Free Republic

Should it be a federal crime for businesses to refuse to hire ex-convicts? Yes, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which recently released 20,000 convoluted words of regulatory "guidance" to direct businesses to hire more felons and other ex-offenders. In the late 1970s, the EEOC began stretching Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to sue businesses for practically any hiring practice that adversely affected minorities. In 1989, the agency sued Carolina Freight Carrier Corp. of Hollywood, Fla., for refusing to hire as a truck driver a Hispanic man who had multiple arrests and had served 18 months...

The gloves are coming off. We're 11 months from full implementation and the real-world impact of Obamacare is hitting the newswires. Taco Bell and Wendy's just cut the hours of hundreds of employees to avoid the Obamacare employer health insurance mandate. These workers will not only not have health insurance, they will have less money to pay for it and may be forced into Medicaid under the individual mandate. Now, the Internal Revenue Service is warning employers not to avoid the employer mandate. The IRS issued a 144-page notice which says they will soon issue proposed regulations with "anti-abuse rules."...

The real knife twist in this USA Today piece is the money quote from Mark Zandi, The One’s go-to "independent" economist: Many businesses plan to bring on more part-time workers next year, trim the hours of full-time employees or curtail hiring because of the new health care law, human resource firms say. Their actions could further dampen job growth, which already is threatened by possible federal budget cutbacks resulting from the tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff. "It will have a negative impact on job creation" in 2013, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics…The...

A survey to be released today finds few employers are planning to hire during the fourth quarter, another blow to President Obama, whose re-election may hinge on whether the economy improves before Election Day. “Between the uncertainty in the global economy and the uncertainty of the election, the survey results are really not surprising,” said Susan Fontana, regional vice president at ManpowerGroup, the global staffing agency that interviewed more than 18,000 employers nationwide for the survey. “In an election year, we see more of a stalling pattern. Then businesses start to move forward with their plans.” Of the more than...

A class action lawsuit was filed in California this week alleging that the popular In-N-Out burger chain discriminates against people of color.

My twenty something liberal Obama voter colleague (with a stay at home wife and two young children) cited this tidbit of news which I'm thinking is as pumped up as the "jobs" numbers at the White Hut--Anybody care to debunk? Largest IT employment gains in four years reported Network World (US) The nation's employment outlook for IT professionals has suddenly surged, gaining 18,200 jobs, the largest monthly increase since 2008, according to tech employment-research firm Foote Partners.

American companies are scaling back plans to hire workers and a rising share of firms feel the European debt crisis is taking a bite out of their sales, a survey showed on Monday. Only 23 percent of the firms polled in June plan to add to staff in the next six months, the National Association for Business Economics said on Monday. NABE's prior survey, conducted in late March and early April, had shown 39 percent of companies planning to add workers. Already, hiring by U.S. companies has slowed dramatically in recent months as employers worry about a sagging global economy...

Yesterday, Barack Obama responded to criticism of his plan to hike taxes on those earning as little as $250,000 a year --- a class which includes a large number of small-business owners --- by claiming that those entrepreneurs have no greater friend than the current President. He pointed to a number of tax breaks and credits he championed for small businesses, and dismissed the effects of hiking their taxes now: Now, we can already anticipate — we know what those who are opposed to letting the high-end tax cuts expire will say. They’ll say that we can’t tax “job creators.”...

In case you missed it, hiring fell a staggering 9 percent last month. The hidden secret is how bad hiring has been throughout the “recovery.” Economists say the recovery started in July 2009 — but the jobs picture still looks more like a recession. New hires not only fell during the recession, they’ve kept on falling during the “recovery” — something that isn’t supposed to happen. The economy has added jobs for 20 months, but very slowly. The total number of jobs has grown by just 1 percent during the 36-month “recovery.” In all past recoveries since 1970, the average...

In case you missed it, hiring fell a staggering 9 percent last month. The hidden secret is how bad hiring has been throughout the “recovery.” Economists say the recovery started in July 2009 — but the jobs picture still looks more like a recession. New hires not only fell during the recession, they’ve kept on falling during the “recovery” — something that isn’t supposed to happen. The economy has added jobs for 20 months, but very slowly. The total number of jobs has grown by just 1 percent during the 36-month “recovery.” In all past recoveries since 1970, the average...

