The Inside Job
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10 Least Competitive Job Markets
Continue reading… 341 CommentsIt's not always useful to talk about the condition of the job market nationally, because job markets can be quite different between cities. There are plenty of reasons for this, including differences in how local industries have fared, and how volatile home values have been through the recession. Also, some cities entered the downturn with higher unemployment rates.
[See 5 things to know about hiring right now.]
For a look at how competitiveness for jobs varies between metros, a new report from job search engine Indeed.com ranks the nation's 50 most populous cities by the ratio of job postings to the number of unemployed workers in June. Indeed does a broad comb of company and association Web sites, job boards, newspapers and blogs for its postings.
Washington is, no surprise, the city that had the most job postings for the number of unemployed in June, with a ratio of 6 to 1. Of course, the nation's capital tends to draw job seekers from throughout the country, as opposed to just the local pool of workers, which certainly cranks up the competitiveness.
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5 Things to Know About Job Openings and Hiring
Continue reading… 18 CommentsBetween July 2008 and June 2009, employers made a stunning 51.8 million hires, the Labor Department reports today. Of course, there were 57.1 million separations (via layoffs, quitting, and so forth) over the same period.
[See 10 cities with the most job postings per capita.]
In its monthly JOLTS report--Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary--the Labor Department reports there were 2.6 million job openings on the last business day of June. That's a preliminary figure, but it's very slightly higher than both April and May. Job openings were falling through April, so this may indicate that they bottomed out that month and we'll now continue to see the volume of openings grow, just as the pace of job cutting is slowing.
The volume of openings are, however, a particularly ugly reflection of the current state of the job market. They continue to hover around this 2.5 million-to-2.6 million level, which is the lowest since the data series began in 2000. Of course, at no time since then were job openings as crucial as they are now, with 14.5 million unemployed workers looking for work. There were nearly 6 active job seekers for every opening in June. Just three years ago, there were 1.5 active job seekers for every opening.
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Median Unemployment Falls in July: Positive Sign?
Continue reading… 2 CommentsAs the average period of unemployment continued to increase in July, the median decreased for the first time in months, Labor Department data shows.
Average duration of unemployment, in weeks:
- March: 20.1
- April: 21.4
- May: 22.5
- June: 24.5
- July: 25.1
Median duration of unemployment, in weeks:
- March: 11.2
- April: 12.5
- May: 14.9
- June: 17.9
- July: 15.7
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Check Out Your Credit Before a Potential Employer Does
Continue reading… 4 CommentsI recently wrote about a House bill that would prohibit private non-financial companies from running credit checks on potential hires. Many people are unaware of the practice until they're interviewing for a job and asked to sign a form permitting the company to check out their credit history.
Some consumer rights groups believe this practice--once used in a more restricted fashion--now extends the cycle of financial difficulty, by preventing credit-challenged workers from gaining the paycheck that could help them find a more solid financial footing.
In the meantime, however, it's something for job seekers to consider in their searches. "The traditional conventional wisdom is: establish your network, get your resume in order. I'd add the third thing, in today's world, is know what your financial information says," says Bruce Cornelius, chief marketing officer of CreditReport.com, a company that monitors consumers' credit reports for a monthly fee.
