Tag: Jobs

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Don’t panic, college seniors: Jobs for grads likely to grow

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APRIL 17, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY PAUL WISEMAN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS |
WIRE SERVICE

* After struggles spurred by the Great Recession, job picture brightens

WASHINGTON — The consulting and accounting firm EY is aggressively recruiting on college campuses this spring. The company formerly known as Ernst & Young plans to hire 9,000 graduates from U.S. universities this year, up from 7,500 in 2014. But recruiting isn’t as easy as it used to be.

“I’m seeing a lot more competition” from rival employers, said Dan Black, EY’s Americas recruiting leader.

That’s good news for college seniors and graduate students preparing to accept diplomas this spring, and a sign that new graduates will fare better than they did in 2014. The Labor Department reported on Thursday that the unemployment rate for Americans in their 20s who received a four-year or advanced degree last year rose to 12.4 percent from 10.9 percent in 2013.

“This is a real breakout year,” said Philip Gardner, director of Michigan State University’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute.

In a survey of employers last fall, the employment center found that hiring of graduates with four-year degrees will rise 16 percent this year.

“It’s led by the ones you would expect — engineering and business,” Gardner said. “But there seems to be a lot of room for everybody. … Even arts and humanities are making a comeback.”

Employers have more openings to fill because baby boomers are retiring and more workers are feeling confident enough about the economy to switch jobs. Overall, the United States generated 3.1 million jobs last year, the most since 1999. The overall unemployment rate has fallen to 5.5 percent in March from 6.7 percent at the end of 2013.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/college-graduates-on-way-to-breakout-year-for-hiring-1.1311334

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Obamanomics: Concerns That U.S. Is Ceding Its Leadership Role

Obama-Golf

At Global Economic Gathering, Concerns That U.S. Is Ceding Its Leadership Role
By JONATHAN WEISMANAPRIL 17, 2015

WASHINGTON — As world leaders converge here for their semiannual trek to the capital of what is still the world’s most powerful economy, concern is rising in many quarters that the United States is retreating from global economic leadership just when it is needed most.

The spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have filled Washington with motorcades and traffic jams and loaded the schedules of President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew. But they have also highlighted what some see as a United States government so bitterly divided that it is on the verge of ceding the global economic stage it built at the end of World War II and has largely directed ever since.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/18/business/international/at-global-economic-gathering-concerns-that-us-is-ceding-its-leadership-role.html?_r=0

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State approves tax credits to keep companies in N.J.

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APRIL 15, 2015    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER  |
THE RECORD

* State authority approves sizable grants

New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority on Tuesday approved more than $130 million in tax credits aimed at convincing several companies to expand in New Jersey, rather than in nearby states. The action included two sizable grants in Jersey City.

“The assistance approved at today’s meeting illustrates the breadth of programs EDA offers to support the revitalization of our cities,” the authority’s chief executive officer, Melissa Orsen, said in a statement.

The EDA voted Tuesday to offer Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., a private bank, $19.4 million of tax credits over seven years to keep 435 jobs in Jersey City. The New York-based company also said it hopes to add 110 jobs, some through growth and some through relocations from New York City. The project would bring the state a net benefit of $193 million over 20 years, according to the authority.

The authority also approved a $33.9 million worth of tax credits over 10 years to New York Life Insurance Co. to move 325 jobs from Parsippany to 30 Hudson St. in Jersey City, where it would hire 300 more workers. Without the grant, New York Life would consider moving the Parsippany workers to Manhattan or Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. The New York Life project would bring the state a net benefit of $430.4 million over 20 years, the authority said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/130m-in-tax-credits-to-keep-add-n-j-jobs-1.1309114

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Reader asks not a single employee of the Ridgewood Public School System who could have been promoted to fill the principal’s position at Orchard?

6Es9hMf3

There was not a single employee of the Ridgewood Public School System who could have been promoted to fill the principal’s position at Orchard?

What does that say about top District management and the BOE itself if we have no viable succession program?

From last night’s meeting agenda:

iv. Appointments

Administrator

FERRERI, Mary, K. – Principal of Orchard School, effective
July 15, 2015 through June 30, 2016.

