General Electric Co plans to not only help the economy but also provide jobs for 5,000 U.S. military veterans. The company on Monday announced plans to hire those workers over the next five years while investing $580 million to expand its aviation footprint in the United States.

The company announced the plan just ahead of a four-day meeting in Washington geared at helping the country recover from the 2007-2009 recession.

Speaking of GE’s growth and support of veterans CEO Jeff Immelt said:

“We should have the confidence to act and to restore American competitiveness.”

News of the jobs comes as unemployment in January fell to 8.3 percent, the lowest number since 2009 thanks to 50,000 jobs being added back into the manufacturing sector. While 5,000 jobs is a nice gesture on the part of GE that still leaves nearly 23.8 million Americans out of work.

In 2012 alone GE will open three new U.S. aviation plants focused in llisville, Mississippi; Auburn, Alabama, and Dayton, Ohio. The world’s largest maker of jet engines will then hire new workers to staff all three of those plants. While GE trimmed headcount following the recession since 2009 they have hired 9,000 workers while continuing to expand their product lines and production output.

It’s a nice gesture on the part of GE but I have this sneaking suspicion that targeting vets is just a good marketing ploy for the company.

Do you think GE is trying to do right by U.S. Veterans or simply attempting to provide itself with some market spin based on the gesture?

General Electric To Hire 5,000 US Military Veterans is a post from: The Inquisitr

While a degree in architecture use to be one of the most sought after options for students thanks to the ability to make things and watch them grow into thriving businesses, homes and other buildings that dream for many graduating students is just that, a dream.

According to a recent study out of Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce students earning an Architectural degree or a degree in liberal arts and humanities are among some of the worst off.

The study finds that those degrees leave many recent graduates and industry workers without jobs, often at levels close to our higher than the national unemployment rate.

Research did not in this case explore the unemployment rates for those same jobs during an up economy.

Here are the studies findings:

• Worst degrees/jobless rates: Architecture (13.9%), the arts (11.1%), and the humanities (9.4%)

On a far more positive note the Health industry, jobs in Education (even if the pay is awful) and Agricultural and Natural Resources positions are fairing much better:

• Best: Health (5.4%), education (5.4%), and agriculture and natural resources (7%)

When examining the results one of the study’s authors is cynical about the future of jobs people tend to “love” noting:

“People keep telling kids to study what they love—but some loves are worth more than others.”

While the study seems to assert that a college degree for many people is a waste of money the researchers are quick to point out that the unemployment rate for high school graduates with no college experience is far higher at 22.9%.

Do you believe that “doing what you love” is still important in today’s economy or should college bound students focus more on industries where jobs are bountiful and will allow them to pay back the mounting college debts they incur during their college years?

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Architecture Students Having Worst Time Finding Jobs, Arts and Humanities Not Much Better [Study] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) suggested on the floor of the House of Representatives this week that bad decision making involving drugs is leaving people without jobs.

According to Reed:

“I have been back in my district, and we do town halls all the time … And what I’ve heard from small business owners across our district is that one of the main reasons that they cannot hire individuals is because they simply cannot pass a drug test.”

2011 has been marred by Republican lawmakers suggesting unemployed people are taking advantage of unemployment checks while indulging in recreational drug use. Lawmakers earlier in the year attempted to pass several jobless drug testing bills, all of which were met with public outrage and resistance from Democrats.

The largest problem faced by Republican lawmakers is a federal law that doesn’t allow states to deny unemployment benefits based on reasons not related to the circumstances of a former employee’s unemployment. It should be noted that 20 states do deny unemployment benefits if a drug-related firing has occurred.

On Tuesday Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a bill that gives states permission to drug test if they want, in the meantime Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has called the bill ridiculous.

While House Republicans have constantly stated that a large portion of the $160 billion spent on unemployment insurance in 2010 went to undeserving people they have provided zero percent proof to back up their claims.

The biggest republican soundbite? It’s something they just “hear about all the time” back in their districts. In fact Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) recently told an interviewer that he would hold a hearing on the topic to gather more information.

