Let the Heads Roll - 459,000 jobs lost in August

[:) Smiley]

August labor statistics are out:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Results show that 169,000 new jobs were created.

However:

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| Hurricane Katrina |
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| Hurricane Katrina struck Florida and the Gulf Coast after the |
| August survey reference period, and therefore did not affect August |
| estimates from the payroll and household surveys. |
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and

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.t03.htm

New Orleans metropolitan area had 628,000 jobs, which are now underwater.

[DanS]

The July figures were also revised upward by 40,000 or so, so the new jobs announced today were over 200,000.

But I couldn't bear to make the thread...

[chequita guevara]

That doesn't include the jobs lost in Mississippi and Alabama.

This is just

[Darsnan]

Oh, it gets even better.....

Companies in Central NY that laid people off are now outsourcing the department which is responsible, among other things, for verifying that the laid off employees were previously employed at the plant. End result: any future prospective employers of the laid off employees then have to pay a commission in order to verify that the laid off employee was indeed previously employed at the company!

Link

The article:

Hundreds of families who used to depend on jobs with Carrier Corporation are still trying to replace the income they lost when the company closed its DeWitt manufacturing operation last year. Those former Carrier workers may not know their search for that next job has been quietly handicapped by a shift in corporate policy.

Tom Kinney knows about it now, and he says it’s only adding insult to injury.

He’s been trying to make a go of it in real estate. In the past year, he got his license, and puts in time trying to sell homes, and pull down a commission or two.

But it’s slow going right now, and real estate isn’t paying the bills. This, after almost 40 years at Carrier in production and manufacturing. Tom put out his Carrier resume to dozens of employers. When other manufacturers didn’t show any interest, he tried another approach.

To help make ends meet, Tom applied for a few positions as a school bus driver. When he heard back from one district, Baldwinsville, that’s when he learned why other potential employers may not have been calling him back at all.

“And I did get a call back from Baldwinsville, who said they had to have my employment verified, and that it would cost them 25 dollars, and I thought that was ridiculous. Why would anyone pay to verify employment,” Tom said.

But that’s what Carrier is doing. The company has outsourced its employment verification. Potential employers must call a 1-900 number and pay 25 dollars per applicant to verify dates of employment at Carrier. A Carrier spokesperson says it’s “more efficient” because the service is available 24 hours a day. And she says it allows the company to focus more on its core businesses.

“They said they’d always have a presence here and I thought that presence would include a service like this. But they’ve outsourced by insurance, they’ve outsourced now the personnel department, and it’s like I never worked there,” Tom said. “I have over thirty years out there. I did a lot of things. Now, it’s like I didn’t do anything at all.”

A specialist in human resources at Syracuse University’s Management School tells our Dan Cummings that this operation is a new one to her. Nationwide, she says, to save money and focus on core business, companies are outsourcing a significant amount of payroll and benefits work. But not something as simple as employment verification. Professor Pam Brandes says this is not a cost that should be paid by a potential employer, who is in the process of screening job applications.

Yah, let the good times roll.....

[mrmitchell]

There isn't a law against that!!??

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by mrmitchell
There isn't a law against that!!??

It is outsourcing, and there are no laws against outsourcing....

In 2000 I worked for a company that employed over a thousand people here in CNY. In 2003 they closed their doors, all the jobs moved overseas. Retrospectively, I guess I should feel lucky I don't have to go thru what the people at some of the plants here are now going thru. Absolutely unbelievable!


D

[:) Smiley]

Even as more companies outsource, however, immigrants are still coming in. Is there a "labor bubble"?

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by Smiley
Even as more companies outsource, however, immigrants are still coming in. Is there a "labor bubble"?

Yeah, it's when quality of living in the immigrants' countries is the same or better than the quality of life in the U.S.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by Smiley
Even as more companies outsource,

Yes, more companies are outsourcing.....

Originally posted by Smiley
immigrants are still coming in.

Yes, more immigrants are coming in....

Originally posted by Smiley
Is there a "labor bubble"?

I know that we are definately feeling a "labor bubble" here where I am, and have been for several years now, especially after several companies closed up shop and moved overseas.... Tell me Smiley, are you feeling a "labor bubble" where you are as well?


D

[:) Smiley]

Originally posted by Darsnan
I know that we are definately feeling a "labor bubble" here where I am, and have been for several years now, especially after several companies closed up shop and moved overseas.... Tell me Smiley, are you feeling a "labor bubble" where you are as well?

Doesn't feel that way here, but the Bay Area is distorted because of high housing prices... it costs too much to live here if one doesn't have a job. What goes on in the edges of the area I don't know, however.

[RGBVideo]

QFLOL:

Originally posted by DanS
The July figures were also revised upward by 40,000 or so, so the new jobs announced today were over 200,000.

But I couldn't bear to make the thread...

What a coincidence that is.