Tag: recession (Page 3 of 4)

Leisure and Hospitality Industry Bounces Back

December 31, 2010 / Michelle Burton

Hotel Reception

While the healthcare industry still holds the crown for most jobs created for the 2008-2018 projections decade, the leisure and hospitality industry is showing strong signs of bouncing back from the recession.

Buffalo Business First analysis of new federal data indicates that 30 states and the District of Columbia have experienced increases in leisure and hospitality employment during the past year. Buffalo Business First is a sister newspaper of the Birmingham Business Journal.
Florida registered the biggest gain, adding 21,400 jobs in the sector. Alabama came in 12th, adding 4,800 jobs over the previous year. Alabama ranks seventh for its 10-year change of 16 percent or addition of 24,500 jobs since 2000.
The nation lost 505,000 leisure and hospitality jobs between November 2007 and the same month in 2009 as the recession drastically reduced discretionary spending. But the sector has rebounded during the past year, regaining 150,000 of those jobs.
Other large increases belong to Texas (up 19,100 jobs), California (up 13,400), Pennsylvania (up 11,000) and Minnesota (up 10,400).

The leisure and hospitality industry includes arts organizations, bars, entertainment services, hotels, motels, recreation services, and restaurants.

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Older Workers Get a Facelift, Literally

December 27, 2010 / Michelle Burton

Cosmetic Surgery_24655996

In a recent Tribune news report, several workers ages 50 or better discussed a trend that seems to be catching on in the career world. Older workers, both men and women, are opting for cosmetic procedures more often in order to make themselves more marketable and even in an attempt to hold onto their jobs. One Evergreen Park, Il. woman (a 64-year-old receptionist in a doctor’s office) discussed an ultimatum she received from her boss—do something about your hair or be transferred to a job with less patient contact. Another Illinois resident discussed how working out at the gym for two hours a day, embracing the latest fashions, and coloring her grays was not enough. The resident, Charlotte Doyle age 61, decided to get her teeth straightened after losing her position as a pharmaceutical salesperson after 29 years on the job. “I would do it all—botox, lasers, everything—if I could afford it. If it meant getting hired, I would do whatever I could to stop time,” Doyle said.

Some older workers and even older business owners have decided to take even more drastic measures to shave years from their appearance. Hair salon owner Linda Stanojevic got a midface lift because she thought, “How am I going to make someone else look attractive if it seems that I don’t care about my looks.” And Michael Krause, age 65, decided to get an eyelift to be a more competitive job candidate. Krause, who thought his eyes made him look old and tired states, “I’m glad I did it because it has given me more confidence. And considering the rejection, that’s something you really need.”

It’s true, looks do count when it comes to increasing your chances of getting (and keeping) a job, according to several research studies on the subject. In one research study, Screening job applicants: The impact of physical attractiveness and application, L.M. Watkins & L. Johnston wrote: “There is considerable empirical evidence that physical attractiveness impacts employment decision making, with the result that the more attractive an individual, the greater the likelihood that that person will be hired.” And in another study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, K. Dion (and colleagues) wrote: “This generalization is known as the “what is beautiful is good” stereotype.”

A review of the literature supports the notion that being physically attractive is an advantage when applying for a job. There is little support for the “beauty is beastly” effect. The “what is beautiful is good” bias seems fairly universal and has been found in a variety of different cultures. Since it is not fair to base hiring decisions on non-job-related factors like attractiveness, training hiring managers to avoid this bias is one way to reduce such inequity.

In the meantime, the Evergreen Park receptionist, who wanted to remain anonymous, has this advice for older workers that may be experiencing a change in appearance (and treatment) due to aging, “No matter where you work, do something before everyone starts to notice.”

Your Business, Your Career, Your Workplace

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Cities with the Best (and Worst) Job Outlook Revealed

December 22, 2010 / Michelle Burton

Baton_Rouge

If you have been searching for a job in your state that will allow you to “utilize your skills and education,” but you have had zero success, you might want to consider relocating. Although employers overall are hopeful about hiring in the first quarter of 2011—a promising 9 percent expect to be hiring, some cities are in a much better position to do so than others. At the top of the list of best cities for jobs is none other than Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A recent Manpower Employment Services survey of 18,000 employers in 100 metropolitan areas revealed that Baton Rouge has an 18 percent net employment outlook. This figure is based on the number of employers that expect to add employees, which is actually 22 percent, minus the percentage who expect to reduce the number of employees (4 percent). Even better news is, the city that rarely dips below 50 degrees is enjoying growth in construction, digital media, and wood products. The city also plans to build three new hospitals in 2011, so there will be plenty of health care jobs to go around.

Baton Rouge is not the only city that will enjoy exceptional job growth in the first quarter of 2011. The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington metropolitan area has a net employment outlook of 15 percent, followed by Milwakuee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin at 14 percent. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona; Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio are tied for fourth place with a net employment outlook of 12 percent. The Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee metropolitan area; San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California, and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C./Va/Md./W.V. area are tied for fifth place with a net employment outlook of 11 percent.

