Author Topic: Employment situation in your area? (Read 969 times)

Questor · « **on:** February 10, 2010, 04:42:04 AM »

Things are still very dicey here in Minneapolis. Some recovery is occurring but the job market is still soft for most decent jobs.

How are things in your area?

30-30man · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2010, 04:59:45 AM »

The press in our area is down playing the unemployment situation. They say there are no shortages. The fact is there are plenty of jobs if you're willing to work for $7.25/hour. The good playing "living wage" jobs are gone. Minimum wage is the norm now for most folks. There's not enough incentive to go back to work for most folks. That is why our state is going broke paying unemployment.

I have two helpers on my farm that I try to pay them a living wage, so I don't have to train new people every other year. I look at it as buying loyalty and I try to take care of them. I provide medical,dental, and even a retirement. I have never had any problems with them coming to work or stealing as I have had the same two guys for over 10 years. I've had tough weeks that I could not meet payrole, but they always let me catch up the next week or so. I never laid any of them off. I can't see why coorporate America won't understand that if you take care of employees, they take care of you even in the tough times.

Graybeard · « **Reply #2 on:** February 10, 2010, 05:10:25 AM »

I've been unemployed for about 15 years now and LOVING IT. Faye lost her job about the same time I did mine. So all three of us here are unemployed. Of course that changes in June when the blueberry crop is ready and for me a bit prior to that getting the orchard ready.

I really don't know what the local situation is as we've all been out of the work force far too long to be out looking. I do know that there seems to be no shortage of folks at the stores buying stuff any time we are in town. There are three Walmart supercenters in my county and one just barely across the county line in the next county over closest to me. You have a hard time finding a place to park in their lots so someone obviously has money to spend.

yellowtail3 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 10, 2010, 05:30:26 AM »

owning wealth-producing property is not equivalent to being unemployed, though it makes for a good line.

slim rem 7 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 10, 2010, 05:38:20 AM »

here where i live in stanley county n.c. . we have the full spectrum..
the other day a fella that had seemed distraught the day before,,was in good spirits.. he had decided to solve the family feeding problem with his 22 rifle..he was going hunting .. hunting season is over for many things.. but im thinking unless its a skunk.. whatever he finds ,was supper that night..
don t blame him a bit.. at least hes solving his immediate problem.. rather than setting around depressed.
jmo slim

rio grande · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2010, 05:42:40 AM »

Very rough in Houston.
Good paying jobs in manufacturing are scarce. Lots of folks laid off and pay cuts. Hard to get any overtime.
Graybeard says folks are still buying, and some do (I suspect it's folks working for the government

, but people who actually have to work for a living have all cut back severely on non-essentials.
Ran into an old friend...he told me he skipped the big gun show due to 'obamanomics'. Unheard of, if you know this guy!
Me too. Good thing is I can have just as much if not more fun shooting $50 guns as I can have shooting $500 guns!

True about minimum wage and part-time being the new standard. A shame.
And, if your job hasn't been sent out of the country, somebody from out of the country shows up to take your job here.
Why is the government still ignoring the border and the illegals here, and allowing mass legal immigration and giving out worker visas (H1B?)

??

Dances with Geoducks · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2010, 05:43:56 AM »

Even tho the news says we have less unemployment than the national average.
My county is at 14%.

dukkillr · « **Reply #7 on:** February 10, 2010, 05:44:04 AM »

The Greater Kansas City area has about 8% unemployment and outside of the residential construction market, I don't really know anyone struggling. People have lost their jobs, but people have always lost their jobs... The Kansas side of the city has done a fantastic job of bringing development and jobs into the area.

GH1 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 10, 2010, 12:40:07 PM »

Here in the Memphis, TN area it's right around 10%.
GH1

Foxxtrot · « **Reply #9 on:** February 10, 2010, 01:11:33 PM »

awful. South Carolina is much worse off than I had thought. Haven't worked except part time stuff since we moved from Omaha to Vermont. Now Vermont to South Carolina. At least it is cheaper to live well here and less govt in our faces. People are friendly and willing to help you find a bit of work. Vermonters (Burlington) could care less if your were face down in the gutter.

