I have been a stay at home dad for over a year now. I was laid off from my last career orientated job in june of 2001 when the economy first started to break apart. Until recently I enjoyed taking care of my newborn son and finishing up some degree work trying to be ready for the economic upswing.
Recently though the cost of living caught up and I returned to work. I took a position VERY far from what I am experienced in. I started in Nov and tuesday morning of this week I went to work to find the doors locked.
In the a economic recovery thread I mentioned that I thought the economy was heading up as I had started to get dings on my resume again. Consistently. I haven't even had so much as a feeler call in close to three years.
So I started making contact calls to the few people I know who are still working in any of the fields I am either experienced in or could slip in and pick up quickly.

It sounds like a Steven King novel. Of those I know at my last decent place of employment no one goes to lunch they come in early and stay late. They are deathly afraid of being considered slacking in any way what so ever. Many are being dumped and replaced with kids fresh out of college and it seems that even with much reduced output it is considered a better deal to pay someone much less than pay the experienced guy.
Popular opinion is also that kids fresh from or still in school generally do not have families so insurance is less of a concern and a cost.
This is by no means uncommon in my investigations. I also have talked with many others who have recently been laid off and they are rumors of more layoffs to come. In many industries.
I really do not want to argue about whether the economy is improving. I know it is.
But it really is hard to see any benefit from it except to those already with the money. The jobs are continuing to be cut.
They are many competing stories about job are starting to resurface. Jobs are being cut. The economy is good, It is going further into the tank.
How about actual from the mouth info to get a gauge on the economic recovery.

So the questions are
What is it like where you work?

Are you confident in the stability of your company?

Any hiring/layoffs recently?

What about around you in your area?

I'm one of those new grads. But I'm still pretty expensive - my company is paying for me to go to law school.

What's it like where I work?
I sit here on AD all day. Mostly the contract I'm on isn't defined very well - we don't really have milestones or specifications to meet, we're a testing and development lab, so pretty much anything we throw out there is good enough. Nobody knows the technology, we're the experts, we get to say whether a task should take 12 months or 12 days. I'm still learning the ropes - I've been here 7 months. The guys I work with are geniuses, and I'm still trying to find my place on the team.

I'm extremely confident in the stability of my company - we're a huge aerospace goverment contractor. Oh, and the air travel infrastructure of the world would collapse without us. (No, really).

There have been quite a few layoffs in our assembly plants recently. However, the department in which I work just hired 250 new people. My division of the conglomerate is unique because the people we hire are required to have the highest security clearance in the country. In this area, all the companies do a lot of top secret government contract work (in the Baltimore/Washington corridor). Most of us are worth $10k to $15k more than people doing the same work without security clearances. When you have a security clearance, companies will fight over you to come work for them in this area.

So I got lucky. Not really. I created the luck for myself by interning in college for a government agency that required me to have a clearance. (Clearances are very expensive to issue, so it's very difficult to convince a company that you deserve one right out of college without having proved your worth first, however if you get one as an intern, you've flown in under the radar, so to speak).


My brother is a mechanical engineer intern and he's been getting job offers making more money than I do as a college grad. I think you're right - the trend seems to be that they're hiring kids right out of college, or taking advantage of cheap labor offered by interns.

I work for a start up company (~3 years old now) that is still on rocky ground. Is that Bush's fault? Hardly. We just fired our VP of Business Development. Not because of anything Bush did, but because he was terrible at his job. We may or may not replace him.

I am an engineer and I have gotten "out of the blue" calls from several head hunters recently. I even did a job interview the other day. If the pay increase is big enough, I may just switch jobs.

I guess it all depends on the industry you are in. I feel confident that should my company go belly up tomorrow, I could have a job within a month.

What is it like where you work? Are you confident in the stability of your company?
Any hiring/layoffs recently? What about around you in your area?

It sucks. I work in dispatch for a cable company. I used to be a CSR and got a promotion when they laid off about 35 people. I had only been working here 6 months and got, what I thought was going to be a sweep promotion. But it's actually turned out to be hell. I hate dispatch and having to talk to 10 technicians at the same time on these STUPID Nextels and having to call customers about late appointments, missed appointments and reschedules and getting cussed out and having to deal with IDIOTS!!! My job is not stable, I guess, they just laid off 35 people last year, so I was lucky, but if they would do that, they'd let anyone go. They have no loyalty. It's just a big corporate company and I'm just a peon. I go to work and try not to snap every day. Come home, puff on the pipe and have a beer and pray that the resume I've summited to UGA for a job will get attention. Ah... ANYTHING for a state job!!!