“I think we do need to get more data. That’s why I think letting the states make this decision isn’t imposing a set of requirements on them. They’ll be able to examine their own policies, and it’s going to be different in every state,” Camp said.

“What you don’t want to do is have somebody get to the final stages of applying for a job and then fail a drug test and then be denied their ability to work,” Camp continued. “So it’s really about making sure people are ready both for skill sets and available for the jobs that may come up. And states will be able to decide how to address that, whether it’s a screening, whether it’s assistance.”

In actuality a recent study has proven that less than 1 percent of local employer hires test positive for drug use.

The Republican attack on the unemployed has been classified by some groups as class warfare.

In the meantime the idea of drug testing isn’t without it’s merits if placed in the hands of employers. For instance many employers want to ensure that their workers do not injure other workers, themselves and customers which could lead to costly lawsuits.

In support of the Republican attack on the unemployed Dan Porter, director of Chemung Schuyler Steuben Workforce New York, a job training nonprofit recently launched a campaign called ”Think Again, Quit to Get Hired” in which his agency claims that nearly 50 percent of area workers fail pre-employment drug testing. It should be noted that Porter’s “study” only involved a very narrow set of employees.

In the meantime a government study titled the National Survey on Drug Use and Health for 2010 found that unemployed people were twice as likely to use drugs than full-time job holders. According to the study employed people use drugs 8.4% of the time while the unemployed use drugs 17.5% of the time.

Do you think the rights attack on the unemployed is yet another sign of the GOP’s attack on the lower class or a sensible way to control drug using unemployment benefit recipients.

GOP Wants Mandatory Drug Testing For Unemployed is a post from: The Inquisitr

The American Dream has been lost for almost half (41%) of Americans, according to a survey by Yahoo! Finance.

The figure may be shocking but it’s consistent with reality that 49 million Americans are living in poverty and unemployment rate at 16%. Confidence is also low with Americans not willing to take on debt, not confident to buy real estate properties, and spending less in general. Despite the unwillingness to spend, savings is also low compared to three years ago. It is not surprising then that 63% of Americans believe that the economy is getting worse, including 72% of those over the age of 55.

What’s scary though it the finding that 37% of adults have no retirement savings and 38% plan to live off Social Security.

All is not lost though as 53% of Americans between the ages of 18-34 still see America as the land of opportunity. About 45% of parent also believe that their kids will be better off than they are. There’s hope apparently.

How about you, how do you feel about the American Dream?

The American Dream Has Been Lost for 41% of Americans is a post from: The Inquisitr

Like the first few crocuses poking their little crocus-heads out of the ground after winter, it seems that there may be a few signs of a demonstrably improving economy in the United States. (Well, that analogy only really works if we’re talking about a God-forsaken ten-year long winter, but still.)

Americans are starting to up their discretionary spending, splashing out on non-necessities like Halloween candy. And today came news of a slight drop in unemployment claims, perhaps a sign of an improving jobs outlook for the US? The October jobs report from Uncle Sam is due out tomorrow, and while unemployment is expected to hold steady at a still depressing 9.1%, claims have fallen five out of the past six weeks, meaning that perhaps fewer Americans require unemployment benefits.

As expected, the sustained bump is being treated with cautious optimism- on one hand, the past few weeks have been a bright spot in an otherwise dismal year for job growth. On the other, Americans will have to wait and see if added jobs can keep up with population growth- a rate we’ll need 100,000 new jobs every month to sustain. The Washington Post spoke to an analyst about what the figures mean and speculated upon whether companies have cut back on cutbacks:

Should the gradual decline seen in recent weeks continue, this would mark an important sign” that the job market is improving, Peter Newland, an economist at Barclays Capital, said in a note to clients.

The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, fell to 404,500, the fifth drop in the past six weeks. The declines indicate that companies are laying off fewer workers.

