of all ages, ought to be listed.

Ask a teacher or counselor at school about jobs in your area, and how you can put your skills and talents to work. Your school may be able to suggest fields that are right for you.

Keep a written record on hand for job interviews — include your work experiences, names and addresses of previous employers and organizations you've done volunteer work for, and a few personal references. Teachers and adult friends are good reference choices; don't list relatives. Always ask permission first before using anyone as a reference.

Places to Check

Tell everyone you know — friends, relatives, neighborhood employers — that you want summer work, and ask if they know of any openings or will let you know if they learn of any.

Read newspaper want ads. Watch bulletin boards and factory and store windows for help-wanted signs. Check with places that usually hire summer workers — camps, resorts, playgrounds, amusement parks, plant nurseries and farms, and ice cream and soft drink companies.

Another possibility is to "fill in" for a regular employee who is on vacation. Ask at such places as business offices, stores, factories, theaters, hotels, motels and hospitals.

Start early. It may give you priority over other applicants. If your job search isn't successful at first, check back with employers two or three weeks after school is out; there may be vacancies because someone quit or didn't work out.

State government also hires summer workers, with the individual agencies deciding, in most cases, how many and when. Check with the particular agency you're interested in.

There are only a limited number of summer positions available with the federal government. Application deadlines for these positions vary from agency to agency, and applications should be sent directly to the appropriate agency. For federal job listings and further information, write the U.S. Office of Personnel Management at 175 W. Jackson Blvd., Room 519, Chicago, IL 60604.

Job Interviews

Do some advance homework on the company you're interviewing with. Ask the personnel or business office for printed material, consult an employee who works there, or check with your public library. Knowing about the company's history and jobs may help you decide what to say about yourself, and it may give a prospective employer a more favorable impression of you.
Practice interviews with a family member or friend — especially one who has been successful in getting jobs and will tell you frankly how you did in your "trial run."
Take along your work record and names of references.
Dress conservatively — in a dress or dress pants and a blouse, or in trousers and a neat shirt. Do not wear "fad" or flamboyant clothes for most jobs.
Report for your interview on time — and alone.
Answer the employer's questions honestly and briefly. Don't talk about personal matters unless you are asked. Do tell about your qualifications completely — without exaggeration. Your job is to show why the company should hire you instead of another applicant.
If your first interview does not lead to a job offer, don't be discouraged. Few people get the first job they apply for — and often not the second or third, either.
Think about each interview afterwards and decide what you did that made a good impression — and what you might do better. Then try again. (And don't knock yourself for every mistake you may have made in the interview — you'll do better with practice.)
Volunteer Work

If you don't find a job in the summer you still can do something useful with your time — and use the experience to make you a more attractive job applicant in the future.

You can work as a volunteer at a hospital, nursing home, youth center, playground, or in other community services, for example. Helping other people can be personally rewarding, while giving you more experience for a paid job in the future.

WHO IS JOBBERZ.COM

2006-07-29T23:05:00.000-04:00

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