Results tagged “jobs”

The New York Times nailed it this morning when they said "For Americans who wake up each morning thinking about their job hunt, Friday’s unemployment report offered little reassurance that their search would soon pay off, even as the broader economy showed signs of strengthening." That's because nationwide, unemployment in October shot up to 10.2 percent, a 26-year record high. 190,000 jobs were lost with the largest amount found in the construction industry.

There are some staff changes happening at the Times this week. Tina Daunt, who wrote at the paper for 20 years, is among an unknown number of people laid off. Last night, she wrote on her blog:

As Obama prepared for his big "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" speech last week, government figures released showed that women are more likely to be kicked out of military service under the policy than men. In a story, the Associated Press highlighted Julianne Sohn, who now works for the LAPD.

The Bush era of ICE raids are over. That, however, does not mean ICE is on the fritz. In what the New York Times calls "a showcase for the Obama administration’s effort to reduce illegal immigration," companies are being forced to "to dismiss unauthorized workers."

Independent business research and analysis organization The Conference Board has released their data for the ratio of job seekers to jobs posted online for the month of September. They found that there "were 5.66 people in the Los Angeles-Orange County metro area looking for jobs in September for every online help-wanted ad," explains the OC Register.

No details are publicly available until the plan is ratified by union members, but today the City Council took action that reverses this week's earlier decision to cut nearly 1,000 jobs and institute 26 days of furloughs that would help the city fight a $405 million budget shortfall. Instead, the Coalition of L.A. City Unions gave up $78 million in "hard concessions" and will have to contribute an extra .37 percent of paychecks towards the city's pension fund, which will cover the early retirement of some 2,400 employees, according to the LA Times. Although 22,000 employees have membership in this union, other unions may still experience layoffs and furloughs, which could prompt lawsuits.

It's a few minutes shy of 10:30 a.m. and the Los Angeles City Council is in session, however behind closed doors as councilmembers decide on a labor deal. Earlier this week, the council voted to cut close to 1,000 jobs and institute 26 furlough days, but only as a back-up plan if talks didn't go through by the end of the month. The city faces a $405-million deficit and an earlier plan to let thousands of employees retire five years early was found to only save the city a minimal amount of money. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he refused to let any plan go forward that would compromise public safety jobs. A panel this week worked to find a way to reverse this week's decision, which may be voted upon later today.

From 11.9 percent in July to 12.2 percent in August, todays announcement of last month's unemployment rate has California breaking records, once again The number rose in 27 states last month, 14 of which that are in double digits. Three other states--Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island--have higher rates than California. And experts predict that the numbers will continue to increase as the year goes on before they flatline. Nationally, unemployment rose to 9.7 percent in August, a 26-year high. A Job Market Competition index released last month by Indeed.com said Los Angeles ranked 47 out of 50. Ouch.

Although the L.A. City Council yesterday voted to move forward with cutting close to 1,000 jobs, many through layoffs, and making employees take 26 days off through furloughs, they still plan to negotiate a deal with a union to avoid such action. The council called their move a safety net, buying time so they can find a way to avoid the job cuts and furloughs while still eliminating a $405-million budget deficit.

After long deliberations in public and behind closed doors, the Los Angeles City Council today voted to go ahead with a budget-saving plan to eliminate 926 positions and 26 furlough days for civilian employees. However, many members see the decision as a temporary move, which gets the ball rolling on the layoff and furlough process, but buys time to make alternative arrangement to save jobs. The vote “is a safety net, in the event that we aren’t able to come up with an agreement,” Councilman Richard Alarcon was quoted saying in the Los Angeles Times. An agreement with unions must be made before September 28th, when furloughs will begin. Yesterday, the city of Long Beach, LA County's 2nd largest city, voted to eliminate hundreds of jobs to balance the budget.