NEW YORK (AP) — Business has picked up. Yet American companies are too nervous to step up hiring. The economy seems so gripped by uncertainties that many employers have decided to manage with the staff they have. They aren't convinced their customer demand will keep growing. Or they worry that Europe's festering debt crisis could infect the global economy. Or they aren't sure what Congress will do, if anything, about taxes and spending in coming months. All that helps explain why U.S. employers added just 69,000 jobs in May, the fewest in a year and the third straight month of...

How bad will Friday's employment for April be? The ADP report, which usually paints a rosier picture of private-sector job gains, shows a decline in growth of almost half from their March report: Employment in the U.S. nonfarm private business sector increased by 119,000 from March to April on a seasonally adjusted basis. The estimated gain from February to March was revised down modestly, from the initial estimate of 209,000 to a revised estimate of 201,000.Employment in the private, service-providing sector increased 123,000 in April, after rising 158,000 in March. Employment in the private, goods-producing sector declined 4,000 jobs in...

Business trends at privately held companies, those millions of businesses that drive job creation and the U.S. GDP, confirm that things are turning around from the worst economic climate in generations. Sageworks Inc. used its proprietary database of financial information on thousands of privately held companies to examine 2011 trends within key metrics of a company’s health: sales, net profit margin and debt-to-EBITDA. For the full year in 2011, revenue for all privately held U.S. companies analyzed increased about 8%, on average, accelerating from the nearly 5% increase in 2010. Sageworks’ data shows manufacturing and wholesale merchants led the growth,...

We’ve submitted last year’s blockbuster investigation for an award. Click here to review the entire series. Last year, PJ Media published an eleven-article series titled “Every Single One”, the result of a year-long investigation of — and legal battle with — the Department of Justice. Our correspondents — PJ Media Legal Editor J. Christian Adams and Hans von Spakovsky — discovered the Eric Holder DOJ had used an ideological litmus test when evaluating applicants for employment within the Civil Rights Division. The Civil Service Reform Act, a law dating to President Chester Arthur, prohibits federal hiring based on political...

Gallup polled small-business owners (value under $20M) about their expansion plans in early January, which for some strange reason didn’t get reported until today. Among those who do not plan to hire — 85% of the entire sample — almost half of all such businesses cited expected costs from health care coverage and government regulation: U.S. small-business owners who aren’t hiring — 85% of those surveyed — are most likely to say the reasons they are not doing so include not needing additional employees; worries about weak business conditions, including revenues; cash flow; and the overall U.S. economy. Additionally, nearly...

The preacher shares his final words, steps down from the pulpit for the last time, and after gathering his things leaves the building for good.  Preachers come and go, often more frequently than they should.  The Church moves forward with or without a regular preacher, because the ability to worship God does not rely upon the presence of any particular man.  Yet, this does not dismiss the wisdom of having a local preacher.  A sound preacher blesses a congregation in many ways a typical member does not.  When the preacher leaves, how should the Church replace him?In the interim, congregations...

I could hire 12 people with €760 net salary, but I don't. I tell you why. You could work for my service provider company in a nice office. It's not telemarketing, it's not a scam. You would do serious work that requires high skills, 8 hours daily, only weekdays. I would employ you legally, I would pay your taxes and social security. I could give such a job to a dozen people, but I will not, and here I explain why. I wouldn't hire a woman.The reason is very simple: women give birth to children. I don't have the right to ask...

12/13/2011 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- The freeze, preceded by hiring controls, was one of several measures implemented in 2011 to bring manning down to mandated 2010 levels. In addition, voluntary separation incentives were recently offered, with employees expected to separate by Dec. 31. "We have made significant progress in reducing manning levels through various programs," said Michelle LoweSolis, the AFPC civilian force integration director. "But in some areas we are still short of the goal, so the freeze was extended in those targeted areas to help us work toward that end. "Even with the hiring freeze...

He doesn’t think it’s too much to ask of a job seeker. A resume, a statement of salary expectations and a single written paragraph that answers a question like, “What do you believe a good customer service representative’s attitude should be?” (snip) Stories are legion of inept or half-hearted applicants who submit resumes marred by misspellings, show up at interviews dressed for a beach party, make inappropriate jokes, fail to learn basic details about the job and company in question, and otherwise leave hiring managers aghast. (snip) “Who the hell is going to hire these people?” asks Heinemeier Hansson. “Who...

SF plan would offer tax break for hiring felonsRachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer October 18, 2011 04:00 AM San Francisco businesses that hire people with felony convictions would get a tax break, under legislation expected to be introduced today. "Ex-felons are among the most challenged populations in getting work," said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who is crafting the plan. Persuading an employer to hire a convicted felon, particularly in this economy when the unemployment rate is hovering just under 10 percent, is difficult, especially when there's a wide pool of job applicants without felony records.

Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Howard Schultz, who has been on a mission to cut the national debt and boost job creation, has pledged to donate at least $100,000 of profits annually from two Starbucks stores in low-income areas to boost jobs in those communities. Profits from Starbucks stores in the Harlem section of Manhattan and the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles will go toward two community organizations that work to improve education and job training for young adults in those areas. High-school students in those neighborhoods also will receive barista training at the Starbucks shops. "We can't wait for Washington....

Top business executives feel less confident about the U.S. economic outlook and their ability to hire new workers than in previous quarters this year, according to a survey released Thursday by Business Roundtable. Only 36% of chief executives thought their company's U.S. employment would increase in the next six months and 24% thought it would decrease, according to a survey of 140 chief executives conducted by Business Roundtable between Aug. 29 and Sept. 16. By contrast, in the second quarter poll, 51% of executives thought their company's U.S. employment would increase and only 11% thought it would decrease.

When Linda Evans announced that she would get no more parts because she was an outspoken conservative, National Review charged in to defend Hollywood against any charges of discrimination. Nobody gets more excited defending the left than respectable conservatives do. The fact is that a Marxist MUST hire only his own kind. Lenin never had to do a day?s work. Revolution was a full-time job, and revolutionaries were REQUIRED to marry for money when the Party needed it. It is amazing what little even those who talk about ?a Marxist analysis? know about Marxism. Marxism states as it first principle...

Some might consider it an ugly truth that attractive people are often more successful than those less blessed with looks. But now our appearance is emerging in legal disputes as a new kind of discrimination. ‘Lookism’, it is claimed, is the new racism, and should be banished from civilised societies. It is currently the subject of several court actions in America, and some experts say similar cases should be considered here too. Economist Daniel Hamermesh argues that ugliness is no different from race or a disability, and suggests unattractive people deserve legal protection. ‘My research shows being good-looking helps you...

According to every outlet of the establishment media, it was a near-earthshaking scandal when the Bush Justice Department rejected some applicants for “career” (officially non-political) jobs because the applicants were too liberal. “The entire Justice Department and all Americans were harmed” screamed the Washington Post. The New York Times, in high dudgeon, wrote that “the strength of American democracy depends on our ability to be shocked by abuses like these — and to punish them appropriately.”The Post and the Times were crying crocodile tears. It wasn’t hiring bias to which they objected; it was merely conservative hiring bias that bothered...

Bankrupt Country Club Hills police chief part of failed ventures By Lauren FitzPatrick and Casey Toner Jul 16, 2011 The police chief of Country Club Hills, who with her husband earns more than $200,000 courtesy of city taxpayers, apparently is broke. Thanks to a series of failed businesses, including theaters they ran on Chicago’s South Side and in Dolton, Regina Evans and her husband, Ronald Evans, the inspector general of the city of 16,000, have declared personal bankruptcy. When Regina Evans, a retired Chicago police lieutenant, was hired in 2009 by Mayor Dwight Welch, she already was deeply in debt....

WASHINGTON—The U.S. labor market could stay sluggish for a while, with small-business executives reluctant to hire amid the murky economic outlook. Almost two-thirds—64%—of small-business executives surveyed said they weren't expecting to add to their payrolls in the next year and another 12% planned to cut jobs, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report to be released Monday. Just 19% said they would expand their work forces. This comes after a Labor Department report Friday showed employers added few jobs in June, and unemployment rose to 9.2%. The bleak figures joined other data showing the recovery losing momentum in recent...

This is a companion piece to Kathy Fettke's piece today titled: "Where the Jobs Are" This is the second part of a two-part interactive map series on jobs. For part one, please see Interactive Map: Employment History Since 2001 by Job Type (Healthcare, Education, Mining, Construction, Finance, Real Estate, etc) Part two has a focus on job creation and losses during the economic recovery. Please consider the following interactive map, using Tableau Software, with data courtesy of Economic Modeling Specialists. In a previous article I noted that when it comes to jobs, this is the weakest recovery ever except for...

If you’re still not using any of the privacy settings on Facebook, here’s the most compelling reason why you need to change that as soon as possible. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has given the thumbs up to Social Intelligence Corp, which keeps files of Facebook users’ posts as part of a background-checking service for screening job applicants. The FTC decided Social Intelligence complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the same set of rules that keeps your bill-payment records on file with the consumer bureaus for seven years, according to Forbes. That’s how long your social media postings remain...

