These are lousy numbers and lousy times for many people. The big question is this: How do you defend your interests?

10,000 Lawyers

I meet a lot of people who tell me they’re waiting for the right job or the right dollars. Good luck. In most fields those days are gone. Think about the 10,000 people who have been laid off from law firms during the past year. If attorney’s can’t work then times are really hard.

Get Work Strategies

Stop looking and start acting. No job is going to come to you in today’s environment. You have to get out there every day to check the classifieds, the online sites and the notices in local shopping centers. Speak with friends and family, folks in your field, people you know through clubs, religious congregations, school, etc.

Make Getting A Job Your Business. If you had a job you would work 9-to-5, or whatever hours are appropriate in your field. Apply the same standard to your job hunt. Make getting a job your business.

Work For Free. Someone we know worked for weeks on end in various kitchens in New York. In the restaurant world it’s called trailing and it’s a good way for would-be employees to see workplaces as they actually function — and for employers to see if someone has the skills and personality to fit. Three years later he manages a large restaurant and has an office, a staff and frequent offers to go elsewhere. If you work for a place and don’t get a job, at least you will have learned something. Look also for internships, externships, and OJT — on-the-job training.

Go Where The Jobs Are. Go to conferences, lectures and meetings where you can mingle with people in your field. Remember that a lot of jobs get filled on the basis of personal recommendations and knowing that a spot is open.

Go Where The Jobs Aren’t. Eating on a regular basis is important. If you can’t find a job in your field, look elsewhere. Be willing to work at night and on weekends. Be willing to commute. Be willing to do the dirty work. Such jobs may not be what you want but they offer two valuable benefits: They bring in dollars today and they may open up unexpected opportunities.

What about happiness? Isn’t that important. You bet. Unfortunately the economy has eroded to the point where eating on a regular basis and living indoors are concepts which need to come first. Not happy thoughts, but part of the new reality.

Lastly, always remember that you have value. Most people have gone through tough times at some point in their lives. It’s okay. Today may be hard but tomorrow is another day. Don’t give up or drop out. Start somewhere, even if starting somewhere is not what you want.

Technorati Tags: employment, job, strategies

There is some truth to these claims. The Internet has made the process of finding a job very much faster and easier than in the past if only because so many options are available. That said, going online to find a job is not a sure thing, as a job seeker you have to do your part.

Setting The Right Criteria

The first step toward successful online job hunting is to figure out what you really want to do. What is the right job description? What are the buzz words that an employer would use to find someone like you?

Next, what about a job title? What do we call people who do what you do? This is important because we pay people differing amounts depending on their titles, even though their actual job skills and responsibilities may not be much different or different at all. The classic example concerns people who want to be freelance writers, technical writers and consultants. These are terms without any standard definition, but it’s likely that the freelance writer is paid least.

Is there a company that’s especially attractive to you? Because of the work it does, the location, folks who work there, the pay scale, benefits? If you have a particular company in mind you might want to check their website to see if they have an online job application.

Location is a key issue. Long commutes are tiring and can be expensive in terms of gasoline, fares and tolls. There’s a real value in “living above the store” — or as close to it as possible.

If you can telecommute then location because an issue in a different sense: If you can work by wire then by all means work where you want — the city, the country, the mountains, by the sea, whatever.

Pay, of course, is crucial. You want what you’re worth. Notice that what you “need” does not concern employers. What’s important to them is to get the best possible person for the least number of dollars.

In addition, you want benefits. The most-important is health insurance because a trip to the hospital can cost thousands of dollars without coverage. If health coverage includes dental and optical, so much the better. Other major benefits include vacation time, life insurance, severance pay, sick leave, disability leave, personal leave and retirement contributions. If you can get all of these you’re in luck — employers have been cutting back on such benefits for the past decade, but you can still find such packages, especially in government positions.

Keywords

If you look at print newspaper classifieds you can see that they are static, arranged in a set order. If you don’t see a listing because it is filed in some obscure location, you lose. Online the deal is different, most job sites have a search function which allows you to search by keyword and location.

You can get your keywords by considering the criteria above. Try different search and see what results come up. As you do this write out the keywords in the ads which seem most attractive to what you want, then search using the revised or expanded list of terms.

