Where jobs still are in a bleak market

Really? I live in the south. Have over 25 years experience in financial management in healthcare, including executive level experience. I’ve been looking over a year. But then I am over 50.

How is it that managers and executives, people who basically tell people what to do rather than do it themselves, and who have the least useful set of skills are more in demand than the people who carry out the actual work? Why should they make so much more money?? If they would share the wealth, they could afford to hire more people. Its their selfishness and their undeserved sense of entitlement that is putting so many people in desperate situations. As soon as enough people realize this, they will have hell to pay

small businesses with minimal start up cost, prices that are less than corporate or big companies could be a solution for some of us. some of us have talent, skills, strength and desire to work, create, produce. i may be next to get laid off from a big company, and if i do will you buy my chilirellenos or let me find you renters for that house you should not sell in this housing market. essentially i presently at age 50 continue to take classes and take very seriously the prospect of reinventing myself. hey it’s day to day, in most countries, we need to get a clue.

Where are the jobs jobs? Not healthcare, at least not in the Northeast. I graduated from nursing school 9 months ago, and I’m still looking for my first job. I got a job at a nursing home, but it was cancelled.

Lots of hospitals are laying people off or imposing hiring freezes. A hospital near me is closing all inpatient units.

What about the little ppl? I lost my job last week due to cut backs. I worked in a golf resort as hostess in the country club. My job was eliminated. Even though my duties were far more than “greet and seat”, how does one find a similar job that pays more than minimum wage? Especially if you live in a small town.

As a stockholder, I find it deplorable that companies are cutting costs only at the bottom. If labor cost savings is your goal then the company could achieve the same with less at the top. And yes, management is STILL labor on the balance sheet. Flattening management structure and implementing self directed work teams are two ways of achieving this and yet no board is holding executive feet to the fire over this issue. This highlights the true source of the problem, corporate governance is a fantasy. Employees and stock owners alike are being mugged by corporate executives.

Unfortunately the largest % of new jobs created, maybe all of them, will disappear within two years at the most
as the current credit bubble implodes.
There is no fix this time. The elite and powerful have outdone themselves. The only solution to insure the existence of America as we know it lies in the private sector as a collective. A continued, discouraged private sector spells disaster for the immediate and long term. The fact is not one the many fundamental flaws at the root of this debacle has been addressed in the main stream. Ill gotten wealth begets ill, ill gotten power begets ill, and always at the expense of those they consider to be nothing more than steaks on (their) table. They, of course, have accomplished it by having been successful in establishing societal class systemHow this major catastrophe could have happened must be preceded by the question of why it happened. The most pressing ‘why’ question might be….’How does it feel, to be on your own. Now you know how it feels to be on your own. You are truly there right now. Like it? I think not. Everywhere you turn there is discussion (rhetoric) on the topic. There have been NO workable answers put forth in main stream media. I wonder who controls them?

I agree with J. Miset from Portland,the greedy in this country have sold us out by sending jobs over the border for lower wages. I think a revolution needs to take place in this country. We are becoming too dependent on the government to fix it all. We need to demand to be heard. We need unity. United we stand, divided we fall. We are on a slow course to becoming a government controlled country, we are losing our voice.

First, thanks for the article.

Second, as the owner of a niche job board (www.bigshoesnetwork.com) for advertising, marketing, and public relations professionals, I can tell you that things are picking up a bit. But not in ways professionals may be ready for. We’re seeing an increasing in part-time jobs. Thus, a professional may have to string together two or three of these job openings.

Third, if professionals are open to it, this might be an opportunity to try out new industries, stretch their wings a bit. Re-energize. Discover something new about themselves. It may not be for everybody, but I think this might be the future for certain occupations. We work for multiple employers to fit our schedule, lifestyle, etc.

Best wishes,

I think this is a VERY good article. I think many of the posters on here are upset because they are the ones losing jobs or can’t find one. The media has a way of making facts reality and most people don’t actually LOOK at the numbers themselves. From an economic standpoint it is crucial and important that their are still jobs available. Yes, I support this articles because the more intelligent you are the more likely you are to survive and out compete others. We do need executives and brilliant minds, regardless. Our education is failing and that’s a compliment. I still think our children should be going to school 6 days a week and have longer school years. As for the bitter people who are losing manufacturing jobs…..you should have stayed in school no matter how difficult it was and spent the endless hours of studying and tutoring you needed. Quit complaining because you’re not at the top. Thanks for the article Annie!

I was selling banking technology and got laid off in Jan 07, I have had 3 jobs since then, all low pay and I am finding age descrimination in hiring is rampid. I think things across the board are far worse than we read. Remember FDR, the only thing we have to fear speech? They have to keep it positive. I am selling my house and moving to an apartment close to my retail part time job and letting my car go. I had no money in the market, but because my aged parents lost it all, they are selling my house.
But I am looking forward to living alone for the first time in years, riding a bike again, keeping it real simple and helping others when I can.
We will get out of this, but the old road map won’t do it, every day I see all this stuff around me that we bought as a nation, none of it made here, what were we thinking? Lets make stuff. We do food in this country, yes? Lets make the best food, Lets save money, lets love each other.

