How's the economy in your area /job market?

[butterfly77]

Your president says it is wonderful, thats what he falls back on when someone asks about Iraq. Is he correct?

[Sammy Pepys]

1. My area is not a good area to poll.....

Would definitely skew the employment/income data upwards.

[Ksec]

9. lousy. The suffering index is high

Of course Im in a blue collar area that used to be the steel capital of the world , and thats pretty much a bust. I have a few freinds who still work in steel mills and its a different animal today. They get laid off for 4 months, go back for a month of 7 - 12's and then the cycle goes on . The good brickyard jobs are gone. The potteries are closing up. All we have left out of a dozen or so potteries is the Homer Laughlin China company that got lucky with Fiesta ware. Once that dies off its gone also. Everything has gone to China. All the jobs lost out to cheap labor countries and backstabbing industries who took their factories overseas and THEN ship those products BACK to sell to the same Americans they fked. So manybe you can see why Im bitter towards US corporations. They have become the enemy of most people round here.

[nickinSTL]

2. He's wrong about my area

I know several people who have had lengthy periods of unemployment (mostly IT people) the last 5 years, and we got hit hard by the latest round of plant closings by Ford.

[MUAD_DIB]

3. My parents who were born into the great depression

know that there is something out of wack with the economy.

They know it is sick. They are well off, but they are not blind to how weak they feel that the economy really is.

[butterfly77]

19. Bush and his crew playing with the numbers...

or statistics

[blindpig]

4. Upstate SC: Sucks out loud.

Unemployment said to be 6 1/2%, probably really about 8%. Housing is slowing. Small business people I talk to all have the blues unless they cater to the rich.

I believe that economic populism, a bit of the New Deal, would go a long way around here.

[raccoon]

34. You beat me to the punch. I'd add that we've lost a lot of textile

jobs (and some others) in the recent past.

[lrrys]

5. Just opened a second location

My first business is in Kingwood, Texas. Second location is across Lake Houston, in Huffman, outside of Houston.

Just opened a second location (in the bar business). We've been open
6 days and are operating about 1/2 way to break even (we need to sell $300.00 per day to pay salaries and all the other bills). So, I suppose that's good news. Bad news is, I opened the second location because business at the first has been flat for the past year.
High gas prices have caused many of my customers to reduce the number of times they stop by. My big problem right now is, I can't find anyone willing to work for minimum wage, plus tips, in a small operation like mine. A bartender working for me will make about $400.00 to $500.00 per week, while at the big bars in Houston they will earn 2-3 times that much. I hear from alot of customers(small business owners) that they have plenty of work, but can't find people to work at the wage they can afford to pay and still make a profit. I read that Houston has 6 per cent unemployment and a ton of Katrina victims also looking for work.....but then these same people are passing up work that's offered....it's weird!

[cap]

17. let's start with your working conditions

and you wont find it so weird... Hard to find anyone who wants to work at the minimum wage plus tips in a slow restaurant (aka no customers = no tips). You dont offer health benefits either. The only people who can live on your salaries will be doubling up with room-mates or illegals living in cars. So the Katrina folks who may be covered by Medicaid are faced with the choice of giving up Medicaid. Target or Walmart pays better than the minimum wage so people will choose to work for them instead of depending on your slow traffic. Still no health insurance but the wage paid by the big box stores is better than yours.

The Katrina folk wont be working at the big bars in Houston; they want cute young yuppie types to wait on their customer, not inner city folk.

[OhioBlue]

18. most bar owners I know

(on a small scale) have to work at their business long hours to make it a go. They can't afford to pay much in payroll either - that's why they take a lot of the hours behind the bar. A lot of small businesses esp. retail or service seem to be that way. It takes a while to build it into a profitable business and the most successful ones that I know have the owner and family members that work a lot of the hours. The labor market is also supply/demand you have to figure out what the balance is. A job such as this is usually more attractive as a second job or for a college student - good luck. A small business takes a lot of "hard work" - you have to be willing to marry yourself to it for a few years.

[Roland99]

6. Humana gained a lot of jobs with the rollout of the Medicare Drug program.

Otherwise, it's really neither hot nor cold.

[MADem]

7. The MA rate is between 4.6-4.9%

But I know quite a few discouraged jobseekers who have dropped off the rolls. It ain't that great here, and the population as a percentage of the total in the nation has dropped over the years.

[butterfly77]

22. Thats the way bush and the republican controlled congress likes it...

they also don't like to give extensions on unemployment benefits. They also like to go on talk shows spouting off about the good economy.They are slowly easing off of their talk about the housing boom. They usually talk about how many minorities are homeowners and as we know there is also something wrong with those numbers if you look deeper into it.

[trof]

8. Number is good, pay sucks.

Unless you're in construction.
(Rebuilding from Ivan, Katrina, and the booming beach condo construction)
The largest number of jobs are low paying in hospitality.
Waiters, housekeepers, etc.
We're a beach-vacation-tourist area.

Workers are bussed in from the northern part of the county, about 50 miles away, and from Mississippi.
There is no affordable housing for them here.

[DetroitProle]

10. HAHA DETROIT??

What job market?
This has been going on for a long time though, we're sinking faaaaaaaast.

[colorado thinker]

11. Hmmmm

The state budget is in shambles but improving since we got rid of TABOR for now, maybe we'll be able to pay for cops and firefighters again.

They say everything is rosy, but there are for sale signs up all over the neighborhood, housing sales are taking longer and longer to accomplish, pothole and weed control went bad last year; not as many snowplows and/or not plowing as frequently as in the past.

