More Reality on Jobs - "Help-wanted Index" in your area?

[swag]

Before I go on to the message, I would like to ask folks a mundane question: How are help-wanted ads doing in your area? Please reply to this thread.

We all know about the big March job-creation number, and we all know that seasonal factors and temporary positions affected that number greatly. Still, econo-pundits are holding forth as though the jobs problem has finally been solved.

Me, I have been looking at the help-wanted ads in my local paper (the Oregonian, which I do not recommend by the way), and have found that the local job situation is still quite miserable by that indicator. So I had a look at the Conference Board's "Help-Wanted Index" and found this press release for March:


The Conference Board's Help-Wanted Index Edges Up One Point

NEW YORK, March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board's Help-Wanted Advertising Index -- a key barometer of America's job market --increased one point in February. The Index now stands at 40, up from 39 the previous month. The Index was 41 one year ago.
In the last three months, help-wanted advertising increased in eight of the nine U.S. regions. The largest increases occurred in the Mountain (13.8%), New England (12.8%) and East South Central (9.6%) regions.
WAITING FOR JOBS
Says Conference Board Economist Ken Goldstein: "The national labor market has begun to improve, but the small gains only bring us back to year-ago levels. Consumers have grown more concerned about why continued increases in industrial production and GDP have generated only meager job increases. The positive news here is that the incremental improvement in want-ad volume comes
at the same time that layoffs, as measured by initial unemployment claims, have been edging lower.

Given the 2004 spike in consumer inflation, and what I see to be a still-flat employment picture, I think we may be headed into a rather awful era of stagflation. Thoughts?

[cheezus]

1. lots of low wage jobs

that you'd have to work two of to make a living. not much in the way of career type jobs now.

[displacedtexan]

2. I'll check the Baltimore Sun and post in a few minutes.

Good question!

[RoyGBiv]

3. Mostly the Same

I'm in Oklahoma, and the help wanted ads in the local paper are about the same as they always are, which is to say very thin. There are a lot of get-rich-quick schemes, of course, and there are the typical ads for kitchen help and seasonal yard and construction labor. Interestingly, I noticed in last Sunday's paper that there were more ads for strippers than their usually are; unfortunately, I'm not an attractive young female seeking to have my body exploited.

I'm currently conducting a job hunt and about three weeks from losing my apartment. I've used every "help wanted" service and paper I can find, and it is extremely slim pickings. Most of the jobs for which I am qualified have attracted a lot of applicants, and the competition is tough. One person working in the human resources department of a company to which I applied was honest enough with me to say that the final decision on filling the position would be based at least partly on a "first come first served" basis. I applied the same day the job was listed, and I was the 22nd applicant.

Anyway, based on my current experience, there is no great expansion of available jobs, and the number of people looking for work is high enough that even if there were, it wouldn't have much of an impact.

[displacedtexan]

4. This is truly scary!

Baltimore is the hub for Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and NSA hiring, as well as the home of McCormick (black pepper makers), Johns Hopkins University and medical center, and many other big time corporations, like Sylvan Learning.

There are well over 500,000 residents within the city limits (not counting the 'burbs).

Today's Baltimore Sun has only 460 jobs listed, and a good chunk of them are commission sales jobs! This is truly scary, folks! When I moved here 2 years ago, there were thousands of new jobs listed daily.

[swag]

5. Thanks for checking, in there, Midatlantic

P.S. - Baltimore is Portland, OR's sister city in my book.

I highly recommend the annual party at the American Visionary Arts Museum.

[area51]

6. Houston area

Like most other areas in the USA, the help-wanted ads/job market in Houston sux, as it has since Bush took over the White House.

[will work 4 food]

7. In the Chicago

Lots of health care, restaurant, retail, and roofing and siding salesmen (tin men). And plenty of schemes. No real wage earning type jobs.

[Ookie]

8. Same thing here in the Seattle area

You have to have a contact inside the company or go through an agency to get most interviews. Employers are getting hundreds of resumes for job postings. I had a good interview last week and I am soooooooooooo hoping it turns into a job. Wish me luck!?!?!?

[amazona]

9. no help wanted except in medical care

People who are not oriented toward the care of other people are not going to be able to find "real" jobs.

Still lots of minimum wage jobs because we don't have enough kids to fill them and you couldn't afford to live in my area on a minimum wage job.

Good jobs for "nerds" who don't interact with people are a thing of the past. I think it will end with people realizing that investing in a technical education is no longer a wise decision. You get in years of debt for a job that may last a year or two. I suppose more and more "nerds" types will turn to identity theft, computer crimes, etc. What option do they have? People will not voluntarily starve. Not everyone has the physical stamina or emotional strength to be an RN.

Duh...forgot to put...I live in the greater New Orleans area.