Cautions

In working with job site search systems there are several limitations to consider.

First, if you put in a location does the system just bring up jobs in a particular community or ZIP code? If so you may be missing out on a job that’s 20 feet over the line in the next county and six minutes from your house. Look for systems that allow you to search not only a particular location but also jobs within a given radius.

Second, about those keywords — the more you use the smaller your list of responses. This may be good in the sense of narrowing your search to a few hits, however you may also be missing good opportunities which do not include all of your keywords. To overcome this problem conduct a number of searches, some with a few keywords and some with a longer list.

Technorati Tags: cautions, criteria, keywords, location, online, pay, search, systems, telecommute, title

Unfortunately, you’re likely to notice that even with a bigger number on your paycheck money somehow does not go as far. What you’ve seen is right — and how right you are may be surprising

Falling Wages

The Federal Reserve says between 2004 and 2007 — boom times for the American economy — that “the share of family income attributable to wages and salaries fell 5.2 percentage points.”

Huh? Wages fell? If the country was doing so well how is it possible that families were earning less?

The answer is that while the country was doing well during the past few years — at least on paper — not everyone did equally well. Indeed, many fell behind.

For instance, the IRS reports that the nation’s 400 richest taxpayers are actually getting richer. The average filer in this group earned $263,306,000 in 2006 — that’s up from a mere $74,709,000 in 1996. The percentage of all income earned by our top 400 represented 1.31 percent of the total gross income in 2006. In 1996 the top 400 filers earned .66 percent of all income.

In other words, the income of the very rich doubled relative to everyone else’s in a ten-year period.

Wage Trends

Okay, what about workers? If you look at real hourly wages — how much people earn corrected for inflation — you can see that income remains about where it was in the early 1970s, more than 30 years ago. The chart below by Stan Sorscher, which was posted originally by WashingtonPolicyWatch.org, shows how wages have fared over the years.

Economists usually say that wealth is derived from four basic sources: land, labor, capital and entrepreneurial ability. As a society during the past few decades we have come to value land (think of rising home prices), capital (think of stocks and bonds) and entrepreneurial ability (folks who start new companies). Left in the dust have been people who actually work.

• Smith makes $100,000 in profit from the sale of a prime residence owned at least two years. The federal tax? Zero. Notice that there is no Social Security tax on real estate profits.
• Jones starts the Whatever Corporation. The company develops a new way to change TV channels and gets a patent for the idea. Jones sells stock in the company 14 months after he started the firm for $100,000. His tax? Because the money is a long-term capital gain from the sale of an asset he pays 15 percent, or $15,000. Again, notice that there is no Social Security tax on capital gains profits.
• Green has worked at the North company for 15 years. By working overtime he has an adjusted gross income of $99,950. The tax? $21,971 — PLUS Social Security taxes.

What you’re seeing here demonstrates the value of lobbyists and PAC contributions. People don’t pay smaller taxes because they’re virtuous or saintly, they pay less because they have more power in Washington.

Inflation

There is little doubt that you earn more than your parents. Indeed, even if you have the same job and the same skills as your parents there’s no doubt that you are earning more — at least in cash terms.

However, the real measure of wealth is not how many dollars you have, it’s what those dollars buy. A few years ago I was in Romania and had a dinner which cost roughly 500,000 old Leu. While 500,000 is a huge number, the cost of the dinner in terms of dollar values was about $13.

We need more dollars today in part because inflation over time has made money less valuable. For instance, imagine that someone made $20,000 in 1980. Today you would have to make $51,503.16 to have equal buying power.

What To Do

Your real financial goal is not so much to have more money, though that would be nice, as it is to have more buying power. There are several steps you can take to advance your personal finances.

1. Save. You cannot buy a home or stock or anything else without savings. Moreover, you need savings if you lose a job or have a sudden expense.
2. Get as much education and training as possible — these are resources which can never be taken from you.
3. Even if it means a lower salary, look for jobs with benefits. You’ll be grateful after just one medical bill.
4. Buy a home with a fixed-rate mortgage. See if you qualify for FHA financing or, if you have military service, for a VA loan.
5. Get married. Seriously. A good marriage is one of the keys to financial success.