As the corridors of city hall in Los Angeles are abuzz with the pending outcome of budget talks, which could lead to nearly 1,000 layoffs, Long Beach councilmembers yesterday approved their $2.5 billion budget. "Citywide, 297 positions will be eliminated and up to 150 workers laid off under the new budget plan, which is a decrease from the original budget proposal that would have eliminated 312 positions and laid off 161," reported the Press-Telegram of the $20.3 million in cuts. "About 30 police officers may still get laid off, but the number of firefighters on duty at any given time will now drop from 137 to 133, instead of to 130."

Although job losses are less, a 9.7 percent rate is the highest for national unemployment since June 1983 when it was at 10.1 percent. "Nonfarm payrolls declined 216,000 last month compared to a revised 276,000 drop in July, the Labor Department said Friday," according to the Wall Street Journal, which notes the news is not as bad as it sounds. "Even though the loss is huge by historical standards, it's an improvement; monthly job cuts earlier in the year totaled as much as 700,000. The economy has lost 7.4 million jobs since the recession started in December 2007."

The weekend left five dead in separate shootings, but one in particular caught the attention of civil rights leaders in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South LA. 17 year-old Brandon Jamal Perry was shot in the face after an occupant stepped out of a vehicle with a rifle and began shooting at him and others standing in front of a house late Saturday night. Three others were injured, but Perry died at the hospital.

Ouch. No wonder it's tough to find a job in Los Angeles. July's unemployment numbers for the state are not looking too good. 11.9% is, once again, a record high, according to the LA Times. A few months back in may it was a record breaking 11.5% and then 11.6% in June. California lost 35,800 jobs last month (and 760,000 over the last year), which is more than any other state. That ties us with Oregon at fourth for highest unemployment rate in the country. We're doing just a little better than Michigan, Rhode Island and Nevada.

Last week, the nation's largest anti-gang program was looking at their own financial crisis. After Friday, Homeboy Industries would have been out of money, thanks to the economy that blew a $5 million hole into the nonprofit's budget this year. For a place with the slogan "nothing stops a bullet like a job," they were considering furloughs.

Taking on the next challenge, Homeboy Industries has expanded their breakfast and lunchtime eatery, Homegirl Cafe, to include Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for dinner, says Ed Fuentes at blogdowntown. The cafe provides job experience for former gang members and at-risk youth and includes an organic garden, classes and an art gallery. The new dinner menu includes a Mexican salsa pasta, a vegan mole tofu dish and a cucumber avocado salad. Homeboy Industries also assists people through other programs like Homeboy Maintenance and Homeboy Bakery.

San Francisco Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom is once again back in Los Angeles on the campaign trail. Today he sits down with Los Angeles' business community at the L.A. Chamber of Commerce as part of their California Candidates Series. Newsom will discuss public and private-sector jobs and how they could revitalize the economy to the group who could offer a powerful endorsement later in the race. According to his campaign, Newsom "was a business-owner who created more than 1,000 jobs before entering public service." Newsom has been traveling around the state presenting a program called "Conversations About California's Future," which hit San Bernardino yesterday and will soon arrive in Long Beach, Orange County, and Riverside.

Who wouldn't want to live in a Sonoma wine country house for six months getting paid $10,000 a month to eat, drink, schmooze, party and then blog all about it? In a stroke of viral marketing genius, Murphy-Goode Winery is holding a contest to win that job and the voting ends this Friday.

Today, the Legislature is expected to vote to close the State's $24 billion budget deficit with measures that include taking $57 million in gas tax money from the City of Los Angeles. If that were to happen, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says the city could lose 800 street maintenance positions through those revenues. Yes, street maintenance, one of the most complained about aspects of Los Angeles.

In a pretty shocking move last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District cut summer school for elementary and middle students along with some high school level classes in a move to save $34 million from its dwindling budget. Overall, this affects 225,000 students. So what are the kids to do, asks the Daily News? Are they at risk? Will they run amok throughout the city? How about getting a job? The latter is particularly a problem in this economy because unemployed adults are accepting work usually held by teens.