DURHAM, N.C. - Optimism among chief financial officers in the U.S. has fallen, but spending plans indicate continued moderate growth over the next year. Hiring will be minimal - less than 1 percent over the next year - though many companies plan to reinstitute some employee benefits. "CFOs are telling us we are stuck at 9 percent unemployment for the next year," said Campbell Harvey, a professor of finance at Duke's Fuqua School of Business and founding director of the survey. "One leg of the economy is shackled by extraordinarily high unemployment and the other by the housing market still...

Last week, I noted that various forms of the word “unexpected” almost inevitably appeared in news stories about unfavorable economic developments. You can find them again in stories about Friday’s shocking news, that only 54,000 net new jobs were created in the month of May and that unemployment rose to 9.1 percent. But with news that bad, maybe bad economic numbers will no longer be “unexpected.” You can only expect a robust economic recovery for so long before you figure out, as Herbert Hoover eventually did, that it is not around the corner. Exogenous factors explain some part of the...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Job growth decelerated sharply in May, the Labor Department said Friday. Total nonfarm payrolls increased by 54,000, much lower than the 125,000 gain expected by Wall Street economists. This is the smallest increase in nonfarm payroll since September. The unemployment rate ticked higher 9.1% in May from 9.0% in the previous month.

Wall Street economists I speak to feel pretty confi dent that -- for all the news about housing prices falling, gas prices rising and the stock market zig-zagging and a possible downgrade of US -- the chances of a "double dip" recession are pretty remote. After all, companies are still profitable two years after the financial collapse, and judging by the job listings even at banking basket-case Citigroup, people are finding work on Wall Street. But that doesn't mean the broader economy, defined by how many people are working, is getting noticeably better anytime soon. In fact, don't expect any...

When Sony Ericsson needed new workers after it relocated its U.S. headquarters to Atlanta last year, its recruiters told one particular group of applicants not to bother. "No unemployed candidates will be considered at all," one online job listing said. The cell-phone giant later said the listing, which produced a media uproar, had been a mistake. But other companies continue to refuse to even consider the unemployed for jobs — a harsh catch-22 at a time when long-term joblessness is at its highest level in decades. Refusing to hire people on the basis of race, religion, age or disability —...

The Supreme Court on Thursday gave Arizona and other states more authority to take action against illegal immigrants and the companies that hire them, ruling that employers who knowingly hire illegal workers can lose their license to do business. The 5-3 decision upholds the Legal Arizona Workers Act of 2007 and its so-called business death penalty for employers who are caught repeatedly hiring illegal immigrants. The state law also requires employers to check the federal E-Verify system before hiring new workers, a provision that was also upheld Thursday. The court's decision did not deal with the more controversial Arizona law...

This year's college graduates have better career prospects than their peers did a year ago—as long as they're looking in the private sector. Employers plan to hire 19% more new graduates this year than in 2010, according to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. That means students were more likely to have offers as they head toward graduation. Among college seniors who applied for positions, the survey said, 41% had an offer this year, up from 38% last year. (snip) ...some degrees are far more valuable than others. Computer science, accounting, economics and engineering majors were...

"Employers added more than 200,000 jobs in April for the third straight month, the biggest hiring spree in five years," reports the official news oganization for the Obama Adminstration, the Associated Press. "But the unemployment rate ticked up to 9 percent." "The Labor Department reported Friday that the economy added 244,000 jobs last month. Private employers shrugged off high gas prices and created 268,000 jobs- the most since February 2006." Here's the problem with these numbers: The BLS estimates birth and death of private companies and consequent jobs created by them. These numbers have no basis in fact. They are just numbers...

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's Job Creation Index in March showed the jobs picture within the federal government turning sharply negative to -9, with 25% of federal employees reporting that their employer was hiring and 34% saying their employer was letting people go. This marks a rapid deterioration from the +1 of February and +18 in April 2010. Job conditions are now negative across all three levels of government. More state government employees report that their organizations are letting people go (32%) than hiring (19%), for an index score of -13. The same is true among local governments, with 20%...

Just as Congress is trying to end federal funding to Planned Parenthood across the nation comes revelations that the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Central Washington has apparently been hiring unlicensed nurses. This is the same Planned Parenthood which we exposed for having tried to force a teenager into an abortion, and then trying to stop a police officer from rescuing her by citing fictional laws. In the course of reviewing other police reports involving this organization, we found one case where a large supply of fentanyl, a regulated pain narcotics used to reduce the physical pain during a first-trimester abortion,...