Mrs. Ferreri credentials are as follows:
 Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, New Jersey
Master of Arts in Educational Administration – 2005
 The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey
Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education/History – 2002

Experience:
 Westwood Regional School District; Principal, George
Elementary School – July 2010 to present
 Westwood Regional School District; Acting Assistant
Principal, George & Ketler Schools/Supervisor of
Elementary Programs/District Head Teacher K-6 – January
2009 to June 2010
 Westwood Regional School District; Third Grade Teacher –
2002 to 2009
 Westwood Regional School District; First Grade Teacher –
2002 to 2009

$150,000
pro-rated

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Top 20% of Earners Pay 84% of Income Tax

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And the bottom 20%? They get paid by Uncle Sam. We compare tax burdens as Tax Day approaches.

By
LAURA SAUNDERS
April 10, 2015 9:59 a.m. ET

Who pays what in income taxes? With April 15 just around the corner, filers may be curious about where they fit into the system as a whole.

The individual income tax remains the most important levy in the U.S., providing nearly half of federal revenue. This is unusual: On average, developed nations get only one-third of their revenue from income taxes. Typically they also impose national consumption taxes, such as a value-added tax, that raise as much revenue as their income tax.

The pressure on the U.S. income tax has prompted lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to seriously consider a national consumption tax. But liberals worry that such a levy could unduly burden the poor, while conservatives fear it would be too easy to dial up the rate and collect more revenue.

As a result, experts say, there is little chance of tax overhaul this year.

Meanwhile, these two tables offer a snapshot of who is paying what for the 2014 tax year.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-20-of-earners-pay-84-of-income-tax-1428674384

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‘The Math Is Scary’: Mike Rowe’s Unsettling Prediction on What Will Happen If Work Remains the ‘Enemy’

MikeRowe

What will happen when all of the baby boomers in the U.S. retire at age 65 and the “remarkable” advances in medicine keep many of them alive into their 90s or even into triple digits?

It’s a recipe for disaster and the “math is scary,” says Mike Rowe, the star of the CNN original series “Somebody’s Gotta Do It.”

“They are going to be retired for 40 years? There’s just no universe possible where you have enough money to live on if you’re an average Joe, 40 years after punching out,” he told TheBlaze. “Part of the reason, I think, we’re facing such a mess is because people are truly still clinging to the idea that, ‘OK, I worked for 30 years and now I’m done.’ That’s crazy.”

Rowe, of “Dirty Jobs” fame, also said one of the biggest problems in pop culture is the tendency to make work the “enemy,” which he said is a very dangerous concept. And though the solution to the terrifying problem is complicated, he argued putting an end to the myth that people should work as little as possible would be a big step in the right direction.

“If the key to happiness is working less, we’re in trouble,” Rowe added. “It’s that simple. Work can’t be the enemy, unless it is, and if you make it the enemy — look out.”

No one can argue that Rowe is afraid to work and get his hands dirty. He’s practically turned performing uncomfortable, unique — and sometimes dangerous — jobs into a career.

https://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/04/09/the-math-is-scary-mike-rowes-unsettling-prediction-on-what-will-happen-if-work-remains-the-enemy/

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Reader says Does anyone thinks it’s a coincidence the human resource and village manager are both from Bergen leads and this residency requirement is being changed when the hr person isn’t from ridgewood?

31

Does anyone thinks it’s a coincidence the human resource and village manager are both from Bergen leads and this residency requirement is being changed when the hr person isn’t from ridgewood. Old friends from the bergen county program . Ridgewood owes a debt of gratitude to councilwoman knudsen for standing up for ridgewood residents when aronsohn, pucc and hack don’t care about the people they represent. What’s wrong there’s no one from ridgewood to fill these jobs.

Regardless of what the law might become, the fact is that these people are not willing to hire anyone now under the current law. That is outrageous. Holding off on hiring until they can change the law. Sounds like a massive lawsuit to me.

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End of robust hiring streak raises doubts about job market

help_wanted_theridgewoodblog

By JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, the U.S. economy’s strength has been flagging.

Manufacturing slowed. Fewer homes were built. Cheaper gas failed to ignite consumer spending. Yet month after month, employers kept on hiring vigorously.

In March, the economy’s slump finally overtook the job market.

Employers added just 126,000 workers — the fewest since December 2013 — snapping a 12-month streak of gains above 200,000. At the same time, the unemployment rate remained at 5.5 percent.

