This is NOT GOOD - U.S. Won’t Recover Lost Jobs Until March 2020

OK, this is the kind of news that makes me go, Whisky Tango Foxtrot??

Think about the idea that it will take TEN YEARS for our economy to recover all the jobs we lost in the last recession - TEN YEARS - that's 120 months.

For the poor guy who is laid off or others looking for jobs, this is catastrophic. The news that the banks were "robo-forclosing" and that one woman who was at a Bank who was responsible for processing foreclosures signed over 6000 in one month (a logistical impossibility unless you didn't care to read them), this shows the true depths to which things have sunk. The Banks ginned up the system, took money for recoevry and played the system...not that all who had mortgages should have ever been given one but a lot of good people lost their homes...many through no fault other than they got laid off.

When your neighbor loses his job, it's a recession - When you lose your job, it's a depression. When we see that it will take TEN YEARS for the economy to fully recover, we all say the economy is FUBAR

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U.S. Won’t Recover Lost Jobs Until March 2020 At Current Pace
By Ed Carson - Investors Business Daily
Fri., Oct. 08, 2010

The U.S. economy lost 95,000 jobs in September, far worse than expectations for no change in employment. More Census-related temp jobs ended, as expected, but state and local governments slashed staff far more than predicted.

So far in 2010, the U.S. has added just 613,000 jobs — for a monthly average of 68,111.

Employment bottomed in December 2009 at 129.588 million — two years after peaking at 137.951 million. At this year’s pace, the U.S. won’t recoup all those 8.36 million lost jobs* until March 2020 — 147 months after the December 2007 high.

That would obliterate the old post-World War II record of 47 months set in the wake of the 2001 recession.

The current jobs slump also is the deepest of any in the post-war era, with payrolls down as much as 6.1%. They are still 5.6% below their December 2007 level.

With state and local governments likely to shed workers for at least the next year or two as budget woes continue, the hiring burden will fall entirely on the private sector.

Private employers did add 64,000 workers last month, but that was a little less than consensus forecasts and far below what’s needed.

The U.S. needs to create 125,000-150,000 jobs each month just to absorb new workers and prevent unemployment from rising. So returning to the old peak employment a decade later would hardly suggest a healthy labor market.

(Unemployment held at 9.6% last month as the separate household employment survey reported an increase in jobs. But the underemployment rate rose 0.4 point to 17.1%, matching the 2010 high.)

The bottom line: It’s quite possible that the next recession will hit before the U.S. returns to old employment highs.

*The Labor Department said employers may have cut 366,000 jobs more than previously reported in the year through March 2010. A final estimate will be issued in February. That suggests job losses were deeper than expected in 2009 and/or early 2010 hiring was weaker than previously expected. Both would suggest an even-longer return to full employment

Say Goodbye to Full-time Jobs With Benefits

WTF? - Is this one more sign that the corporate mindset of the companies in America doesn't care what happens to the workforce as all employees are seen as disposable?? This CNN Report does not bode well for those who need work or are currently employed...

As a dedicated HR professional, this is NOT what companies should be doing, especially in a downturn economy....like all cycles, the pendulum will eventually swing back and then the employers will regret this short sighted approach to how you take care of your employees.

The Number 1 lesson of Leadership is " Take care of the troops, and they will take care of the mission." - Obviously, this lesson is lost on the corporate decision makers who follow this misguided idea....

Say goodbye to full-time jobs with benefits

Many people looking for work are having trouble finding the traditional full-time job with benefits.
By Chris Isidore, senior writerJune 5, 2010: 11:12 AM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Jobs may be coming back, but they aren't the same ones workers were used to.

Many of the jobs employers are adding are temporary or contract positions, rather than traditional full-time jobs with benefits. With unemployment remaining near 10%, employers have their pick of workers willing to accept less secure positions.

In 2005, the government estimated that 31% of U.S. workers were already so-called contingent workers. Experts say that number could increase to 40% or more in the next 10 years.

James Stoeckmann, senior practice leader at WorldatWork, a professional association of human resource executives, believes that full-time employees could become the minority of the nation's workforce within 20 to 30 years, leaving employees without traditional benefits such as health coverage, paid vacations and retirement plans, that most workers take for granted today.

"The traditional job is not doomed. But it will increasingly have competition from other models, the most prominent is the independent contractor model," he said.

Doug Arms, senior vice president of Ajilon, a staffing firm, says about 90% of the positions his company is helping clients fill right now are on a contract basis.

"[Employers] are reluctant to bring on permanent employees too quickly," he said. "And the available candidate landscape is much different now. They're a little more aggressive to take any position."

Cathy, who asked that her last name not be used, lost her job as a recruiter for a financial services firm in February 2009. She started working on a contract basis four months later. She believes that many employers are taking improper advantage of the weak labor market.

"I work in HR, I understand that sometimes you need to hire a contractor because you have a project and you won't need the person when it's done in three months," she said. "But that's not what's happening here."

Cathy said her co-workers who had permanent jobs didn't treat her differently, but she still felt like a second-class citizen.

"At one job they were giving out H1N1 flu shots but the contract workers weren't eligible to receive them," she said. "I said 'You guys are still in trouble if I get the flu.'"

Much of the change is due to employers' desire to limit their costs. Stoechmann equates the shift to the one seen in retirement plans, in which employers moved away from the traditional pension plan toward defined contribution plans, which passes more of the burden onto the employee.

Demographic factors are feeding the shift as well. Stoechmann said many younger workers are more open to the idea of not tying themselves to a single employer.

And as baby boomers reach the age when they are eligible for Medicare and not dependent upon their employer for health insurance, many are more open to contract work.

Health care reform legislation passed earlier this year, which will create a mandate for employers to provide health benefits for employees but not contractors, will also feed the trend.

"Once you have an employer mandate in place, you create an incentive for employers to get around that mandate," said Susan Houseman, a senior economist studying labor issues at the W.E. Upjohn Institute.

Houseman also believes the jobs market could stay tilted in favor of employers for much of the coming decade, because of the depth of job losses and the lingering weakness in the economy.

Sara Horowitz, the founder and executive director of the Freelancers Union, an advocacy group for freelancers and independent contractors, said that employment laws and protections have been slow to recognize the shift. For example, independent contractors aren't eligible for unemployment benefits. And they have to pay both the employee and the employer match on their Social Security taxes.

But Horowitz said not everyone who works as a freelancer or independent contractor is unhappy with their situation.

She estimates about 30% are satisfied with the arrangement, about equal to the number who desperately want to find a full-time job with benefits. The other 40% are somewhere in the middle, feeling pleased by aspects of their job and unhappy about others.

"It's not that most want to be freelancers or don't want to be freelancers. They're just following the work, and the work itself is evolving," she said.