Last night, President Barack Obama gave his first State of the Union Address. In it, he laid out a plan meant to help kickstart the jobs market. With an economic recovery languishing in large part due to the lack of hiring, President Obama emphasized his commitment to providing a stimulus for workers. One of the main aspects of his plan is to offer tax breaks to companies that employ new workers.
In addition to the focus on jobs, the President used his State of the Union to accept responsibility for some of the mistakes he made during his first year in …read more

Every year, Fortune releases a list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. These are companies that offer great benefits, a good working environment and a corporate culture that focuses on employee appreciation. In this economic climate, the competition for good jobs is fierce, but if you can land a job at one of these companies, you could be in great shape. Here are the top 10 companies to work for, according to Fortune:

SAS
Edward Jones
Wegmans Food Markets (never had a layoff in its history)
Google (bonus: Google is ready to start hiring again)
Nugget Market
DreamWorks Animation SKG
NetApp
Boston Consulting Group
Qualcomm
Camden Property Trust

If …read more

I make more money than my husband. Granted, he’s working on a Ph.D. right now so his earning potential is limited, but I’m still the primary breadwinner. But even after he is done, chances are that my earning potential will still be higher. I am in the minority in this area. But, apparently, not as much in the minority as I used to be. The Pew Research Center recently published a report about “the rise of wives” as breadwinners, and found that one in five marriages boasts the woman as the dominant earner. Looks like social change is coming.
In fact, …read more

Apparently, many employers were not prepared to lay off workers during the holidays. Whether the spirit of giving prevailed, or whether many companies just needed the extra seasonal help, the fact remains that the latest ADP payrolls data, just released, shows that job loss is slowing. While the unemployment rate remains high, the pace of job losses has been slowing, and there are hopes that things could turn around solidly, with the economy adding jobs overall, by the end of 2010.
The U.S. services sector is also enhancing, and this is providing a great deal of hope, especially when added to …read more

The economic outlook for 2010 appears to be improving. Stocks, at least, are rallying this morning in early trading. Many analysts expected measured improvement for 2010. However, it is clear that even with growth, the economy is not going to turnaround quickly. In fact, it is likely that the economy continues its improvements at a relatively slow pace in 2010. This could cause some disappointment for some, who continue to insist that the economic recovery should be moving more quickly. However, it is important to note that a recession nearly a decade in the making (with foundations set through two …read more

When you think of rising incomes, you aren’t likely to consider places like El Paso, Texas and Omaha, Nebraska high on the list. However, these are cities seeing growth in median pay. Mainly because they are areas where college graduates can find work for the skilled. Indeed, Texas is one of the few states that is adding jobs as a rate that is statistically significant. Yes, unemployment is still high, but at the same time, if you are a college grad or someone specifically skilled, you might have better luck.
Yahoo! Finance reports on some of the surprising places where median …read more

The jobs market is showing some improvement overall right now. While things have been a bit disappointing lately, the monthly figures from November show that things are moving in the right direction. The unemployment rate dropped back to 10% from 10.2%, and states are starting to add jobs. However, it is true that this is a small improvement, and that true recovery in the jobs market is a ways off. But it’s a nice start.
There are hopes that other economic data will show an improvement in the fundamentals of the U.S. economy. Jobs represent just one piece of the economic …read more

Yesterday, Ben Bernanke talked about the fact that the jobs market appears to be stabilizing as part of the policy statement from the Federal Reserve Board. However, today the news isn’t so rosy. Initial jobless claims rose unexpectedly this past week. Initial claims are still below 500,000, and that is encouraging, but it underscores the fact that there is still quite a ways to go in terms of economic recovery.
Indeed, there are some that think that a double dip recession could be on the way, and that the current jobs market is one of the reasons for it. This is …read more

Today, President Barack Obama outlined some measures he hopes will help with job creation going forward. Since Bank of America repaid its TARP funds, and other large banks have repaid some of the money, and more probably will (gets them out from under the pay czar), close to around $200 billion has been replenished. And Obama hopes to use some of that money to help bail out Main Street through job creation. Here is what CNN Money reports from part of Obama’s speech at the Brookings Institution:
“Even though we have reduced the deluge of job losses to a relative trickle, …read more

The big news from the world of finance today is that the U.S. unemployment rate dropped in November. In the wake of a jobs summit at the White House, the latest numbers for the employment picture are in. And in November, it looks as though the economy only shed 11,000 jobs. This is opposed to the 125,000 that many expected the economy to shed in November. The news also meant that the unemployment rate dropped to 10%
Of course, this positive data does not indicate that a significant number of jobs are being added to the economy — just that the …read more