Thousands of teachers are still going to lose their job at the end of the month, but at least 500 of them are saved. "Many of the teachers who were at risk of losing their jobs, as well as their supporters, camped out overnight at LAUSD headquarters in downtown L.A. to protest the proposed layoffs," says CBS2, who received the layoff information from LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines exclusively.

Hello highest rate of unemployment in 25 years, up from 8.9% last month. The one thing economists are saying about today's statistics--employers cutting 345,000 jobs in May--is that it's the lowest rate since last September, which could be a sign the recession is making a turn around. A study in April said the Los Angeles-Long Beach region ranks 56 out of 66 for job growth in large U.S. cities. So, who's doing some funemployment these days?

The Labor Department this morning announced April's unemployment numbers, showing that another 539,000 jobs were lost, upping unemployment nationwide to 8.9%--that's the highest its been since 1983. However, some are drinking the glass half full saying the numbers are better than the anticipated 600,000 lost jobs. Last month, unemployment was at 8.5%. Statewide, April numbers still have not been announced, but last month California's rate broke a record at 11.2%.

$20.3 million of stimulus money from the federal government will go towards Hire LA, the city's program to place 16- to 24-year-olds in summer and permanent full time jobs around the city. “Hire LA will create over 16,000 jobs for Los Angeles youth and set them on-course toward a steady paycheck and a better life,” Mayor Villaraigosa said in a statement. “Today, Los Angeles becomes the first city in the nation to create jobs for young people using federal stimulus dollars dedicated towards youth employment.” In all, 7,388 positions will come from stimulus money. The remaining 8,500 positions will be funded through the annual programs from the city, school and community college district and private sector.

"The need for shared responsibility and shared sacrifice isn't just rhetoric, it's reality,'' Villaraigosa said today about his $7.04 billion budget for the next fiscal year. Today's proposed budget, which is 1% less than last year's, should eliminate the $530 million deficit the city could incur.

And these numbers are expected to continue to rise through the summer. 62,100 jobs were lost last month, pushing the state's unemployment from 10.6% to the current 11.2%, the highest since 1976 when the U.S. Government began keeping records. Over the last year, 637,400 jobs have been lost. The western states represent the worst job loss region with 9.8%, more than a point higher than the national average, which is 8.5%.

Before she goes off to Sacramento to work under Schwarzenegger later this month, City Controller Laura Chick today released another scathing audit (.pdf) bringing to light another major city inefficiency. “There is no way that the City of Los Angeles can keep up with serving the needs of the people when it takes an average of 135 days (4 ½ months) and a minimum of a dozen steps to hire one person, and that’s just the reactionary part it takes to fill a vacancy. But anticipating public and workforce needs is not part of the picture,” she said in a statement. She goes on to describe that there is no strategy to efficiently hire new employees and that city hall insiders often get extra points on their applications just for serving the city the longest, even if they are not qualified.

A new budget proposal from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has alarmed individuals and families locally and throughout the nation. The "$534 billion budget proposal represents a 'fundamental overhaul' in defense acquisition and reflects a shift in priorities from fighting conventional wars to the newer threats U.S. forces face from insurgents in places such as Afghanistan," explained National Public Radio in last night's broadcast.

An internal LAPD audit has found that 115 of the 178 officers in desk jobs that should be filled by lower paid civilians are fit and healthy enough to be out on the streets. That's "roughly equivalent to removing one or two patrol cars from each of the department's 21 stations -- a significant handicap for a police force that is far smaller per capita than those in other major American cities," reported the LA Times. But a hiring freeze to save the city money has left many crucial civilian positions unfilled and although the department has been able to get some exemptions such as jail guards and DNA analysts, 640 civilian police jobs are still vacant. Imagine an LAPD not strapped for human resources, not missing the support of 640 full time workers.

It just keeps getting worse. January, unemployment statewide was 10.1%. Today, it's 10.5% and by contrast, it was 6.2% twelve months ago. February was the 11th straight month that the number increased. Last month, we saw over 116,000 go away with most of them, 39,000, in construction.