Happy New Year! Jobs will be harder to get

Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal ^ | December 30, 2002

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

What are the odds of the nation's unemployed getting back on the payroll in 2003?

Not very good, according to job-seekers who, by 2 to 1, told counselors during a holiday job search advice call-in that it would be harder to find a job in the coming year.

Survey results released Monday by international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., show that 67 percent of callers to its 17th annual call-in felt it would be more difficult to find a job in 2003, compared to 33 percent who said it would be easier.

The grim outlook was coupled with an equally pessimistic view of the overall economy. Two out of three callers believed the economy would be the same or worse next year.

"This may be the most discouraged we have seen callers in the 17 year history of the call-in. We have only conducted surveys of callers in recent years, but counselors do not remember confidence or the overall mood of callers ever being this low -- not even during the last recession and jobless recovery of the early 1990s," says Rick Cobb, executive vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The overwhelming majority (68 percent) of callers this year were unemployed, a change from years past when there was more balance between working and non-working callers. Among the jobless callers, the average duration of unemployment was 8.3 months.

While salary was the most important factor in a new job, nearly as many callers said having a job with a good future is equally important.

Apparently most callers feel they can find this future in small- to medium-sized firms. Eighty percent of job-seekers said they prefer to work for a company with fewer than 500 employees.

"Large public companies may have more resources, but some people feel that these employers are concerned first and foremost with the bottom line and will not hesitate to make payroll reductions in order to meet earnings expectations and to appease Wall Street analysts," Mr. Cobb says. "Smaller companies, which are more likely to be privately held, often have a more family-oriented view of their workforce and will make sacrifices in all other areas before resorting to layoffs."

Approximately 1,600 job-seekers called during the two-day event. They were split nearly evenly between men (54 percent) and women (46 percent).

[lelio]

Watched 60 minutes last night and they had a story on the shortage of nurses to the tune of 400k needed in a few years. What's the solution? Why go over to South Africa and poach off their top nurses and give them $20/hr to work here in the states.
So the H1b monster extends from the IT sector to nursing.

[The Duke]

I'm as much an "economic doomsayer" as the next guy, but this piece is propaganda. For example the following statement:

Large public companies may have more resources, but some people feel that these employers are concerned first and foremost with the bottom line...

Well, by it's very definition business is concerned "first and foremost" with the bottom line. (In fact, we'd better hope it stays that way, because the alternative is fascism.)

[1redshirt]

So the H1b monster extends from the IT sector to nursing.

That is exactly right. The nurse "shortage" is contrived. They are about to do to the health care system what they did to the high tech industry, flood the market with under qualified but cheap H1B's. America had better wake up soon.

[AppyPappy]

There has been a "nurse shortage" for decades. One reason is malpractice insurance.

[taxed2death]

The "H1-B monster" has been feeding on the nurses from the Philipines for quite a while already.....nothing new there.

[Willie Green]

I'm as much an "economic doomsayer" as the next guy, but this piece is propaganda.

The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal is associated with American City Business Journals, Inc., which reports "Business News from 41 Local Markets & 46 Industries". Similarly, international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. is a nationally recognized source of employment information.

I don't where you have a valid basis for flippantly dismissing this article as "propaganda".

[PatrioticAmerican]

If you've got one..keep it. It really won't be easier this year unless something changes. I now work for a large company, and I am directly responsible for hiring as an engineering manager. Companies are hiring, but at lower wages and with higher requirements, because the market says they can. Many companies are no longer looking for that magic pill in technology, and, instead, are relying on what they alread have being made to work. There is little investment in advanced or new technologies and little investment in new projects.

Also, I have heard that off-shore engineering is happening even more, but I have seen the exact opposite. Many companies want direct and local control, and many companies have been burned by off-shore development.

[pabianice]

Unfortunately, there is essentially zero chance of stopping the global economy from ending most well-paying jobs here in the US. Welcome to the future.

[Willie Green]

If you've got one..keep it. It really won't be easier this year unless something changes.

Employment Lawyers Expect More Lawsuits in 2003

[PatrioticAmerican]

I can certainly see the logic in that prediction. Once the ability to earn a living has dried up, people will turn to lawsuits to get theirs. I have already seen a half dozen suits on that very line of thinking.

[Redleg Duke]

Still flipping over rocks to find the doom and gloom, eh Willie?

[Willie Green]

The information is right out in the open,
published in a respected source of business news with wide, national circulation.

[VOA]

Happy New Year! Jobs will be harder to get

Because during "The Clinton Decade of Greed", the military was gutted in order
to maintain/expand social programs (with some exceptions).
On a smaller scale we see Democratic lumiaries like Gray Davis blowing a $10 BILLION
state budget SURPLUS...and creating a $35 BILLION state budget DEFICIT.

Thanks to this sort of profligate spending, Dubya didn't have the resources on hand to
simply roll unannounced into Iraq as soon as the Taliban were scattered.

Of course, if Bill Clinton had actually had a pair, 9-11 might never have happened...

(and don't think I couldn't find a few spineless Republicans to rag on with the
topics of budget and national defense...)

[narby]

Hey Willie;

Have you got the world convinced that Geo. Bush has trashed the economy yet?

Got to elect Hillary! in 2004 you know....

For myself, I'm sick of the media trashing the economy in a rather blantant effort to take down Bush. I come to FR to avoid the regular media message, and here you go making it your duty to repeat the Dem message.

[GailA]

Add teachers to the list. I've seen serveral articles on the SHORTAGE of teachers.

[Willie Green]

I come to FR to avoid the regular media message, and here you go making it your duty to repeat the Dem message.

What? You think that The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal and international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. are mouthpieces for the DNC????

You really ARE a loser, aren't you?

[warchild9]

I've been told I'm hiring four new faces in my group in 2003--all at lower start salaries than before (I don't control starting salaries). Why? Because the market allows it! And considering the low quality of recent college grads I've been seeing, I think we're overpaying.

[EVO X]

I've been told I'm hiring four new faces in my group in 2003--all at lower start salaries than before (I don't control starting salaries). Why? Because the market allows it! And considering the low quality of recent college grads I've been seeing, I think we're overpaying.

Why not try to hire a couple of people that know what they are doing? You get what you pay for in most cases.

[Jorge]

You really ARE a loser, aren't you?

Uh, Narby isn't the one who posted this negative loser mentality doom and gloom message..you are.
I agree with Narby. I'm sick of all the cry-baby lamentations from those who only seem to want to wallow in their self pity in life.