So what are the worst cities for employment this winter? According to a recent Forbes report:

The net employment outlook in metro areas like Boise, Houston, Los Angeles, and Providence, R.I., is flat at 0%–and they aren’t even the worst. Akron, Ohio; Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Columbia, S.C., are tied for the No. 1 spot on the list of the worst cities for finding a job.
Only 8% of surveyed Akron employers plan to hire more employees between January and March, while 11% expect to reduce their payrolls. Seventy-nine percent expect to maintain their current workforce and 2% are unsure about their plans. This yields a net employment outlook of -3% for a city that relies largely on traditional industries, like Goodyear Tire and Rubber ( GT – news – people ) and Roadway Express. The same goes for Colorado Springs and Columbia.

The good news is, overall, the U.S. has seen five straight quarters of survey results that indicate an uptick in hiring activity, according to Melanie Holmes, Manpower’s vice president. Holmes also states that “the trend is in the right direction, but we would all like to see employer confidence improve and the pace of hiring pick up.”

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Guess Who’s Hiring?

December 15, 2010 / Michelle Burton

Delhi, India Metro Train

The figures are in. According to Forbes, the U.S. has a 9 percent hiring outlook for the first quarter of 2011. Under the circumstances, this is decent, if not good news for Americans. The adjusted Outlook for Quarter 1 2011 is up from +5% during the same period last year and +5% during Quarter 4 2010. The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey also revealed:

-Five Straight Quarters of Employment Growth: Employers report a positive overall hiring Outlook since the start of 2010, according to seasonally adjusted data.
-Widespread Stability: The percentage of employers planning to keep staff levels unchanged persists at unsurpassed levels, and those in seven of the 13 industry sectors surveyed expect to remain relatively stable compared to Quarter 4 2010.
-Current Outlook Still Below Past Decade’s Average: Despite positive signals, the Quarter 1 2011 Outlook is nearly five percentage points below the average Outlook from 2001 to 2010.

Although the hiring outlook in the U.S. shows positive signals, other countries are set to hire at a much higher rate. India is first place on the Forbes list of best countries for new jobs, with a 42 percent net hiring outlook for the first quarter of 2011. China is close behind at 40 percent, and Taiwan is third with a net employment outlook of 37 percent. In fourth is Brazil with a 36 percent net hiring outlook, Turkey is in fifth with 27 percent, and Singapore is in sixth with a 26 percent net hiring outlook.

“The results are striking, if not surprising,” Forbes said referring to “that unbelievable job growth” reflected in the survey of 64,000 human resource directors and senior hiring managers from public and private companies worldwide.
The survey shows that almost half, 47 percent of them, of expectations for hiring in the first quarter of 2011 came from 10 countries in the Americas, 24 percent from eight countries in Asia and the Pacific, and 29 percent from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“This is very much a macro-economic look at new job creation,” the staffing firm’s chairman and chief executive, Jeffrey Joerres, was cited as saying.

Your Business, Your Career, Your Education, Your Workplace

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Workers Stop Retiring, Gen Y Starts Worrying

December 13, 2010 / Michelle Burton

Gen Y_I Need a Job

If you take a look at Census Bureau data on why any given industry may experience job growth over a period of 10 years, retirement is usually listed as one of the reasons why certain fields will have an impressive percentage of job openings for the decade. But according to a new analysis by a senior research associate at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, “the median length of time on the job rose markedly during the recession, as fearful workers—particularly baby boomers—clung to their existing positions and a few new employees were hired on.”

The analysis, by Craig Copeland, is based on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, which asks Americans about their job tenure every two years.

As of January 2010, workers reported they had been on the job a median of 5.2 years, up from 4.9 years in 2006. In 2010, 29.8% of all workers said they had been on the job for 10 years or more, up from 26.7% in 2006.
Among men aged 60 to 64 still working full time, 56.8% had held their current job for 10 years or more, up from 48.1% in January 2006 and 52.4% in January 2008. Such numbers indicate that aging boomers understand that finding a new job is tough for older folks. Indeed, according to a new analysis by the AARP of Department of Labor Statistics’ average duration of unemployment for older laid-off job seekers rose to 44.9 weeks in October.
Even in 2008, “people were switching careers,’’ says Copeland. “We even had a program where we were looking at how large employers were trying to retain their employees. But once the recession hit, that wasn’t a problem. Workers weren’t retiring.”

Other scary news for older Gen Y’ers and graduating seniors is: baby boomers are not the only workers holding on to their jobs. All workers are holding on to their jobs to avoid competing with, well, college graduates, older Gen Y’ers, and the more than 4.2 million unemployed workers currently looking for jobs.

Although the recession is officially over, Copeland is quick to remind Americans that, “the unemployment rate has barely budged; it stood at 9.8% in November compared to 10% the year before.”

For more information about the job outlook for all careers for the 2008-2018 decade, visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook at http://www.bls.gov/oco/.

Your Business, Your Career, Your Education

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