The bright spot follows bleak revisions from the Fed on the US economic outlook for 2011 and 2012. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke commented yesterday that growth is likely to be “frustratingly slow” following the “sharply” revised predictions for 2011 and 2012.

[Image: Shutterstock]

Unemployment Benefits: Fewer Claims, Improving Economy? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Senate Republicans announced on Tuesday that they plan to filibuster President Obama’s “American Jobs Act” which aims to allow teachers to keep their jobs and extends federal unemployment benefits to nearly 5 million out of work Americans.

Speaking about the bill Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said not a single Republican will vote yes on the bill that would help put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work while rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.

With 60 votes needed and only 53- Senate seats held by Democrats the bill will likely fall short after a Republican filibuster.

Among the acts biggest goals was to create 2 million jobs while preventing 280,000 teachers from losing their employment. The American Jobs Act also aimed to extended Federally funded unemployment which was set to expire in January and which would leave nearly 5 million Americans without benefits as their state based unemployment insurance begins to run out.

The biggest part of the bill sets out to improve our crumbling infrastructure which includes highways, transit, airports, rail, bridges, ports, schools, energy and communications infrastructures. Over the last several decades the U.S. has watched as a once mighty infrastructure has fallen into disrepair.

The Act would also charge millionaires with a 5.6 percent surtax which Republicans are adamantly against supporting.

Do you think the American Jobs Act should be voted into law or does more need to be done with the proposal before it passes through all branches of the U.S. Government?

Republicans To Filibuster American Jobs Act Later Today is a post from: The Inquisitr

An estimated 6 million Americans will run out of unemployment benefits starting in January unless Congress acts swiftly to remedy the problem.

According to CNNMoney that benefits will run out for 1.8 million people in January and then quickly worsen in the coming months.

The President is attempting to quell the problem with the American Jobs Act which would extend the deadline to file for another year of benefits but the $447 billion bill isn’t expected to due well in Congress despite some bi-partisan support.

If the act doesn’t pass in it’s entirety there’s still the chance that President Obama will tack it on to another bill in order to have the measure passed before the end of the year.

Under current conditions unemployed people can receive federal benefits for 73 weeks after they have exhausted their 26 weeks of state benefits. If the extension on current federally subsidized benefits is allowed to expire people who lose their state benefits in January will not be able to apply for the benefits extension.

The lack of an extension will also hurt people who are already receiving federal funds by making it impossible for them to advance to the next “tier” of benefits.

Since going into effect in June 2008 emergency benefits from the Federal level has been extended or increased eight times. Some analysts have expected for some time now that the last 13-month extension would be the last.

Do you believe that unemployment benefits should be extended or should the Federal government close down the program after state benefits are used up on an individual basis.

6 Million American’s Could Lose Unemployment Benefits In January is a post from: The Inquisitr

Here’s a number that the current administration would like to stay hidden, a recent study of the US Census has found that 46.2 million American’s lived below the poverty line in 2010, a number equal to 15.1% of the population. That particular poverty line number compares to 43.6 million american’s who lived below the line in 2009, equal to 14.3% of the population.

The last time the poverty line reached current levels was in 1993, while 1983 hit slightly higher at 15.2% of the population.

Under current levels anyone making less than $22,314 for a family of four or $11,139 for a single person is considered below the poverty line.

Also falling in the United States was income for middle-class families who saw their median income level fall to $49,445. The study also revealed that people living in Mississippi have the lowest median income at $37,985, while residents of New Hampshire have the highest at $66,707.

Following a typical trend the south has the highest poverty rate, while the Northeast has more workers per capita.

Because of high unemployment and poverty level earnings the number of people without health insurance has also reached a new all time high of 49.9 million.

With a perfect storm of layoffs, union busting in Wisconsin and general uncertainty about the economy these numbers don’t really come as a surprise but they do highlight the problem we are having in our country as economic uncertainty remains at dangerous levels.

What do you think are contributing  factors for the poverty levels and the lack of health insurance we are experiencing in the United States?