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It’s not an easy question because employment agencies offer a variety of services to a variety of job seekers and a range of businesses. Some agencies specialize in entry-level positions or in given professions. Others are generalists.

Also, of course, there is the question of whether or not you need an employment agency at all. The Internet is here and there are well-known employment sites online. Ask the agency what advantage it has over online applications. In some cases an agency may have a long-term relationship with an employer which could be beneficial, in other cases they may do little more than search the Internet for job opportunities — something you can do with little if any cost.

To see if an employment agency makes sense for you, ask these 10 questions:

1. Who is the client?

   If you’re paying the bill then you are the client and the employment agency is obligated to get the best possible job for you. However, if the employer is paying then the employment agency works for them and it’s goal is to get the best person to fit a given job — “best” may mean not only well-qualified by at the lowest cost possible.

2. What is the relationship between the agency and the employer?

   Is the agency exclusively seeking to fill a job for an employer or are 30 agencies looking for the right candidate? Has the agency previously obtained jobs from the employer? Similar jobs with other employees? Does the agency have a personal relationship with the employer or with someone at the employer?

3. Does the agency actually have the job you want?

   An employment agency’s stock and trade are the names of its business clients. You can’t expect an employment agency to give away client names but you can expect them to tell you the specifics about the job such as: What education, experience and training are required? What are the salary and benefits? Where is the general location (think of commuting)? Do you need a license or certificate? Must be you be able to be bonded and insured? What are the hours? Etc.

4. Are you the only candidate the agency is sending to the employer?

   If yes, great. If no, do they send every warm body they can locate? No, good. Then how do they decide who to send? Get a real answer. Don’t settle for generalities. Get specifics.

5. Will the agency help perfect your resume?

   This can be important in situations where the employer has a stack of applications. Not only do you want a resume geared to the specific employer, you also want an appropriate cover letter.

6. Will the agency help you prepare for a job interview?

   For instance, what are the 10 questions you are most-likely to be asked? What are the best answers? Remember, packaging and tilting your answers is important, stressing some points and not others can get you hired — or ignored.

7. What happens if you accept the job and leave a few months later?

   Are you responsible for the agency fee? What is your liability? Even if termination is required because you move? Get injured? Are fired? If you have any liability for the agency fee when does it end?

8. Is the agency state-licensed?

   State license standards vary. For example, the New York Better Business Bureau says that employment agencies in that state must have one license to charge applicants a fee but a different license if they only charge employees.

9. Is there any up-front cost for registration or for some or all of the fee?

   Some states ban upfront fees but that may not be the case everywhere. In general, up-front fees are a bad idea because you are paying for services in advance — services which may not result in a satisfactory job or in any job.

10. Will you receive a copy of the employment agency contract?

    This document should show the fee and when it is earned, due and payable. You must have a copy of this document to avoid future fee disputes.

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To understand what’s going on you first have to grab your very own copy of the monthly federal report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can always get the most-recent release because the BLS uses the same link each month. Just go to the latest unemployment numbers for yourself.

For March 2009 the government says that “nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline sharply in March (-663,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 8.1 to 8.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have been lost, with almost two-thirds (3.3 million) of the decrease occurring in the last 5 months. In March, job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors.”

In total, says the government, it found 13.2 million people who were unemployed, 8.5 percent of the workforce in March 2009.

The Self-Employed & Farmers

Notice that the news talks about nonfarm payroll employment. In other words, it does not include the self-employed or farmers. How big a deal is this?

• The government says that 10.4 million people are self-employed. This is equal to 6.9 percent of the 154 million people in the civilian labor force.
• Farmers about 2 percent of the population, according to the Agriculture Department. That’s equal to roughly 3.8 million workers.

In total we have 14.2 million people (10.4 million plus 3.8 million) who are not considered when unemployment numbers are tallied.

People Not In The Labor Force

Another excluded category involves persons not in the labor force.

“About 2.1 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in March,” says the BLS, “754,000 more than a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.”

In other words, you have to be actively looking for a job to be counted as unemployed.

