From the category archives:

Unemployment

It should be noted that unemployment “stabilized” in November and if the trend continues, we should see the rebound starting to take place.

Lawrence H. Summers, President Obama’s top economic advisor, predicted on Sunday that by the spring the ranks of working Americans will start to grow once again.

via Summers Predicts Job Growth by Spring - NYTimes.com.

Jobs should continue to be lost, but at fewer rates, and at some point, the “leaner” firms will have to refill the spots that they lost due to the shrinking economy. When that happens, as simple logic tells us, job growth will hit the “zero point” and be positive thereafter.

It may not be much consolation for those who have lost their jobs, or those that have not been able to find work after graduation or being unemployed, but the economic situation has forced forward thinking firms to focus on sustained competitive advantage and ensuring costs are in line with their offerings. Peter Drucker would have recommended firms focus on innovation and investment in the future within these “uncertain times,” and those that have, will be poised for growth and ultimately the creation of jobs.

I would expect, as might seem like common sense, to see larger more innovative firms already starting to hire, and more staid industry leaders to follow suit when economic indicators are more favorable.

And this should come as welcome news to many.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

In the strongest jobs report since the recession began two years ago, the nation’s employers all but stopped shedding jobs in November, the government reported on Friday, and they appeared to be on the verge of finally rebuilding the work force.

Dollars !
Creative Commons License photo credit: pfala

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Unemployment for 16- to 19-year-olds is at its highest rate since 1992 — at 22.7 percent in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is causing some teenagers to rethink their notion of work and to embrace entrepreneurship.

“This is a generation raised to believe they can do anything, and the first to grow up with entrepreneurial celebrities like Steve Jobs of Apple and Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google,” said Donna Fenn, who interviewed 150 young entrepreneurs for her forthcoming book, “Upstarts: How Gen Y Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit From Their Success.”

[via The New York Times]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

There may be reason for concern. Students who enter the job market during a recession can see their wages lag behind comparable students who graduated in better times for as long as 15 years, according to a recent study by Lisa B. Kahn, an economist at the Yale School of Management.

[via NY Times]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Weekly Round Up

3 July 2009 Alternative Energy

For Modest Earners, Relief Repaying Student Loans – Repaying a student loan could soon be a little less painful. Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program, run by the Department of Education, that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those choosing […]

Read the full article →

Weekly Roundup

20 June 2009 Economy

Opening Day: The iPhone 3G S – Hollywood has its red-carpet premieres. The NFL has the opening kickoff celebration. For technology fans, Apple’s rollout of its latest devices are as good as it gets.
Tech Recruiting Clashes With Immigration Rules – Half of the engineers working in Silicon Valley were born overseas.
Tech Payoff for Companies Remains Elusive, Study […]

Read the full article →

Less than one job opening for every five job seekers

17 June 2009 Economy

At the start of the recession in December 2007, there were 4.4 million job openings, but that number has declined dramatically. This morning’s data release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in April job openings declined 102,000 to 2.5 million, a drop of over 42% since the start of the recession.
Although employment and unemployment […]

Read the full article →

The Less Educated Take the Worst Hit

10 June 2009 Education

The recession has led to steep job losses across the U.S. work force, but less-educated people have been hit particularly hard.
The unemployment rate for workers over 25 years old who haven’t gone beyond high school rose to 10% in May, nearly doubling from 5.2% a year earlier, the government said Friday. Among workers who haven’t completed […]

Read the full article →