US Census Study: 1 In 6 Americans Lived In Poverty During 2010 is a post from: The Inquisitr

The June jobs report has just been released and the numbers are not what we’d expect to see 2 years after experts said the recession ended. Employers added the fewest numbers of jobs in June than they had all year with a net jobs total of just 18,000 according to the Labor Department.

May numbers for net jobs were also revised and pushed down to just 25,000, bringing our total unemployment rate up to 9.2% overall.

The gloomy numbers come after businesses added an average of 215,000 jobs per month in the three months preceding May and June.

According to analysts the gloomy outcome of the last several months is partly to blame on high gas prices, a weak housing market and the Japan crisis which has cut off many supply chains for businesses.

The report also finds that the average hourly was declined last month with after-tax incomes when adjusted for inflation remaining flat this year.

9.2% Unemployment As Job Hiring Nears A Standstill is a post from: The Inquisitr

While the national unemployment rate currently hovers around 9.1% the number of African Americans without jobs has soared much higher.

According to a recent CBS News report unemployment among African Americans has reached a national average of 16.2% while black males are experiencing an even higher divide at 17.5% of the population currently without jobs.

While the national average offers a scary divide, NYC has experienced the worst of a weakened economy with 34% of black men from the ages of 19 to 24 currently unemployed and 42% of teens currently not working.

According to some job counselors a major issue in African American communities is the lack of marketable skills offered by high schools and a low number of college bound students within the community.

Racial Divide: U.S. Unemployment Rate Soars Among African Americans is a post from: The Inquisitr

Many have argued since it became clear the Great Recession was not a blip but the sum of an entire generation’s economic experience that entrepreneurship might just save America’s economy.

It makes sense, to some degree. The advent of the internet has made starting up and running a profitable business often virtually cost free. Of course, not all businesses can be net-based- but the argument is there to aggressively explore the option of becoming an entrepreneur to avoid long-term unemployment and the stagnation of college skills earned at a massive expense.

An Urban Entrepreneur Summit was held yesterday at Rutgers University’s Newark campus, to discuss these very issues. Newark is an interesting choice for such a discussion, as there is one particular word I- a former Newark resident- associate with that location. (Potential.) In the brief time I lived there, it astonished me that such low rents, large spaces and vibrant culture existed a seven minute Path Train ride from the West Village- yet everyone I knew was clamoring on waiting lists to get into apartments in Brooklyn at literally three times the monthly rent of an average space in Newark.

Uber-awesome Newark Mayor Cory Booker spoke to this issue at the summit:

“We believe urban markets are a gold mine,” Booker said. “They are places where people can create an enormous amount of wealth. The future of our cities is entrepreneurialism.”

Forbes quoted a Newark entrepreneur who spoke at the conference and makes a compelling argument for the opportunities that await those with an entrepreneurial bent:

Conference attendee Peter Learmont, who has run a small Newark-based publishing company for more than three decades, said he started Porta-Print Publishing Inc. with just the $10 dollars required to open a bank account and family members as employees. He’s grown his business and weathered the recession, but went at the entrepreneurial summit to learn about applying for federal contracts and to see whether financial help was available to small business owners to provide better benefits packages for employees.

“After 35 years, one thing I tell people is you have to stick with it,” Learmont said, referring to the advice he gives other aspiring entrepreneurs. “If you love doing it, it’s not a job.”

Learmont’s point is compelling, and possibly holds the key to circumventing the effects of the recession for quite a few Americans. Have you considered the route of self-employment or a startup during these sucky economic times? Do you think small business is the route to job creation?

Can Entrepreneurs Shore Up a Struggling US Economy? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Earlier this week: too much work can kill you.

Middle of the week- no work can also kill you. Researchers have found a “causal link” between unemployment and early or premature death, in a study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine. Unemployed individuals are “less likely to have good health care, and less likely to have healthy eating habits,” two circumstances which may exacerbate the risk.