Not Looking For Work

Lastly, we come to those who are not counted because they are discouraged workers. The government says that “among the marginally attached, there were 685,000 discouraged workers in March, up by 284,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.4 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in March had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.”

The Real Level Of Unemployment

There’s another measure which does not fit within the government standards, the under-employed. Who are these folks? In general terms the underemployed are people with jobs, but not the jobs they want and not the jobs which fully reflect their skills, experience and training.

People are often under-employed, especially when the unemployment rate rises because workers are logically concerned that if they leave their present employer they will be unable to get a replacement job with equal or better pay and benefits. The result is that they stick where they now work rather than look for a better situation.

The bottom line: Official unemployment figures tend to substantially understate actual workplace trends. For instance, in the month of March 2009 we had 13.2 million officially unemployed and 2.1 million without jobs but not included among the officially out-of-work. That’s 15.3 million people. Relative to a workforce with 154 million people that’s an unemployment rate of 9.93 percent — not counting the self-employed who have lost work, farmers who are not working and the lost economic potential of the under-employed.

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Can you do something to get more hours at work? For a lot of folks, the answer is going to be yes. Here’s how:

By The Numbers

Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the official unemployment level topped 8 percent in February, a rate likely to go higher.

Meanwhile, for those who have jobs, the news is also bleak. The BLS reports that of this writing a typical private-sector employee saw the usual workweek contract from 33.6 hours the third quarter of 2008 to 33.3 hours in February 2009. Seemingly not a big deal, however overtime fell from 3.6 hours per week to 2.6 hours. If one hour of overtime is paid on the basis of time-and-a-half, then at $18.47 per hour — the typical wage — our model worker is out $27.70. (3.6 hours less 2.6 hours = 1 hour. 1 hour at $18.47 x 1.5 = $27.70).

Over a one-year period, that’s $1,440.40.

What Not To Say

With companies reducing both jobs and hours, it may see as though it would be impossible to get more time and thus more income. In some cases that’s certainly true, but in many situations there is some flexibility. While employers would generally prefer not to pay overtime, with fewer workers overtime is actually cheap when compared to the cost of an additional body.

With that in mind, if you go to your boss and say you “need” more time on the job, you lose. Why? A few reasons.

First, the usual trade is employee time and labor for employee pay and benefits. If you “need” to work then the employer has leverage over you. What you want is a situation where you’re an equal in the marketplace with the employer, otherwise you’ll never be paid what you’re worth.

Notice that your “need” may be real and pressing. Still, you don’t want to tell your boss if you can help it.

Second, not all employers are saintly human beings. Some employers will take advantage of you if they can, others will take advantage because they’re being pressured by the management above them. Whatever the case, the bottom line is that you’ll get screwed.

Third, saying that you “need” work pushes the wrong button. The right button is this: Show the employer how he benefits.

An Example

“Wally, you know I really want to be the best worker in the place, the one person upon whom you can absolutely depend. I want to get stronger with the 1407 project (or with a lathe, or with clients, etc.) and to do that I need more time and experience so I can do a better job for you. When you check the schedule can you see if there might be more time for me. I can work late (or early or on weekends, etc.), whatever best suits your needs.”

Now the issue is packaged and marketed differently. Wally — the decision maker — can see how HE will benefit if you get more time at the workplace. You can bet that the next time Wally has a little more work that needs to be done, he will choose the person who can boost his interests rather than the person who doesn’t put Wally first.

Say Thanks

Amazingly enough, bosses are people too. If you get some extra time, always thank your boss in terms he can understand.

“Wally, I really appreciate your help with the Foster project (or machine repairs, or work at night, or whatever). I really think that during the past few weeks I’ve gotten much better, something that would not have happened without the extra hours.”

That’s it, that’s all you have to say.

Technorati Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment, hours, job, Money & Wages, overtime, unemployment, wages

For 2008, reports RealtyTrac.com, 2,330,483 U.S. properties received one or more foreclosure notices, typically default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. That’s an 81 percent increase over 2007 — and a 225 percent spurt since 2006.

For all the news about foreclosures, foreclosure prevention and loan modification programs, a basic reality is that when people lose their jobs their foreclosure alternatives narrow and in too many cases drop to zero.