June 2007 was the last month I worked full time.

Slowhanddd · « **Reply #10 on:** February 10, 2010, 01:23:06 PM »

Here in Wichita,Ks.,thanks to your President,they've laid off more than 20,000 + aircraft workers.That's a chunk.Not too many minimum wage jobs to be had either.It's really hurt my service business.I do water well pump repair and sprinkler systems.I get several calls a week looking for jobs.I also get several calls wanting help to fix their pumps on the house wells.They don't have the money to have me come out and I try to help them by giving them some things to check.I understand the lack of money,but I need the work too.I hope that me helping them they'll remember that when times get better????Slow

teamnelson · « **Reply #11 on:** February 10, 2010, 01:39:40 PM »

Quote from: slim rem 7 on February 10, 2010, 05:38:20 AM

the other day a fella that had seemed distraught the day before,,was in good spirits.. he had decided to solve the family feeding problem with his 22 rifle..he was going hunting .. hunting season is over for many things.. but im thinking unless its a skunk.. whatever he finds ,was supper that night..
don t blame him a bit.. at least hes solving his immediate problem.. rather than setting around depressed.
jmo slim

There's a good idea going unattended ... extend the hunting seasons, or open up small game for subsistence hunting while we're in a recession.

Don't come to hawaii for a job folks. The minimum wage jobs are all filled by folks who had much better jobs last year. And its not getting better.

Brett · « **Reply #12 on:** February 10, 2010, 03:25:57 PM »

December "unadjusted" unemployment rate was 12.9% in Stanley County, NC

This doesn't count those who like myself are underemployed or just plain given up.

leesecw · « **Reply #13 on:** February 10, 2010, 04:20:40 PM »

Absolutely stinks here in Michigan

Savage_99 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 10, 2010, 04:51:42 PM »

Business is terrible. There are no jobs at all. A city near here 'was' known as the Hardware City of the World. Most all of its companies are gone. They used to make everything.

If we ever had a war now like WW2 we could never make the gear like we did then.

Cabin4 · « **Reply #15 on:** February 10, 2010, 05:34:00 PM »

Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley) 11.2% as of Dec 2009. The high tech sector is still hurting bad. 2 years ago in was in the 4% range. Thanks to the threats of the obama administration on cap & tax and other corporate tax increase threats, corporations are looking to off-shore jobs to protect their bottom line just in case.

Foxxtrot · « **Reply #16 on:** February 11, 2010, 04:49:54 AM »

Buddy of mine in Charlotte NC said they let go of an entire section (90 jobs) and they could reapply for 10, everything else is going to India. Another section gets it next week. Bad times for American workers if there is labor overseas that can do it cheaper, speaks ok english, doesn't get benefits, and will work longer hours. With technology comes a interactive workforce on the other side of the globe. Then you have low end immigrant labor right here taking away jobs from US citizens looking for work just to survive. Attacked from two sides and another attack by technology.

Love new technology, but it has happened from both sides of the salary spectrum. Machines are doing alot more jobs and clearing away sectors of people in labor intensive jobs/technology based work/farm labor/medicine.

I would hate to see the day when we have five crane sized robots framing up houses and finishing roofs.

Questor · « **Reply #17 on:** February 11, 2010, 04:56:31 AM »

Foxxtrot:

Bad news about the construction question. They essentially do it that way in Japan now. A lot of the new houses are pre-fab at a factory, including most of the finishing, and are assembled in a matter of hours on site.

oldandslow · « **Reply #18 on:** February 11, 2010, 05:10:47 AM »

We were at 8.4% in this county late last year, the highest in the state, due to the drastic fall in oil prices. Thing in the oil field had already slowed down before tha due to aa thing called the "pit rule" that drastically increased the cost of drilling a well. There has been a little uptick in activity in the last few weeks and the last report was 8% for the county.

