Posts filed under “Employment”

Raskin starts at 3:30

Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin:

I became interested in this question of quality somewhat by accident. I did something atypical one day. I decided on my way into work I would stop at a jobs fair. There was a jobs fair at a local community college close to my home and I thought, I’m going to, you know, instead of pounding through all this heavy data that we typically look at at the board of governors, let me just go into this job fair. It turned out to be a really interesting morning, I have to say.

I should preface this by saying – purely anecdotal here, this is not something that is going to count as hard science or pass much muster in terms of statistical significant. But it was really interesting to me.

I went in and I have to say the kinds of jobs that were being offered surprised me. There were a number of restaurant jobs, some jobs from the military. There was one job from a community bank. Then there were a slew of jobs from, of all places, swimming pool companies. I thought that was kind of interesting. When I inquired about what these jobs were, they were lifeguard jobs, which I thought also was quite telling because back in the day to be a lifeguard I didn’t think quite required an advanced degree. These were the kinds of jobs we got in high school summers, I thought.

I was about to leave when I did see a sign that actually said IT jobs. So I thought, ‘here we go, here is going to be something pretty significant.’

So I went up to the person behind the both and they said, ‘we’ve got two kinds of IT jobs here: we’ve got armed security jobs, and we’ve got cyber security.’

So I thought, well, I’m probably not the armed security type, so tell me about the cyber security jobs.

This is how you go about getting it. You take your resume and you put it into a database. And this firm essentially collects resumes and then they kind of troll for government contracts. And when they find a government contract that might use your resume then they call you. Then you might actually get a job.

‘So what I need to do is put in my resume and then I’ll be able to get this job?’ And she said ‘yes.’

And I said: ‘while I’m waiting can I go to some other firms and throw my resume into their databases as well?’

And she said ‘oh no, you can’t do that, because you’re going to sign a letter of intent.’ And that letter of intent is basically an exclusivity agreement that says that by putting your resume in here you agree to not put your resume anywhere else.

I said ‘well, gosh, that’s going to be kind of rough. But tell me: what are the percentage chances that I’ll get a job?’

‘You know, we’re doing pretty well. Maybe a 25 percent chance.’

‘How do these jobs pay?’

‘They pay by the hour.’

‘Do they pay benefits?’

‘No benefits, it’s a straight hourly job. And it’s temporary so it’s going to be until the government contract is completed.’

This was really eye-opening for me.

Hat tip Reuters

Category: Employment, Video

Click to enlarge ~~~ ~~~   Yammy: “The greatest issue plaguing the U.S. economic recovery is the dismal pace of real income and wage growth. As long as incomes do not keep up with the underlying rate of inflation, the economy cannot manage enough growth to foster job creation. Average hourly earnings were unchanged in…Read More

Category: Data Analysis, Employment, Wages & Income

@TBPInvictus It was, I guess, a rude awakening for me when I realized, many years ago, that most of the talking heads I saw on TV had no idea what the hell they were talking about. The sooner one learns that lesson, the better. So, take it from me (and BR, who says the same…Read More

Category: Economy, Employment, Financial Press, Media, Really, really bad calls

Source: Bruce Steinberg   Standard economist orthodoxy is that Non Farm Payroll is a “lagging indicator. What that means precisely is that the change in payroll in terms of both direction and magnitude will lag the overall business cycle. Meaning, the employment will turn up after he business cycle has already circled up, with the…Read More

Category: Data Analysis, Employment

  “Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful.” -George E. P. Box     OK kids, gather round for a quick debunking of the usual monthly idiocy. The May Employment Situation report seems to have taken on a special urgency from the carnival barkets, testosterone-poisoned traders, and other ne’er-do-wells working their hardest to…Read More

Category: Employment, Federal Reserve, Psychology

Will Labor Force Participation Bounce Back? Leila Bengali, Mary Daly, and Rob Valletta Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, May 2013     The most recent U.S. recession and recovery have been accompanied by a sharp decline in the labor force participation rate. The largest declines have occurred in states with the largest job losses….Read More

Category: Data Analysis, Employment, Think Tank

click for video

Source: Yahoo

Real Economy Avoids Risk-Taking as Wall Street Embraces It:

“Has the intrepid American entrepreneur turned timid? Is the courageous, risk-embracing business pioneer becoming like the cowboy: a popular icon of a bygone time rather than a reflection of what America has become?

We might not be quite there. But there is a broad array of evidence, much of it hashed out in a long Wall Street Journal feature, that American workers and companies have grown more risk-averse in recent years.

Companies are less eager to expand payrolls to grow; the rate of small-business creation has ebbed; investment in startups is sluggish; workers are less likely to leave a job for a better opportunity; families aren’t as willing to move to a part of the country with more vibrant economic prospects. If these trends persist, it will restrain the pace of long-term economic growth.”

Category: Employment, Venture Capital, Video

What will we do when machines do all the work?

Source: The Job Market of 2045 What will we do when machines do all the work?

Category: Employment, Video

Click to enlarge Source: The Motley Fool   “The entire concept of retirement is unique to the late-20th century. Before World War II, most Americans worked until they died.”   The quote above is from Morgan Housel. He has become the most consistently interesting writer on Motley Fool (a site I never really grokked). I was reminded…Read More

Category: 401(k), Employment, Investing, Mathematics

Nobel Prize Winner Joseph Stiglitz explains why income inequality remains stubbornly high despite impressive gains in corporate America and the stock market with New York Magazines Frank Rich on Rachel Maddow March 5th, 2013.

Category: Earnings, Employment, Video