JobsStat

There is good news on the horizon for veterans facing a job search.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced its plans to increase the number of disabled veterans who obtain employment within the VA. Currently, 30 percent of VA employees are veterans, while 8 percent of employees are service-connected disabled veterans. This is the second-highest number of veterans employed in cabinet departments aside from the Department of Defense.

The VA’s Veterans employment Coordination Service plans to contact all severely injured veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to determine interest and qualifications for employment with the VA. There are currently 2,300 injured veterans from those two wars, and 600 have shown interest in working for the VA.

(more…)

Connecticut’s unemployment rate rose to 6.6 percent during the month of November, according to the state Department of Labor. Although this is slightly below the national average of 6.7 percent, it is still the highest the state has experienced in the last 15 years.

Altogether, the most recent statistics show that employers did away with 5,100 jobs in Connecticut in November. This brought the total number of jobs in the state from October’s 1,698,500 to 1,693,400. In the last 12 months, approximately 10,500 jobs are been lost.

“The national recession has really caught up to us and pulled us down,” said labor economist John Tirinzonie.

The last time unemployment reached 6.6 percent in the state was back in June of 1993, which happened to be around the end of a recession that had been going on since 1989. During this time, over 150,000 Connecticut jobs were lost.

Last months job loss statistics did not catch experts unaware, according to Don Klepper-Smith of DataCore Partners LLC and chairman of the Governor’s Economic Advisory Panel.

“The numbers are disconcerting, but not unexpected. We were expecting a minimum of 3,000 job losses,” said Klepper Smith to the Hartford Courant.

“When people start losing their jobs, they not only their ability to pay their bills, but they lose their ability to pay their taxes, which becomes a concern to states and municipalities,” he went on to say. “We’ve got a domestic recession that’s taking on greater definition and stands to get worse before it gets better.”

According to state Labor Department statistics, employers in seven of the ten largest industries in Connecticut cut jobs in November. The greatest of these losses happened in trade, transportation and utilities, where 2,500 jobs were lost.

Another big losses was the manufacturing sector, which cut 900 jobs in Connecticut during November. Since the November of 2007, employers in this area of employment have done away with 3,400 positions.

The only industry that saw the creation of new jobs was educational and health services. Employers in this sector created 600 positions, which means they were unable to make up for the 1,100 jobs lost in the same industry during October.

According to the RI Department of Labor and Training, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged over the month, remaining at 9.3 percent in November — a high rate that doesn’t bode well for the Rhode Island job market.

From October to November of this year, the U.S. unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a percent to reach 6.7 percent, its highest rate since October 1993.

The number of Rhode Island jobs in November 2008 declined by 4,000 from the revised October employment figure of 475,800, reducing the job count to 471,800. November marks the largest over-the-month employment drop since April 1991  (-4,300) and the eleventh straight month of job losses for both Rhode Island and the United States.

In November, the number of unemployed Rhode Island residents—those residents who classify themselves as available for and actively seeking employment—increased by 200 over the month to reach 53,100. From November 2007 to November 2008, the number of unemployed RI residents increased 23,100.

On a related note, the number of employed RI residents totaled 517,100 in November 2008, reflecting a decrease of 400 from the previous month. Over the year, the number of employed RI residents fell 29,500 between November 2007 and November 2008.

Employment in Retail Trade fell by 1,400 over the month as several retail industries fell short of normal holiday hiring in November.

Also in November, employment in Manufacturing decreased by 500, followed by Construction (-400), Professional & Business Services (-400), Accommodation & Food Services (-400), Wholesale Trade (-300), Health Care & Social Assistance (-300), Financial Activities (-200), Arts, Entertainment & Recreation (-200) and Other Services (-100).

Educational Services and Transportation & Utilities each added 100 jobs in November, while employment in Natural Resources & Mining, Information and Government remained unchanged.

From November 2007 to November 2008, RI jobs declined 18,100 (-3.7%), the largest year-over-year loss since December 1990 (-30,200). Retail Trade (-3,600) reported the largest annual employment decline, followed by Manufacturing (-3,200), Professional & Business Services (-2,800), Government (-2,300), Construction (-1,600), Financial Activities (-1,400), Other Services (-1,400), Accommodation & Food Services (-800), Wholesale Trade   (-600), Transportation & Utilities (-500), Arts, Entertainment & Recreation (-500) and Natural Resources & Mining (-100).

Health Care & Social Assistance and Educational Services reported an increase of 500 and 200 jobs, respectively, from November 2007 to November 2008, while employment in the Information sector remained even.

In November 2008, production workers in the Manufacturing sector earned $14.00 per hour. The average hourly production wage was up two cents from October and up one cent from a year ago November. Manufacturing employees worked an average of 38.4 hours per week in November, unchanged over the month and down an hour and one-tenth since November 2007.

A recent survey of applicant tracking system users showed that many aren’t using the systems to their full potential.