The slowdown reported Friday by the Labor Department posed a puzzle to economists:

Was the tepid job gain a temporary blip due mainly to a harsh winter and an economy adjusting to much lower oil prices?

Or did it mark a return to the middling performance that’s defined much of the nearly 6-year-old recovery from the Great Recession?

No one will know for sure until the government’s monthly employment reports later this spring help gauge the direction of the job market. That leaves the U.S. economy — until very recently the envy of other industrialized nations — facing a renewed sense of uncertainty.

https://news.yahoo.com/pace-us-hiring-weakens-just-126k-jobs-added-123112636–finance.html

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Labor Force Participation Matches 37-Year Low

march-labor

Americans Not in Labor Force Exceed 93 Million for First Time; 62.7% Labor Force Participation Matches 37-Year Low
By Ali Meyer
April 3, 2015 – 8:58 AM

CNSNews.com) – The number of Americans 16 years and older who did not participate in the labor force–meaning they neither had a job nor actively sought one in the last four weeks–rose from 92,898,000 in February to 93,175,000 in March, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That is the first time the number of Americans out of the labor force has exceeded 93 million.

Also from February to March, the labor force participation rate dropped from 62.8 percent to 62.7 percent, matching a 37-year low.

Five times in the last twelve months, the participation rate has been as low as 62.8 percent; but March’s 62.7 percent, which matches the participation rate seen in September and December of 2014, is the lowest since February of 1978.

https://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/americans-not-labor-force-exceed-93-million-first-time-627-labor-force

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US Growth Forecast Chopped to Zero

gdpnow-4-2-2015

By Paul Ausick April 3, 2015 8:40 am EDT

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has reported that its forecast for U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth dropped to zero on April 1 and ticked back up to 0.1% on April 2. The bank uses a unique model called GDPNow to prepare its forecasts, and the model typically estimates growth well below the rate projected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

The GDPNow model aggregates the same 13 subcomponents used by BEA to construct its estimate, but when a data point is not available, the model uses “bridge equations” to fill the gap. Other forecasters use similar “nowcast” techniques, but the Atlanta Fed notes that other forecasts are not updated more than once a month or once a quarter. Also, they are not publicly available and do not include forecasts of the subcomponents that add color to the top-line number. The GDPNow model fills those voids.

On February 2, the GDPNow model forecast GDP growth of 1.9%. At that time the change in net exports was forecast to be down $15 billion. By March 12, that total had dropped to a $40 billion negative change. Nonresidential construction spending was initially forecast to drop by 1.5% and is now forecast to be down 22.5%.

Read more: US Growth Forecast Chopped to Zero – 24/7 Wall St. https://247wallst.com/economy/2015/04/03/us-growth-forecast-chopped-to-zero/#ixzz3WHNOSVjr

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Obamanomics : Except for rich, Americans’ incomes fell last year

imgres-8

Washington (AFP) – Most Americans’ incomes continued to fall last year, but the richest 20 percent saw theirs rise, a new Labor Department report showed Thursday.

In fresh data that adds fire to a growing debate over income inequality, the department said that Americans on average saw income decline for the second straight year in the 12 months to June 2014.

The average pre-tax income fell 0.9 percent from the same period a year earlier, to $64,432.

But broken down into quintiles, those in the top 20 percent of incomes saw their money stream grow by 0.9 percent to $166,048 on average.

Every other group lost ground, with the bottom 20 percent losing the most: their average income dropped 3.5 percent to $9,818.

https://news.yahoo.com/except-rich-americans-incomes-fell-last-220335392.html;_ylt=AwrBJR_C1B1VzXsAYUvQtDMD

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STUCK ON STUPID : N.J. Senate committee examining state’s economic recovery

stooges

MARCH 31, 2015, 12:55 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015, 12:57 PM

BY DUSTIN RACIOPPI
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD

State senators are looking for answers why New Jersey has become an economic island of the Northeast as the country continues to recover from the Great Recession.

On the second day of testimony by state leaders on Governor Christie’s $33.8 budget for 2016, legislators focused Tuesday on New Jersey’s lagging comeback. David Rosen, the Office of Legislative Services’ budget officer, told the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee that just five states – all in the south or west – have had a worse recovery from the economic crisis than New Jersey, while neighboring states, like New York, have had a strong rebound.