My company keeps telling us "we're profitable" but they are laying people off all over the country and consolidating functions here at headquarters. More work, same number of people on this end. Plus, they are getting more and more difficult to please; went so far as to give a mandatory showing of "Who moved my cheese" a couple of weeks ago. In other words, take it and be happy. I know that is happening everywhere, but if we are profitable, why screw with success in these difficult economic times? Oh, wait, they are either LYING or are falling short of the perpetual growth all American corporations feel they need to meet each year!

Does it make sense to think American corporate profits can continue to reach 20% growth goals, year after year, to infinity and beyond? Isn't there a law of economics (or physics) that says that is impossible?

[ceile]

12. There are jobs, but the pay sucks.

I've been looking for over a year (I am currently employed) for something better paying and it is NOT out there. I can't pay my bills with what I make and I've fallen way behind. So far, that collectors are coming to my house, calling my landlord and my place of employment.
Austin has about 4.3% umeployment (9/1/05: was the last # I could find)

[TX-RAT]

13. Ours is great, we're screaming for workers.

But then i do live in the middle of the Permian Basin. Housing boom is on. Oilfield jobs are booming.

[ceile]

15. Midland area?

I've heard the economy there is humming along.

[Ksec]

14. were being punished for our pro Union steadfastness

Most of the guys who had no choice relocated south. I was lucky enough to have something to fall back on and I tried the southern migration. No thanks.

[0007]

16. Five million persons were put to work in last few years?

How many lost their jobs?

There is employment here in Midland, if ya know how to flip a burger or dress out a pizza. Or drive a truck.

[leftofthedial]

20. I apply for five to ten jobs per week. I haven't had so much as

an interview in over a year.

The only jobs that are available are ones I'm overqualified for at 25% to 33% of my former salary (or less).

[Blue Diadem]

21. 1,000 applicants for scab jobs if the city paper goes on strike

should give you an idea of how the Toledo area is doing. Granted the pay was high (more than most of the actual workers make) but the jobs would only be temporary and only happen if the Unions strike.

Ohio also ranked #1 IIRC for foreclosures. I live in a rural county and I'm tired of seeing pages of people's homes going up for Sheriff's sale.

[butterfly77]

25. I wonder how the job market is in W. Virginia/

With all of that yahooing going on for bushit, you would think everything is wonderful in this country.

[Blue Diadem]

28. It was pretty obvious he could only handle unscripted questions

for a short period. I think they were afraid he'd lose it so they had to take him someplace easy today.

I wonder about W.Virginia's economy too..although I'm betting the selected audience today was all doing well.

[sheelz]

29. Western NY is so bad we don't even have

scab jobs. It's really sickening when the economy is so horrible that people have to scab to eat. We don't have that problem here, companies here close down to bust the union. They reopen under a slightly different name and hire through labor ready.

[Blue Diadem]

30. They've done a good job of busting unions around here too

I think that's what the paper is attempting to do. They've also threatened to sell the paper if the Union gives them a hard time.

[sheelz]

31. Do the workers there support their Union?

Here they don't. About 3-4 people show up for our union meetings.

[Blue Diadem]

32. My son tells me that very few show up at his

but they still have a good strong Union. He's an operating engineer. He's been encouraging his co-workers to attend the meetings to keep up on things and be more involved.

My husband could only find non-union work after 30 yrs of being in the UAW. He went through 2 plant closings. The 2nd place closed because it was the only Union plant and the Union had voted down a wage cut. That was a few years ago and now we hear that company is going bankrupt. It took my husband almost a full year to even find employment. He's made unilateral job changes since then but he's still only able to find work making 2/3 of his previous income.

There are a lot of people in our area that are anti-union. My Dad is probably rolling over in his grave over the way things have gone. He fought for Unions way back..

[Tracer]

23. On a personal level, not too bad.

I work for myself and my $ numbers are the same as usual.

Son and DIL both work at good jobs and make more than 6 figures between them.

Daughter recently employed at a high-tech firm (which is doing quite a bit of hiring) at a pretty decent salary.

I really can't extrapolate these anecdotes to a larger segment of the MA population.

[PBass]

24. Economy is good if you are already rich...

then you bought a home or bought real estate recently.

In Brooklyn, unemployment among young black males is roughly 50%.

(insert GOP talking point here about moving to where the jobs are, no self-initiative, don't want to work etc).

[cap]

39. better not extrapolate them too much for MA

because there's a lot of foreclosures in B-Town....a lot of people are getting unemployed and not making their mortgage payment...

[converted_democrat]

26. It's bad in this area..

We own our own business, so we are making it, but I know many that aren't.. The only jobs out there are minimum wage, and less than full time hours.. I live in a nice area, up until a little over a year ago we had no homeless in our area.. Now the park is full of cars, where families camp out at night.. We had a neighbor die from a heart attack because he had just lost his health insurance, and didn't want to lose everything he'd worked for all his life over one ER visit.. We have an elderly couple that lives a couple streets over that are on the brink of losing everything, but my hubby gives the man "work" so they don't come up short at the end of the month.. It's a sad situation, and it's only getting worse.. My hubby and I do as much as we can for the people of our community, and I know many of our friends that are doing the same, but it's not nearly enough..

[raccoon]

35. Where are you? nt

[converted_democrat]

36. Central Florida, on the west side of the state..n/t

[spinbaby]

27. He said it was wonderful?

Really? He said this in Wheeling? Did he SEE Wheeling?

[Saphire]

33. It's great...if you don't mind working for min. wage ($5.15 per hr).

[napi21]

37. As much as most say Atlanta is booming, there were 8,000 apps.

of people looking to get one of the 500 jobs at a new Walmart that just opened in Atlanta. That seems to indicate things aren't too great, don't ya think?

[OhioChick]

38. The economy

sucks ass here in the Cleveland area.

[RB TexLa]

40. everything seems fine here in North Dallas n/t