Conclusions were drawn from a large scale study of over 20 million people in over a dozen countries. Interestingly, people in countries with more comprehensively available medical resources for the uninsured did not fare better than those in countries without. McGill Sociology professor Eran Shor said the link likely stems from financial stress itself:

“This probably has to do with unemployment causing stress and negatively affecting one’s socioeconomic status, which in turn leads to poorer health and higher mortality rates.”

Men are far more likely to die after job loss than women, at a 78% increase versus the increase in females at just 37%. Shor explains:

“We suspect that even today, not having a job is more stressful for men than for women,” Shor said. “When a man loses his job, it still often means that the family will become poorer and suffer in various ways, which in turn can have a huge impact on a man’s health by leading to both increased smoking, drinking or eating and by reducing the availability of healthy nutrition and health care services.”

Shor suggests more aggressive public health initiatives to address the issue.

‘Casual relationship’ found between unemployment and early death is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of the defining employment statistics of the Great Recession seems to be that a growing and large number of workers are staying in undesirable work situations, waiting for an uptick in the economy to escape the hellish doom of a bad job.

Hey, it’s better than nothing at all, right? Maybe not. It appears the mental toll a job with poor compensation, conditions or other trying circumstances takes on individuals can actually be worse for you than the crushing horror of unemployment in a down economy. A new study, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, interviewed just over 7,000 workers to reach the surprising conclusion:

Finding a high-quality job after being unemployed improved mental health by an average of 3 points on the researchers’ scale. But getting a poor quality job was more detrimental to mental health than remaining unemployed; people in this category showed a loss of 5.6 points.

Researchers say the cost of sucky jobs could be higher than one might initially assume:

“Our study indicates that the erosion of work conditions may incur a health cost, which over the longer term will be both economically and socially counterproductive,” the researchers write.

They concluded:

“Work of poor psychosocial quality does not bestow the same mental health benefits as employment in jobs with high psychosocial quality.”

[WebMD, Baltimore Sun]

Sucky job could be worse for mental health than no job at all is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Census Bureau released some grim statistics about poverty today, revealing that one out of every seven Americans is “living in poverty” in the United States.

In 2009, the poverty rate climbed for the third year running, shooting to 14.3% from 13.2% in 2008. Asian people were the only race as whole who did not see increases in poverty rates- all other races and ethnic groups experienced a higher level of financial duress. There were also increases in the number of Americans who lack health insurance, for the first time since the government began collecting those statistics in 1987.

Douglas Besharov, a University of Maryland public policy professor, said that due to high levels of unemployment in the US, “it’s the government safety net that’s keeping people above the poverty line.” Vickie Koth, the director of an outreach program in Loudoun County, Virginia, said that the profile of those in need has changed drastically in recent times:

“We have definitely seen many more individuals who are very well-educated, with high degrees, where it’s the first time to ever be in a situation to ever have to ask for help for food or shelter… We’re full all the time and we turn people away every day, and that’s always been true. But the types of people that call have changed,” Koth said. “Time after time I’ve heard individuals say, ‘I’ve given to shelters, I’ve volunteered at food pantries. I’ve never thought I’d be here myself.’ “

[Washington Post, Image]

1 in 7 Americans living in poverty in ‘new, unhappy world’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

2009 was a pretty eventful year.

The US inaugurated its first black president. Michael Jackson died. (And Billy Mays and Brittany Murphy and Patrick Swayze and DJ AM, too.) Something happened all up in Iran and media outlets across the globe ground to a halt because some kid was playing an extended game of hide and seek. Granted, nobody has a job yet and swine flu could yet kill us all- but hey, the Yankees won the world series! And there was a parade. With balloons and Derek Jeter.

The same parties responsible for the Google Wave/Pulp Fiction mashup have created a rather intriguing recap of the year in the Google Wave collage style, and it’s an interesting retelling of the year’s events:

[via Mashable]

Cool: Google Wave 2009 recap is a post from: The Inquisitr

Unless you happened to be a very popular blog network like I Can Has Cheezeburger the chances of making a living strictly from running Google AdSense is next to impossible. However the idea that earning a $1.30 a day from AdSense could cost you your unemployment benefits makes one wonder if being honest with the government is a wise idea.