Okay, let me say this again (I already said it below, if you’d care to look…): The job market right now, and for some time now, is composed of executives (who still have job opportunities) and everybody else (the people whose jobs the executives have eliminated). This particular article is about the EXECUTIVE job market — and it goes without saying that they do not lay themselves off or ship their own jobs overseas. And it’s a pity they don’t…

I find the article can be substituted for the old quip: “How can you tell the difference between a recession and a depression? A: A recession is when the guy next door gets laid off, a depression is when YOU get laid off.” So what I gleaned from the article is that the best jobs to go for are: bankruptcy attorney, interviewer, resume writer, or writer for a financial magazine that only (out of work) white-color management could pay for. No mention of amount of jobs still going overseas. No mention of discouraged workers. No mention of survival techniques for targeted audience. Afraid writer got paid for story, but missed mark.

My company laid off all its employees in June 08 before things got really bad. I had just come back from a one months vacation to no job. I was unemployed for 3 months and found a job in September as things were going awry.

I think I got really lucky, because the company started a hiring freeze two weeks after i joined.

Don’t apply for a job. Create a job. Research businesses and industries sectors problems in your area and develop ideas for solutions. Call executives and managers at these businesses and indutries and ask to meet with them over coffee or lunch by telling them you understand they have some specific challenges and you have possible solutions and ideas you would like to discuss with them. This will set you above the others looking for a job. Takes a little more time, but it works.

I did this during the last down market and created a job that was not at the company I ended up working for. Every business has challenges and is looking for proactive, createive people to solve them in good times and bad. Internet and local library resources can be used to identify names of executives and managers for you to contact.

The key to your argument is “lower wage workers”: For quite some time now (almost a year), we have had in effect two different job markets — the high end (executives), where there is still some demand, and everybody else (where jobs are disappearing relentlessly and permanently). Could this be in part because the high end is making all the decisions, or is that just a coincidence?

WILL YOU PLEASE GET REAL FOR ONCE. All the flowery writeup in these articles simply diverts from REALITY. This has been the major problem all along – running away or not facing reality head on. No wonder nothing is getting REALLY fixed. Face it folks – you know and I know the job market has collapsed. The only way ALL of us who seek a real job is when all those other job opportunities we once had in America come back to America from all those places outside of America they fled to in the first place in search of lower wage workers ! This topic is being brushed aside or avoided. It’s nice to dream in these articles we read but unfortunately dreaming is not reality !

Jobs will be there but a salary cut is inevitable.

If the salary remains the same, dollar value will erode, leading to the same eventuality – people working more for less

Why cater to the top end of the job market? The low and middle end is where most of the JOB loss is. As I see it (I’m semi-retired), you’re probably right on the top end. The Middle and bottom end, need to not look for a JOB, but a Business Opportunity. in 1900, 95 percent of America owned business’s, by 1960 that dwindled to about 5 percent. How come? Industry! Prior, every one were Farmers or such. Now, Industry has put most of business out of the market. There are still some home based business out there that can be built in to Million Dollar businesses. Why not do an article on that to help the majority of people who are unemployed today?

Every article I see somewhere includes that boomers will be retiring soon. But other than government employees why would they retire? So many people got hammered in their 401K’s or like me got laid off, ran through their retirement funds and never recovered. When I do retire what pensions I have are tied to Fortune 500 companies that are in a shaky state right now. I’ll be working until I’m 70+ once I do land on my feet. And I see lots of people walking around in the same shoes.

Many of those we know personally who have recently lost their jobs are having much difficulty finding new opportunities. Some have even been laid off of their new positions. One path some professionals can take is to freelance. There are numerous recruiting agencies that can help them find temporary placements.

Mike, I don’t know. The recruiters I’ve talked with seem to think it is possible that Q2 will be better, but most are setting their sights on the second half of the year. A lot seems to depend on whether credit loosens up; super-low interest rates haven’t seemed to encourage banks to lend, nor borrowers to want to take on (more) debt. As CT Partners CEO Brian Sullivan said during our interview, “CEOs at lots of companies are just frozen in their chairs, not making any decisions at all right now” — and, at least at some companies, that may include hiring decisions as well.

I lost my postion due to a downsize in December and am looking for a manager/director level postion in Corporate Finance. So far it has been frustrating. Of the 2-3 positions I have seen on job boards I have yet to secure and interview. Do you think hireing will pick up in Q2?

The optimism in pointing out that there are still jobs to be found adds a bit of a silver lining to the dark economic clouds overhead, however, announcements of layoffs have become a main feature of the daily news. The number of people I know personally who have a spouce that has recently become unemployed seems to far exceed the officially published unemployment figures. My sense of gloom is influenced as much those personal realities as by the news, however the statistics are tabulated.