As an example, look at the latest foreclosure modification plan. The Obama program is vastly better than what we have seen before, but to get help you have to qualify and one benchmark concerns income. Under the plan, says the Treasury Department, “the lender will have to first reduce interest rates on mortgages to a specified affordability level.” What is that level? The borrower’s monthly mortgage payment should be no greater than 38% of his or her income. Government help can then lower monthly payments to 31 percent of an individual’s gross monthly income.

The 38 percent and 31 percent standards will potentially help many people, but it won’t help those without work. The standard assumes that homeowners are employed or self-employed, that they have a stream of income.

But for growing numbers of Americans that’s not the case. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that since the start of the recession in December 2007 some 3.6 million people have lost their jobs and about one-half of this decline occurred in the past three months.

There’s more: The BLS says that as of January we had 11.6 million people who were officially unemployed. In addition, we had 7.8 million “involuntary part-time” workers, folks who couldn’t get full-time work and another 2.1 million were “marginally attached to the labor force” — these are individuals who wanted work and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 734,000 “discouraged workers,” people not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.

So rather than 11.6 million people looking for work the real number is much bigger, say about 21.5 million. In a country with 154.6 million people in the labor force we’re talking about a very large percentage of the population which is either unemployed or underemployed.

What do job losses this mean in terms of foreclosures, local home values, tax collections and related issues? Think of unemployment numbers as a “leading indicator,” a hint of things to come unless we put more people back to work.

Technorati Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, discouraged, foreclosure, jobs, marginally attached, Obama, Treasury, underemployed, unemployed, unemployment

Actually, it’s a very big deal.

“Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment,” said Horace Mann, the great educator, “is an act of clear dishonesty. You may as well borrow a person’s money as his time.”

No one has perfect attendance, it happens that everyone at some point is late. In some fields and professions it’s a minor manner, especially if you work independently and don’t have others instantly dependent on you.

But in many work environments, being late is a big problem, one that can result in lower wages, fewer promotions and in times like these, a bright pink slip saying you’re fired.

Why is being late so important?

First, the best person in the world isn’t worth a damn if they’re not where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are, how much experience you have or how well you have been educated; none of that stuff is worth anything if you’re not available.

Second, if other people depend on you — team members, subordinates or superiors — they are stuck until you get into gear. That’s noxious at best, grounds for dismal at worst. In today’s employment environment it’s not wise to aggravate other people if you can help it.

Third, being late is simply disrespectful. The message is that someone just doesn’t care, isn’t making an effort and sees little value in what they’re doing. That’s not a smart message.

Ask yourself a question: Why do some people get promoted while others don’t? Why do some people get retained while others are canned? Part of the answer is that employers look for people who are good team players, people who are reliable, interested and striving. Folks who are late don’t fit.

Being on time, in the right place and ready for work is a baseline necessity in many fields. The good news is that when you have a consistent pattern of being on time then when it does happen that you’re late — and it will happen — other people will not take offense, not feel devalued and not sense that they have been treated disrespectfully. In other words, you get points and credit when playing by the rules.

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Answer: I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, you’re putting in time and the result of your labor will hopefully bring some income to your would-be employer.

But you’re not free labor. The employer is training you with the idea that if you have basic skills and abilities you can then work on a paying basis. The employer has real costs in terms of time, training, a trainer, use of the employer’s facilities, etc.

More importantly, three days of lost labor for you is cheap if it means the employer is acting in good faith and you have a realistic shot at getting a job. In effect, it’s an investment of sorts to get you started.

Consider the alternative: Imagine if you balk about the three days and the employer gets someone else. You now have no job and no prospects for a job you presumably wanted — and no income.

Even when you’re hired on a paying basis the fact that you’re in a new field and new to the company means that initially the employer is going to have to train and educate you, perhaps for weeks and months. There’s an argument to be made that even at an entry-level wage you’re not actually a paying proposition for the employer until you can bring in business or do required work with the skill level of an experience person.

The view from here: Don’t worry about the three days. Grab the days and the opportunity they represent. Do the best you possibly can, make the employer feel good about you and nail down a job.

Technorati Tags: job, new, paid, pay, start, training, unpaid