Jobs and jobless numbers

Why don't we actually see the 2 go hand in hand? The jobless rate is going down, but it's still hard for folks to find employment. I know people with advanced degrees and they aren't getting picked up for the job force. I know people that have been sending out resumes for months and not even a call back or they hear the best line ever "We love your talents, but right now we don't have the budget for it.". When are we going to see the local turn around in the economy? I listened to a report yesterday that talked about the uptick in productivity among American workers and the profits that businesses are seeing from that productivity. That is a bad sign for the people looking for work. The businesses still don't have the incentive to hire. So my take on the downturn of jobless claims is that people are simply not filing for unemployment or they're already out of unemployment benefits. Just like the price of gas spiking when the price of a barrel of oil goes up, when the two have little to do with each other. Society has built itself up on a culture of fear and has allowed all of us to fall in line and take what's being dished out. It's a sad time. I'll end this on a good note. For those of you that are still out there looking for work, I'm rooting for you and if it brings any consolation...the numbers are looking better. As always, feel free to comment. Have a HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

Why job growth is slow

I'm not going to make this long I just want to give a real plain and common sense view as to why the economy isn't growing the way people would like it to. It's a very simple reason. Businesses are making the same or even greater profits with their current workforces. They are meeting and beating their numbers from the economic boom times. From a business perspective they have no real incentive to hire anyone else. Why pick up an 11th person when you have 10 doing the job just fine. All that an extra person adds is another benefits package to manage and what company wants to do that? NONE. People need to realize that businesses are in the business of making money, not being altruistic. They are not out to better society, they're there to sell a product and to keep the shareholders happy. With that focus in mind it's for the rest of society to realize that no matter what happens, until businesses have a compelling incentive to hire they will continue with business as usual. Any thoughts? Feel free to comment.

Politics

Some of you that know me know that I like to follow politics as best I can understand. I was listening to the radio today and there were a few reports that really struck me. One was on the economy and the other was on the whether or not President Obama was really helping out black people in America. (Note: this post may be a little more racially and politically charged than usual so if you think it may be too much for you please feel free to stop reading now.)

First, I've heard numerous news outlets talking about how the economy is bouncing back and recoveries are starting to happen, but I think a larger problem is looming. We have banks that were "too big to fail", but now they're even bigger and even less likely to lend to common people. That's one issue, that's honestly outside of my understanding but I thought it was noteworthy. The real issue I want to talk about is the job market. With tens of thousands of people laid off every couple of weeks so it seems, I wonder why people think that all of the "new poor" - people who were middle class, but got laid off and have been out of work for 9-12 months - will be able to find new jobs? What I mean by this is that companies today are only after one thing, profit. So my question is why would they hire on new workers if they are still turning the same or possibly more profit with a reduced staff? It doesn't seem likely that they will try to hire droves of people just because the economy is turning around. Does it seem likely to you? I don't really see it happening and unfortunately good people were laid off, will get laid off and fewer and fewer people will get hired. That would be my prediction and Lord knows I hope I'm wrong, but my logical mind tells me that these companies will keep making money, people will keep losing jobs and the gap between poor and rich will continue to grow and the middle class will continue to shrink and become less and less important in this society. It's not looking good but I hope that things become more idealic like the world that was promised to us in campaigns and commercials, but maybe I'm hopelessly hoping for a world that is far gone, or never existed at all. Until people care for other people, issues like this will more than likely remain an issue and have less of a chance of ever being resolved. I'll finish this post in a second part. Take care.