Obama to Hold '09 Job Forum

CNNMoney.com says that President Obama plans to hold a job forum at the White House in December to brainstorm about job creation. Those invited to the forum will include CEOs, small business owners, economists, financial experts, and representatives from labor and non-profits. (Jobacle is patiently  awaiting our invite). The president is facing a 10.2% unemployment rate but says there have been encouraging signs of economic growth and a slowing of the loss of jobs in recent months, but also said employers are still reluctant to hire and millions are desperate to find work.

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Job Losses to Decrease in Early 2010?

Well, it looks like things are starting to look up!  The trend of employment in the U.S. strengthened for the second consecutive month, according to a report released Monday.

The Conference Board said that its October employment trends index rose to 89.3 from a revised 88.7 in September, which was originally reported as 88.5. The October reading was the highest since March 2009, but it was down 13.2% from a year ago.

"The historical relationship between the index and employment suggests that job losses will end in early 2010," by a source at the Conference Board. "While layoffs have certainly declined in recent months, we still expect to see employers adding hours to their existing workforce before hiring will strongly increase."

In October, the improving indicators were jobless claims, the number of temporary employees, industrial production and real manufacturing and trade sales.

Last Friday's government report on October employment showed that the U.S. labor markets are improving, but only slowly, and there are far more jobseekers than jobs available. That report showed payrolls fell by 190,000 last month and the layoffs in August and September were revised down. But the jobless rate jumped to 10.2% from 9.8% in September.  

7 Reasons Your Company Wants to Cancel the Holiday Party

I heard a beautiful rumor yesterday.  Word on the street is that our company holiday party will be canceled this year.  That worries me about the financial state of thee organization, but since I'm a silver lining kinda guy, it also makes me happy because it eliminates the stress and anxiety of having to suffer through 4 forced hours of awkward conversation as co-workers down alcoholic beverages.

The reality is most people don't enjoy these end-of-year celebrations, most of all, company owners, presidents and CEOs.  On the risk/reward scale, the former wins.  Shaky economic conditions give the Head Honcho  the perfect excuse to be a holiday killjoy.

Here are the reasons why your company might cancel the holiday party this year.

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Unemployment Rate Could Dictate Changes in Congress

If you are like me, you are asking yourself daily “Is the economy EVER going to get better?”. I'm beginning to feel there isn't a person in this world that has the answer. (IF you do, contact me. That valuable information could make us millions!!).

I wake up every morning wondering if this will be the day that I get called into “the room” where you are given your pink slip and then tossed out the door with nothing more than your small box of belongings, a false apology, and the strong urge to run into oncoming traffic.

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