Forbes has the story of Karin (she asked that her last name not be published) an unemployed lawyer who had recently graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law and decided to start up a blog in April to help keep her busy while she studied for the Missouri bar exam. She had moved there when New York got to be just too expensive. It is important to note as Forbes did that in the US it is common, and legal, for the unemployed to receive jobless benefits from the state where they last worked, even after moving to a new state as in the case of Karin.

Her blog, STL Meal Deals, was where she wrote about local restaurant promotions and like most bloggers figured it wouldn’t hurt to run some Google AdSense ads on it. The only problem is that it has cause Karin a very big problem. Knowing that when the check arrived that she was legally obligated to inform New York State of the income Karin did just that.

It was after Karin notified the Department of Labor of her AdSense income that the confusion started. New York cut her weekly benefits to $300 and sent her a form to fill out and send to her employer. Unsure whether Google was considered her employer, Karin called the DOL to get an answer. She says a state official told her she shouldn’t have claimed the AdSense payment as income because it was “residual,” meaning a payment made for services previously rendered. New York does not regard residual income as employment pay that could make someone ineligible for unemployment benefits.

The call prompted Karin to file another claim with the state and to attach a letter stating she was running a blog and that the Google AdSense revenue it generated was her only source of income. A few days later, she received a letter from the DOL informing her that it had launched an investigation of her “business” to determine whether she remained eligible for benefits.

So for now Karin remains without her jobless benefits and has pulled the AdSense ads from her blog.

“It’s frustrating that nobody seems to have a straightforward answer,” she says. “It’s even more frustrating that trying to work and generate additional income, while being straightforward and honest about that income, is treated with suspicion and punished.”

Oh, and her income from the AdSense ads: $238.75

Unemployed lawyer gets benefits yanked over $1 a day blogging is a post from: The Inquisitr

Unemployment in New York State is skyrocketing, and one city resident isn’t taking it lying down.

Trina Thompson attended Monroe College in the Bronx and since her graduation with an Information Technology degree in April, Thompson has been unable to find gainful employment. So is she brushing up her resume, taking more classes, trying to remain competitive?

Nah. Thompson opted to take the litigation route, hauling her college into court in the Bronx and suing for a refund of $70,000 in tuition. Thompson insists that the school was not aggressive enough in assisting her job search and that she did not receive “adequate job leads.” And she’s gonna tell her mommy on you, too!

Thompson’s mother, Carol, agreed Monroe College officials simply did not equip her daughter for gainful employment following her graduation.

“She’s angry,” Thompson’s mother told the Post. “She’s very angry at her situation. She put all her faith in them, and so did I. They’re not making an effort.”

A spokesperson for Monroe College calls the lawsuit “without merit.”

[Via Snopes]

Bronx girl Trina Thompson sues college because she can’t find a job is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’m getting a LOT of chats from people who have been laid off. Most of the time I find that they just aren’t presenting a good face to me for me to help them find a new job.

If you are laid off, here’s what you need to do:

1. Your blog is your resume. You need one and it needs to have 100 posts on it about what you want to be known for.

2. Remove all LOLCats from your blog.

3. Remove all friends from your facebook and twitter accounts that will embarrass you. We do look. If we see photos of people getting drunk with you that is a bad sign. Get rid of them. They will NOT help you get a job.

4. Demonstrate you are “clued in.” This means removing ANYTHING that says you are a “social media expert” from your Twitter account. There is no such thing and even if there were there’s no job in it for you. Chris Brogan already has that job and he’s not giving it up.

5. Demonstrate you have kids and hobbies, but they should be 1% of your public persona, not 99%. Look at my blog here. You’ll see my son’s photo on Flickr once in a while. But mostly I talk about the tech industry, cause that’s the job I want to have: talking to geeks and innovators.

Continue Reading >>>

If you are laid off, here’s how to socially network is a post from: The Inquisitr