Free Republic

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.

News flash from the AFL-CIO’s blog: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When U.S., corporations sit on more than $800 billion without creating jobs, when banks hoard more than $1 trillion in profits without lending to small businesses and consumers and when health insurance companies with tens of billions in profits demand huge premium increases, there are only two words to describe such greed says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: “Economic treason!” Addressing the Ohio AFL-CIO convention in Columbus today, Trumka called on union members to mobilize and rally behind “economic patriots” in a “knock down drag-out” fight against the “false populism and name calling” that...

World Vision can hire based on religious beliefs, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that World Vision explicitly holds itself out to the public as a religious institution and is thus exempt from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibiting religious discrimination. The well-known Christian humanitarian organization applauded the ruling. "Our Christian faith has been the foundation of our work since the organization was established in 1950, and our hiring policy is vital to the integrity of our mission to serve the poor as followers of Jesus Christ," World Vision said...

Companies using criminal records or bad credit reports to screen out job applicants might run afoul of anti-discrimination laws as the government steps up scrutiny of hiring policies that could hurt blacks and Hispanics. A blanket refusal to hire workers based on criminal records or credit problems can be illegal if it has a disparate impact on racial minorities, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agency enforces the nation's employment discrimination laws. "Our sense is that the problem is snowballing because of the technology allowing these checks to be done with a fair amount of ease," said Carol...

One of the biggest obstacles to job growth may actually surprise most Americans: as fast as the private sector is creating jobs, the government is shedding them. And the cuts are far from over. Despite all the gloom and doom about the US economy, the private sector actually created 620,000 jobs over the past seven months, far faster than in the previous two recessions. The private sector is adding jobs now—that's good--because a year ago we were sliding toward oblivion,' says Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. The problem, economists say, is that the pace of hiring...

Why I'm Not Hiring When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally's pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits. By MICHAEL P. FLEISCHER With unemployment just under 10% and companies sitting on their cash, you would think that sooner or later job growth would take off. I think it's going to be later—much later. Here's why. Meet Sally (not her real name; details changed to preserve privacy). Sally is a terrific employee, and she happens to be the median person in terms of base pay among the 83 people at my little company...