I'm a computer tech by trade, stuck in a job that I thought would give me more opportunities in the highspeed internet world, but I'm stuck with a stupid dispatch job and don't get to help any of the customers....

I work for a company that sells hotels and motels. The hospitality industry took a huge hit after September 11th but the 2003 revenues in our region (Western & Midwest) were an improvement and 2004 should be even better.

Our brokerage business has been hurting, because property revenues had been declining, but it should recover as the hotel business recovers. Additionally, we tend to do really well the year after an election, so we have our eyes set on 2005. We just have hang in there until then.

As far as stability goes, I don't think I've ever really felt that the company that I work for is completely stable, but some years are better than others. This has not been a good year.

I work for a fortune 500 transportation company which does business in 22 states. We have had cutbacks or consolidation as the company likes to call it. The cutbacks have amounted to about 3% this year. But this is a annual thing.

The one thing I have noticed is not 1 position in higher management has been eliminated. That is the most galling action. The higher ups make the decision so they definitely aren't going to cut their own throats.

In taking to my neighbors and friends there have been numerous jobs cut in their companies too. And very few jobs are available.

And that term, productivity is being used so much. All that means is 8 people are doing the work of 10 people. And you sure can't complain in fear of losing your job.

My position is pretty safe but I can't help feeling for the ones out of a job.

I work for the best boss possible..... me.

After 25 years in the Aerospace and Entertainment industries as an engineer, laid off twice in that period, I decided that it was time for me to stop making a living for my family while making money for someone else and to start doing both for my family and myself. So, now I work at home on my own video production business. Haven't exactly set the world on fire, but the quality of my life has certainly improved by quantum leaps and I'm about to venture into a speciality area that could prove most lucrative and personally rewarding.

I work in the health care industry. Obviously, the demand for this is only going to keep going up and up for the foreseeable future. In addition, I happen to work in a licensed profession (pharmacy) which currently has a severe shortage. I could very easily get another job if I wanted one. This situation is likely to continue for as long as I am able to work.

What is it like where I work? Constantly busy. (Hospital setting.)

Stability of the company? Very stable; there is more demand for services than can be supplied.

Hiring/layoffs? No layoffs have ever happened here, as far as I know. Hiring goes on all the time, but people leave by choice all the time, too.

The area? Here in the Chattanooga area, things seem pretty stable. Not great, not terrible. No big economic growth or loss going on.

Well, I reported to work on a construction site one day, barefoot... PE took me to the doctor, and we started running some tests. I've been drawing disability for about 4 years now, having lost enough of my memory that I can no longer remember how to do what I did for a living.

Am I confident in the future of Social Security? Not if Bush is re-elected!

Around our area? Wolverine shoes went on strike and hired replacement workers. A large commercial farm had all of its loans recalled, and went out of business. Electrolux, which I thought was a vacuum cleaner company, is still making refrigerators; but is expected to announce their plans to move to Mexico early tomorrow. The $2.26/hour prevailing wage in Mexico combined with NAFTA promises to save them $81 million dollars a year. The grocery stores are starting to phase out baggers, check out clerks, etc. McDonalds doesn't advertise that they're hiring....

Friday morning, 8:3 7AM: Electrolux Frigidaire announced about an hour ago that all 2700 employees at their Greenville location, including 170 NEW HIRES would see their jobs eliminated by years end. That reminded me that when I was in the dollar store a week ago, they had a new clerk breaking in. Every item in the store was by then at least 50% off, but she didn't know how to ring up the items that were 75% off. The store's owners had hoped to be out of business by Christmas, but they're still trying to liquidate their inventory...

Two sets of answers:

What is it like where you work?
It's like working for the Walt Disney Company - which it is.

Are you confident in the stability of your company?
In the company overall, yeah.

Any hiring/layoffs recently?
Oh, yeah. 4000 layoffs and early retirement packages in 2002, a lot of part-timers cut back to zero hours, an outright ban on overtime in many departments, caps on overtime hours in most other departments, and the entire Florida animation department was just closed down.

What about around you in your area?
Yep. A reasonable chunk of my department was culled in 2002, our fieldwork is ridiculously understaffed even though the actual work itself has been cut back, and there's a freeze on overtime for my entire team (except myself and one colleague - and we have a ceiling of ten hours per week). I also know a few retirees who were working part-time to make up for low social security and pension payments whose hours have been cut back to nothing.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

What is it like where you work?
It's like working from home doing free-lance web graphics - which it is.