Foxxtrot · « **Reply #19 on:** February 11, 2010, 05:13:16 AM »

This Recession/Depression is having a vastly stronger effect on men in the workforce compared to women. I haven't seen the latest numbers, but from what I have read it is a much higher percentage of men outta work. Education is key and we as a nation have drop the white and black young men off the cliff in terms of higher education. I believe the last few years women have broken the 50% barrier of college attendees.

I then wonder what percentage of NON US born are accepted to college before a US born male gets accepted???

bearmgc · « **Reply #20 on:** February 11, 2010, 07:49:20 AM »

Its hard to tell in Wyoming. I think the rate now is about 7%. While oil wells are being capped, leases going unused, jobs are lost there, the natural gas industry is currently booming. Problem with oil is that certain multi national corporations have leases in prime areas that they're not using. I wish there was a 5 yr cap on leases, either use them or give them back for another company to bid on. Still alot of white collar jobs available, but the price of housing has held high. As you know, in Wyoming, white collar job does not always equate to high salaries.

Sourdough · « **Reply #21 on:** February 11, 2010, 10:05:00 AM »

I'm out of the work force myself, but our area has not been affected. The biggest employer in the Fairbanks area is the Federal Government. US Army, US Air Force, BLM, US Fish & Wildlife, Park Service, FAA, USGS, and US Dept Of Agriculture. Then comes the State Government. Then the oil Companies, and the Mineing industry.

In fact a lot of the workers at the new Gold Mine near Delta are from places like Kentucky, and commute, back and forth. They are doing like so many of the oil workers on the north slope, work six weeks on then two weeks off.

Then every summer the construction companies bring 100s of workers up from the lower 48 for the building season. They bring the same workers up year after year. We also have a big mining project opening up in about two years. Alaska will not be able to provide all the work force they will be needing to make preperations for opening that big project. For info Google "Pebble Partnership".

30-30man · « **Reply #22 on:** February 11, 2010, 11:12:43 AM »

Quote from: Foxxtrot on February 10, 2010, 01:11:33 PM

awful. South Carolina is much worse off than I had thought. Haven't worked except part time stuff since we moved from Omaha to Vermont. Now Vermont to South Carolina. At least it is cheaper to live well here and less govt in our faces. People are friendly and willing to help you find a bit of work. Vermonters (Burlington) could care less if your were face down in the gutter.

June 2007 was the last month I worked full time.

Glad you like it here...It is one of the best places in the South. We don't mind Yankees coming down; we welcome it. We just don't want them to try to change things..For that you might be called one of those D$%MN Yankees and not wanted ...Go with the flow and you'll be talking Southernese before you know it.

Foxxtrot · « **Reply #23 on:** February 11, 2010, 01:31:17 PM »

Hate to break it to you but I am from Southern Missouri (Warrensburg). I saw more battle flags flying there than I do here in SC. Lived in SC for six years before and I am well versed with Southern culture and mountain folk.
Just because I spent one year in VT doesn't mean I am some socialist tree hugging libtard that loves to dream about a world in which we all live on the govt tit in some commune. Most of the hillbilly folk up there are just like here, but there are fewer of them and you rarely see them unless you ask for permission to hunt there land. Lived all over like Treadwell Ny, Dallas & Houston TX, OKC, Wildwood MO, Charleston SC, Omaha NE and Seneca SC. SC is the best place on earth and if secession were to occur again, you can bet your last dollar I would be running some blue line with an AR15 shooting at blue helmets. You are correct about Yankees trying to change the south ....look at Charleston SC. Damn place doesn't seem like it did and I lived there just a few years ago. Sprawl and congestion with lots of people without the fine southern talk. My father worked as a construction foreman for Turner and they shipped him all over, but mainly in the south.

a4beltfed2000 · « **Reply #24 on:** February 11, 2010, 01:55:19 PM »

9% unemployement rate in LAcrosse wisconsin, no construction per say other than ft mccoy (army base)remodeling jobs/ commerical construction is dead in the water. Manufacturing is all but dead. Haven't worked full time in a year. major manufacturing jobs are being closed, several hundrend welders out of work. Barge work comming up in spring, so welding work there if you don't mind hanging off the side of a boat and gone 5 days aweek.....