“What is it that we are doing wrong?” Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, asked Rosen.

There is no clear answer and there are a host of underlying factors, but the state’s substantial losses in the pharmaceutical and telecommunications industry — two sectors that brought enormous wealth and prosperity to the Garden State — have had a significant and long-lasting impact, Rosen said. The state is creating jobs, he said, “just at a slower pace.” The national unemployment rate, for example, is 5.5 percent, while New Jersey’s is 6.4 percent.

“It seems like we just haven’t come up with the next thing to drive the economy,” Rosen said.

In his budget analysis, Rosen noted New Jersey’s sluggish revenue growth, at an average of 2.4 percent a year since 2010. Since the end of the recession only the state’s sales tax has returned to its pre-recession peak, while gross income taxes have fallen short and corporate business taxes “remain well below the peak,” he said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-senate-committee-examining-state-s-economic-recovery-1.1299491

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North Jersey home prices rise, still less than national average

1509637

MARCH 31, 2015, 11:49 AM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015, 12:12 PM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Home prices in the region ticked up 2.1 percent in the New York metropolitan area, including North Jersey, in the 12 months ended in January, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index reported Tuesday. That was less than half the national increase of 4.5 percent.

The numbers point to a housing market that is still slowly recovering from the worst downturn since World War II. Home values are no higher than they were in 2004, both nationally and in the region. Single-family prices in the area are almost 19 percent below their peaks in mid-2006, while national values are about 17 percent below their peaks.

“Despite price gains, the housing market faces some difficulties,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Home prices [nationwide] are rising roughly twice as fast as wages, putting pressure on potential homebuyers and heightening the risk that any uptick in interest rates could be a major setback. Moreover, the new home sector is weak; residential construction is still below its pre-crisis peak.”

In Bergen County, the median price of a single-family home dropped 8.6 percent in January from a year earlier, to $425,000. In Passaic County, the median dropped 1.8 percent, to $275,000. Those numbers are from the New Jersey Realtors and reflect the mix of properties sold in the month; Case-Shiller does not track prices on a county-by-county basis.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/north-jersey-home-prices-rise-still-less-than-national-average-1.1299472

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NJ construction employment on the rise

highdensity housing

MARCH 31, 2015    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY HUGH R. MORLEY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

* Multifamily housing, warehouse construction put 7,900 more on payrolls so far this year

The recovering New Jersey housing sector and a surge in warehouse projects has helped spark a dramatic increase in construction employment around the state, which last year added the most construction jobs in a decade.

The increase of 10,000 jobs in the sector in 2014, up 7.5 percent, far outstripped the 1 percent increase in all jobs over the period, figures from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development show.

And the addition of 7,900 construction jobs in January and February show the increase continuing into 2015.

Increased construction in the multifamily sector, particularly along the Gold Coast, the Hudson River waterfront from Jersey City to Fort Lee, is a key driver in the construction employment hike, said builders and economists.

“It’s getting more and more healthy each year, without question,” said George Vallone, principal of Hoboken Brownstone Co. and president of the New Jersey Builders Association, a Hamilton-based trade group. “And if you are in a particular sector, which is the multifam section on the Gold Coast — it’s blazing hot.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/building-surge-adds-jobs-1.1299296

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Stuck on Stupid :N.J. economy not generating big bucks in state budget, lawmakers told

stooges

stooges

Stuck on Stupid :N.J. economy not generating big bucks in state budget, lawmakers told
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

TRENTON — New Jersey’s mediocre economic recovery has the state Legislature’s financial analysts betting low on how much money the state will take in next year.

But that doesn’t mean there will be another big battle between the Legislature and Gov. Chris Christie’s office over revenue forecasts this year.

The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, known in recent years for offering a sobering take on the state’s tax collections that challenge the Christie administration’s more optimistic estimates, suggested there will be no such conflict this year.

“I am pleased that this year’s budget discussions will not feature a clash of conflicting revenue forecasts,” David Rosen, the Legislature’s budget and finance officer, told the state Assembly Budget Committee this morning. “The OLS believes the executive’s forecasts are reasonable.”

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/nj_economy_not_generating_big_bucks_state_budget_l.html#incart_river