Ahead of the Labor Department’s March jobs report due out Friday, a private sector report shows employers added 201,000 jobs in March. The ADP National Employment Report, which is seen as a precursor to the monthly payroll report Friday, said half of the jobs were added at small businesses. Analysts had forecast the ADP report, which sent stocks higher Wednesday, would show roughly 210,000 jobs created overall. Investors were encouraged by a strong gain in small business hiring, said Ryan Detrick, a strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. While not a huge surprise, the report “helped the realization that things are...

The software company definitely seemed interested in hiring Tom Fleming. It set up breakfast and lunch meetings, then flew the Concord salesman to its headquarters in Virginia for interviews with a half-dozen executives, including the founder and chief executive. But after promising to get back to him in a week, the company never contacted him again.

Even with unemployment still near 9 percent, prospects are looking up for American firms. S&P 500 companies are reporting cash supplies that are nearly 50 percent higher than three years ago. A recent survey of chief financial officers by the Zicklin School of Business found 64 percent of respondents plan to add employees in the next six months, up from 56 percent last quarter. As the economy slowly starts to recover from the recession and companies sitting on cash decide to invest, often they turn to their greatest asset: personnel. Human resources managers are now in a position to re-hire...

Does anyone here think that running a business from home is going to be the new way that businesses are run and how do you think this will affect hiring policies?

It’s a situation facing many people: even though you have experience, you’re still struggling to get a job, let alone a single interview. Even though the economy is improving and there are increased job openings, gone are the days when simply submitting your cover letter and resume will result in HR knocking on your door for an interview. Job seekers need to be a lot more proactive and strategic with who and how they network to ensure they stay top-of-mind to not only hiring managers, but also to people within their own personal networks who can lend a job-filled hand....

Not being able to spare a slowdown if federal agents came combing for illegal workers, Ryt-way Industries signed onto a partnership with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to ensure that the company's 1,000 workers — 40 percent of whom don't speak English — are legal. The program includes using E-verify, a centralized federal database to check whether documents produced by job candidates are legitimate. At first many documents came up as suspect. It happened, said Bolton, who is vice president of human resources, "quite often." It has improved and, as word spread among immigrant communities about the company's careful...

Today's Philly Fed survey data missed expectations and was a steep drop from last month's eventually revised down heights. But what is most worrying in this release is the sharp increase in survey responders expecting to pay more for inputs in the future. From the Philly Fed (emphasis ours): Price increases for inputs as well as firms’ own manufactured goods are more wide� spread this month. Fifty�four percent of the firms reported higher prices for inputs, compared with 52 percent in the previous month. The prices paid index, which increased 6 points in January, has increased 42 points over the...

Who better to explain why firms aren't hiring than the nation's largest business federation? How to create jobs was a central focus of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's State of American Business address today, given by its President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue. It's 2011 outlook was on the optimistic end of the spectrum, asserting that the year will provide 3.2% GDP growth and 2.4 to 2.6 million net new jobs. Of course, that will only bring down the unemployment rate by about 1%. What's holding the private sector back from hiring more aggressively? The Chamber emphasized the "regulatory tsunami"...

The Washington to Wall Street revolving door spins on, Bloomie reports: Citigroup Inc., recovering from its $45 billion bailout in 2008, is in advanced talks to hire former White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, people with knowledge of the matter said. Orszag, 41, may take a job in the New York-based firm’s investment-banking division, the people said, declining to be identified because the discussions are private. An announcement may come as early as today, one of the people said. Of course, there is a well-trampled trail between the White House and Citigroup, most prominently traveled by Clinton administration Treasury Secretary...

Blistering Holiday Hiring Shreds The "All The Growth Is From Inventory" Scaremongers Joe Weisenthal Nov. 5, 2010, 3:02 PM When Q3 GDP came in at 2%, bears pointed out that it was all due to inventory rebuilding, and that the economy was fundamentally not strong. But as we pointed out at the time, you should only fear an inventory build if the end demand isn't there to follow it up. And though we don't know for sure, this would confirm that the demand will be there. Holiday hiring, as this chart from Calculated Risk shows, is already at a blistering...

Are you unemployed? Are you employed, but looking around for another job? Are you looking for an extra job, part-time job, work from home job, starting your own business, or finding a good turn-key business? Are you looking for a job for yourself, a family member or a friend? Are you looking for career tips? If any of these apply, this is the thread to bookmark.