The survey, completed by participants at the 2008 Taleo World User’s Conference, asked respondents to explore their practices regarding the candidate experience, tracking and reporting on 120-day turnover, according to an article by Talent Management.

The results found that 72 percent of respondents don’t know the cost of on-boarding for their highest-turnover position and 86 percent of respondents aren’t asking candidates about their online employment application experience.

(more…)

Finding a job in a struggling economy can be particularly difficult for recent graduates. With many experienced workers willing to do positions further down the ladder to avoid unemployment, competition for an already limited number of jobs is even higher. Because of this, internships are more important than ever.

According to the Georgia Department of Labor, 74,480 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits in November, an increase of 54.7 percent from November of 2007. The fallout from Atlanta job losses showed a 55.8% increase from one year ago.

During the first 11 months of this year, 613,863 initial claims for unemployment insurance have been filed, an increase of 44.1 percent over the 425,942 initial claims filed during the same period last year. The metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of increase in claims are Dalton, Rome, and Warner Robins. The areas with the smallest increase in claims are Augusta, Albany, and Valdosta.

“For the past four months, initial claims in Georgia have risen significantly over the previous year,” said State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. “But, temporary hiring during the holiday season should off-set some of the unemployment insurance claims being filed by workers laid off from full-time jobs.”

So far this year, almost two-thirds of all initial claims have been filed by laid-off workers in manufacturing, construction, and trade, along with administrative and support services, including temporary employment agencies.

Despite the current state of the economy, the Rhode Island job outlook has potential for graduates of the Community College of Rhode Island.

Every year the college conducts a survey of its past graduates within six to nine months after graduation, according to an article by The Providence Journal. The most recent results proved that more than 40 percent of students had found jobs, but the current trend of the economy could weigh on the next graduating class.“It’s going to be a tough, tough year in fields outside of health care,” President Ray Di Pasquale said in the article.

Of the 1,320 2007 graduates, about 80 percent responded to the survey. Of those surveyed, 47 percent had found full-time jobs, down from 53 percent in 2006. About 29.4 percent are pursuing education full-time, while 6.5 percent were pursuing education part-time. Only 5.4 percent responded that they were unemployed and looking for work, up from 3.2 percent in 2006.

(more…)

Many Illinois manufacturing jobs will soon be lost.

ArcelorMittal recently announced its plan to close, cutting about 285 jobs in the process. According to an article by the Chicago Tribune, the Luxembourg-based company says the plant duplicates work done at other plants.

The plant slated to close is located in Hennepin, Ill., about 50 miles northwest of Bloomington. It is unknown when exactly the plant will close, and the company is working on providing severance pay to the workers who will lose their jobs.

(more…)

WebApps, Inc. a.k.a. SaaS.com, a  provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) with a major push in Workforce Management Solutions, announces its partnership with Paybridge, LLC, a payroll service bureau that specializes in payroll, retirement and human resources outsourcing, which will create a comprehensive human resources software solution.

In today’s economic climate with the need to evaluate every cent allocated, especially within operations, SaaS.com’s pricing model is appealing to its channel partners. Tony Chiviles, Owner of Paybridge, commented, “When originally looking for a Time & Attendance provider, we were dealing with an organization that had very complicated pricing. It seemed like they changed the agreement every ten minutes and had different pricing for different levels of users. With SaaS.com, the pricing was very straightforward, a subscription based pricing option with one flat price no matter what level of user; employee, manager or administrator.”

For those organizations concerned about a lengthy implementation timeline, Chiviles noted, “I was surprised with how smoothly the implementation went. Even from the first client, it took practically no time at all. In less then a day everything was successfully implemented. It seemed almost instantaneous.”

Many business owners and managers tend to adhere to the saying, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” While organizations may be hesitant to bring on a new product, Chiviles eases concerns by saying, “The solution is cutting down on businesses time spent on administrative processes, giving them a higher availability of accurate information. For example, we had a client who was using paper time cards that managers manually entered into an Excel spreadsheet. Now, with the solution acquired from our partnership with SaaS.com, it’s almost like the employees do it themselves. The managers simply run a report to approve the time worked by employees, and then automatically export that data to an Excel spreadsheet.” He continued, “The partnership has been great, and every time we call, SaaS.com is there for us.”

For those with Philadelphia jobs in the suburbs, getting to work can be a hassle. However, the Philadelphia Unemployment Project has found a way to help.

For nearly three years the organization has run a program that helps workers who live in the city get to jobs in the suburbs. Under the program, drivers get personal use of a van for 200 miles per month in return for taking coworkers to work, according to an article by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The project pays for the van, insurance, maintenance and gasoline.

The van program launched in March 2006 with a few leased vans and $1.4 million in federal funding, which was matched by funds from Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and some employers, who pay $2,000 per year for each van. The program now has 29 vans and 130 riders working all shifts. The city also has seen an additional $900,000 in federal funding, while $600,000 from the original grants still remain.

(more…)