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Showing posts with the label labor

Unemployment Lowers and Opportunity Rises-At least for Some

October was a great month for the unemployment rate. According to government data, 214,000 jobs were added last month and unemployment moved down to 5.8%. This is great news for those who are actively seeking employment and are counted in the rankings. Those in the lowest wage rungs haven’t seen much improvement in wages.  As unemployment numbers decline it naturally soaks up the slack in the labor market. Higher skilled workers usually get the cream puff jobs while lower skilled workers will still be picking up crumbs. Typically higher skilled workers find employment faster because they are needed in penetrating growth sectors of society that rely heavily on education and specialized skills.  Lower wage service jobs and part-timers will be stuck in lower wages until slack in the market is tighten to create demand-not so easy in a global world. Some lower wage workers may find new training opportunities that help them move into higher paying employment but others may simpl

Migration of Labor Skills as a Function of Opportunity

Labor is an important component of economic development. Employers need skilled labor to produce new products and lower skilled labor to fulfill standard functions. When areas gain or lose their workforce it has a natural impact on the economic strength of that area. Research by Son and Noja, 2013) delves into labor’s economic contributions as well as the influx/outflux of human capital in new EU countries. The general findings can be applied to other areas and highlight the need to match skills to the market.  When surplus labor exists, the unemployment rate will be higher. In this study, the labor was broken into low and high skilled labor for analysis. Higher unemployment causes an outflux of individuals seeking opportunities in other geographic locations where jobs are plentiful. This is a natural cause of opportunity matching skills to create an employment opportunity.  Those that update their skills and find new types of employment (labor shift) may more easily find f

The Benefits of Professional and Trade Certificates

What benefit does professional and skill certificates offer?   According to a 2012 Census Bureau it provides a level of growth and development. The certificate helps employers see that the job candidate has updated their skills and has kept pace with changes in the market. The certificate is another form of education even though no formal college degrees are earned. It provides an alternative track of learning new skills.  The report also indicates that those with less than a high school education, a high school education, or an associate’s degree or less benefit the most. Over 80% of respondents indicate their employer rewards their efforts even though the amount of this reward ranges from $300 to $700 per year depending on the certificate. Those at the highest end of the education spectrum such as master and doctorate graduates have less use for the certificates.  An employer may look at these certificates as an indication of motivation and skill development. If these cer

The Concept of Business Cycles and Recession in Economics

Economic cycles are a natural part of business life and have occurred in one form or another for nearly every generation. These boom and bust cycles exist in everything from the biological organisms to stock market investing. It is often beneficial to view economic theories of business cycles to understand how imperfect information impacts the national economy as it moves through these growth patterns. Such cycles are many years in the making and can have a devastating impact on the economy if recovery is not forthcoming. Bob Lucas, a Nobel  Prize Laureate, developed a monetary theory of business cycles that helps explain economic growth spurts and decline (1972). To him, inaccurate perceptions of economic factors contribute to these cycles that push the system out of homeostasis. Firms, and their management, only have limited time and resources for understanding their environment and typically focus on only that information which is needed for their immediate purposes. It takes cons