Credit Check for Employment

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Falling behind on your bills? It could cost you a job.

An increasing number of employers are using credit checks to screen potential job applicants. So missed payments on your mortgage, car or credit card could keep you from getting hired.

According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 60% of employers are using credit checks when filling at least some of their openings. Only 35% reported checking credit in a 2003 survey, and only about 13% did so 1996.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/22/news/economy/credit_checks_for_job_applicants/index.htm

Jobs Jobs Jobs

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Payrolls falls in 27 states, Led by California

Payrolls decreased in 27 U.S. states in June, led by California and New York, signaling the slowdown in hiring is broad-based.

Employers in California cut staff by 27,600 workers last month and those in New York reduced employment by 22,500, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Tennessee, Arizona and New Mexico rounded out the five states with the biggest job losses.

The U.S. lost 125,000 jobs last month as the government cut temporary workers conducting the 2010 census and private payrolls rose a less-than-forecast 83,000, according to Labor Department figures issued July 2. The data signal companies are becoming reticent to hire as the economy cools.

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aCrIFae7VFMg

Recovery???

Another must read by Comstock Partners. Let's take a look

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Normal Recovery? Don't believe it.

The "Street" and the financial media are portraying a totally misleading impression that the economy is now undergoing a normal recovery as each new piece of economic data is issued. At the same time the stock market has been in the process of pricing in the so-called great news. Let's have a look at the actual numbers.

1) March retail sales were up 8.6% from the low a year earlier. However, this was still 3.6% below the peak sales in May 2008, almost two years ago. Moreover, sales are still slightly below the level reached back in December 2006, over three years earlier. Over the last 43 years retail sales had hardly ever gone down at all, even in recessions.

2) March industrial production (IP) was up 6.1% from the June trough, but was still down 9.1% from the top December 2007. At its current level IP is still where it was over 10 years ago in December 1999. Never since the depression in the 1930s has IP failed to exceed a level established 10 years earlier.

3) New orders for durable goods in February were up 12.8% from the low in March 2009, but were still 22% below the peak in late 2006. In fact orders are back at the same level as in the fall of 1997.

4) Initial weekly unemployment claims for the latest reported week are 456,000. Claims declined from a peak of 643,000 for the week ending March 29, 2009 to 477,000 on November 15. Since then, however, the number of claims has flattened out to a range between 439,000 and 490,000 weekly over the five-month period. This is still a recessionary number.

5) March housing starts were up 31% from the low April 2009, but still down 72% from the peak in January 2006. Except for the current recession the number of starts in March was the lowest in any month over the last 51 years.

6) As reported today, existing home sales were 535,000, up 6.8% from the prior month and 19% from the low in late 2008. However, this was still 27% below the peak in late 2005.

7) New vehicle sales in March were at an annual rate of 11.8 million, up 13.5% from the prior month and 28% from the recession low. This is still well below the average of about 16 million vehicles between in the decade ending in 2007.

8) February personal income was up 11.9% from the trough in July 2009, but still 1.5% below the top in May 2008. At the current level personal income is 2% higher than a year earlier after being down for 12 consecutive months. Prior to the current recession personal income had never been down year-over-year in any month going back to 1960, and the current plus 2% is still at recessionary levels.

9) Payroll employment in March increased 162,000 leaving the total 8.3 million jobs below the peak reached in February 2008 and equal to the number of jobs back in October 1999.

10) February consumer credit was down 4% from a year earlier, the biggest decrease on a year-to-year basis since late in World War ll.

http://www.comstockfunds.com/(X(1)S(obxg3g45jnw2ib45j0ojn045))/default.aspx?act=Newsletter.aspx&category=MarketCommentary&newsletterid=1522&menugroup=Home&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Oregon Wins with New Jobs!

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Oregon’s officials see Genentech’s presence as integral to the state’s economic future and often cite the 250 jobs already created at the plant. That number is expected to grow to 300 over the next few years.

Meanwhile, Genentech’s management has a much more pragmatic view of why they chose to locate here.

Clark said the search for a new site began in 2003-2005 when introduction of three new products forced the company to increase their manufacturing capacity. A risk assessment drove them to look beyond existing California sites. They didn’t want to do final bottle-fill processing in the middle of a high-risk earthquake zone.

Clark also credited Oregon’s favorable business climate — a surprise given how much criticism the state has received since passage of Measures 66 and 67. He said the economic element of only being taxed once on product production, coupled with the support and encouragement of local and state governments, made the decision to locate in Hillsboro straightforward.

Oregon, though, will probably hold on to the idea that the Genentech plant will ultimately attract other biotechnology firms to the area, even if the company’s expansions remain on its manufacturing side.

When his turn to address the audience came, Sen. Jeff Merkley said, “The future is no longer plastics … the future is biological, a word that was essentially science fiction a few years ago.”

“Many will be touched in the future by this research,” he said, after describing how innovations in the treatment of one disease can lead to new approaches in dealing with others.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/hillsboroargus/2010/04/genentech.html