State jobless rate stays put
Posted on November 19, 2009 at 3:09 pmTennessee’s unemployment rate was 10.5 percent in October, even with September’s number and almost 4 points higher than that of a year ago. The biggest gainers and losers during the month were seasonal sectors: Schools added jobs, leisure and hospitality companies shed them.
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High jobless number here to stay
Posted on November 11, 2009 at 11:26 amEconomist David Rosenberg, who thinks the jobless rate will soon top 12 percent, breaks down the dynamics of the unemployment rate and the bleak prospects of it falling anytime soon.
Think about it. We haven’t yet hit bottom on employment but that will happen at some point. Employment is not going to zero, of that we can assure you. But when we do start to see the economic clouds part in a more decisive fashion, what are employers likely to do first? Well, naturally they will begin to boost the workweek and just getting back to pre-recession levels would be the same as hiring more than two million people. Then there are the record number of people who got furloughed into part-time work and again, they total over nine million, and these folks are not counted as unemployed even if they are working considerably fewer days than they were before the credit crunch began.
So the business sector has a vast pool of resources to draw from before they start tapping into the ranks of the unemployed or the typical 100,000-125,000 new entrants into the labour force when the economy turns the corner. Hence the unemployment rate is going to very likely be making new highs long after the recession is over — perhaps even years.
Dispatches from the changing mortgage market
Posted on at 7:59 am
Here are two tidbits that crystallize the state of today’s mortgage world, a segment of the financial spectrum that has arguably seen more gut-wrenching, roller-coasting change than any other in the past few years. First, there’s the national headline that JPMorgan Chase plans to hire 1,200 loan officers in the next 13 months. The megabank has been among those profiting mightily from the flight to quality and capital.
On a more local scale, three-year-old Farmington Financial Group recently announced it has completed its metamorphosis from broker to funder. For founder and President Hart Weatherford, pictured above, the move is in part about “returning to time-honored lending traditions when bankers knew and respected their customers as individuals and worked diligently to earn their financial trust.”
SEE ALSO: Building anew and JPMorgan’s mortgage warning
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A headwind, not a show stopper
Posted on November 10, 2009 at 12:48 pmAtlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart says commercial real estate’s slump will last as long as job creation limps along. But he doesn’t see the sector causing another downturn, though its struggles will affect small-business lending.
Unlike residential real estate, there is not the same direct linkage from CRE to household wealth - and therefore consumption - caused by erosion of home equity. However, there could be an impact resulting from small banks’ impaired ability to support the small business sector - a sector I expect will be critically important to job creation.
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A treehugger and a union boss walk into a bar…
Posted on at 7:57 am…And come out allies in the battle to preserve America’s jobs base. So sayeth the Hoffa:
“We have been forced to make a false choice in the past—good jobs or a clean environment. The pundits said that if we wanted clean air, the economy would suffer and jobs would be sent overseas. Well, look what happened—we let the big corporations pollute and the jobs went overseas anyway. But today is a new day.”
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Think the headline jobs number was bad?
Posted on November 9, 2009 at 7:59 amThen you don’t want to dig into the nitty gritty.
[T]he U.S. population is significantly larger today (about 308 million) than in the early ’80s (about 228 million) when the number of part time workers almost reached 7 million. Still - even adjusted for population - part time workers is at record levels.
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A jobs jolt
Posted on November 6, 2009 at 10:49 amI know the basic argument that employment is a lagging indicator, but who’s going to stand up and say this number won’t make for a dismal holiday shopping season? And keep in mind that the official unemployment rate doesn’t account for people who have simply stopped looking for work. Add them in and we’re getting way too close to 20 percent.
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California deal brings Oklahoma CCA jobs
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 7:24 amTwo days after announcing a big contract amendment in California, Corrections Corp. says it will grow the payroll at its North Fork prison by two-thirds. Look for a similar release soon about the 900-odd Golden State prisoners going to Arizona.
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One in eight Tennessee factory jobs gone since 2007
Posted on November 2, 2009 at 12:49 pmMore bleak data from the manufacturing sector: Tennessee factories has shed more than 56,000 jobs since September of 2007. The automotive sector accounts for more than 9,000 of those losses and has been laying off workers more quickly than the rest of the industry.
Putting health care reform in its place
Posted on at 10:22 amBehind job creation policies, that is. Robert Reich says the president has spent his political capital on the wrong priority.
The optimist in me says Obama can pivot off a health-care victory and launch some new initiatives that palpably and quickly spur job growth. The realist says there aren’t any such initiatives — at least none that can work fast enough to reverse the tide of unemployment before the midterm elections.
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Apartment rents to slide further
Posted on at 7:47 amData from the National Multi Housing Council shows the apartment market finding its feet, but observers don’t see price support coming soon from the job market.
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Just in case you thought onshoring might actually matter
Posted on October 29, 2009 at 8:02 am
Sitel VP Andrew Kokes says the anecdotal evidence of companies having success relocating call centers and other support operations to rural U.S. areas won’t materialize into anything material.
“I would say that there is zero reversal and it’s growing (offshore) faster than ever,” he said.
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VA adding call center in Smyrna
Posted on October 26, 2009 at 10:24 amThe Department of Veterans Affairs has chosen Smyrna’s Tennessee Expo Center for a new patient service call center that will generate about 300 jobs. The facility will serve 19 VA hospitals.
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Why state, local governments need more stimulus
Posted on at 9:10 am
Employment in state and local governments appears to lag that in the private sector by about a year. Given that the latter fell off cliff about a year ago, there’s a case to be made that funneling more stimulus cash to local governments now will stave off more job losses.
A more rigorous look at the looming physician shortage
Posted on at 8:26 am
A group of researchers that includes Vanderbilt professor Peter Buerhaus has compared projections of the number of physicians in the work force and concluded that widely used forecasts may be overly optimistic, especially when it comes to older doctors.
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