Are you confident in the stability of your company?
I'm confident in my own stability (appearances to the contrary), but not necessarily in the level of work I can generate.

Any hiring/layoffs recently?
I get a bit more work from one of my clients because they've laid of so many of their full-time staff. I get a lot less from the other regular clients who can't afford to farm out as much work. Not many people are upgrading or re-vamping their web sites these days.

Any hiring/layoffs recently?
For my clients, yes. I haven't had to lay myself off yet.

I layed myself off yesterday. Went down to the unemployment office and discovered that I could not draw unemployment. Had to rehire myself.

When I filed for divorce from my first wife, I was working full time for Dow Chemical, and I was moonlighting as an electrical contractor. Her attorney filed an injunction.

To protect the assets of my company:
I could not use the company truck.
I could not sell anything from my inventory.
I could not move any of my tools.
She kept the company telephone number.

At the child support hearing, I was asked, "Where's the income from your business?" The friend of the court agreed to let me cancel the contract with the telephone company. I was not permitted to rehire myself... It gave my accountant a chance to say that I was probably never going to show a profit anyway.

Well, I've been freelance writing for two years plus some change after my last contract with WorldCom wasn't renewed -- for obvious reasons. Hard to come up with $$ when the boss is stealing it all.

Ironically, another contract has been recently offered for MCI (formerly WorldCom, formerly MCI). Six-month gig, not bad pay. I'm replacing someone who did not work out.

Hmmmm. Well, I can take a lot of guff and am good at what I do. I'll miss the freedom of freelancing (can take an afternoon off now and then) but I won't miss the constant money worry. I also won't miss working with really bad writers who need an editor. Or a bullet. One of the two.

Only thing between me and the gig is peeing in a jar and hoping for no false positives. Don't think that'll be a big deal because I was specifically requested to come back and fix MCI's mess. You know, like a Democrat

Think I could be steeped in cocaine and pot, drunk on my tush, a woman on each arm, metal rock coming from the boom box, and nobody would care. Just FIX OUR MESS!

Oye.

No recent news of layoffs nearby. Not sure if it's because of economic recovery or lack of reporting. I know the Labor Dept. hasn't been reporting big layoffs for over a year. See no evil, hey?

So, my microeconomics is looking up (even if my psyche is about to take a hit). Can't really tell on the macroeconomic level. All the indicators are up! Except employment.

Yep, and that could be more permanent than we'd like to believe. At least until this country gets a greater vision than going to Mars.

* a small voice from the masses whispers alternative energy and nobody listens *

I now work at home for my own company and I like the view from my window.

I had a company that a partner and I tried to get off the ground for two years -- '01 and '02 -- but were unable to get any traction (or income), so we bagged that this year, went our own separate ways. I went back to software consulting, which was quite profitable last year.

Yes, quite confident in my company, because it's ME But always worried about where the next customer will come from.

No hiring/no layoffs. Just me. For now.

Around me, it feels like early 1994. Coming out of slowdown, but not picking up enough speed to have better control over the rate I charge.

After two years as a full time student I graduated with a paralegal degree. While begining to fish around for a job I got a call from my National Guard unit and we are all being activated. It looks like I am going to be stateside working a port either in North Carolina or Jacksonville Fl.. Obviously the U.S. military is not laying off right now so I really don't think I'm going to have any problems with job security. The main reason I have stayed with the Guards is the people I work with, they are decent and the support system may well be the best thing about the military. I'm a little disappointed that I am not going to be working in the legal field for a while but I'm excited about what I'm going to be doing. I hope I end up in Jacksonville, I really need a good tan.

On a side note we are getting back our people that were in Iraq and the conditions there were extreme. There are going to be around 130,000 people coming back over the next three months and a relativly smaller number going overseas. I'd say my job is secure and the people I'm working with are as good as it gets.

I work in the telcom field. I came in right before the burst and have seen many people laid off since then. Since I work on site and considered top level support I am some what protected in my department, although I have told my supervisor that if cuts NEED to be made I would voluteer for the first round since I don't have a family to support and have lots of friends who owe me favors until I get another job. That and the fact that the people who get laid off first get a good severance package.

Lots of pressure. It's a software company, and we've been in "crunch mode" for months. Everyone knows that if we don't hit the next milestone it's going to hurt us a lot, and opinions vary on whether we can do that. We have sufficient funding for now, though, and people are generally too busy dealing with the technical stuff to think much about anything else.



It's a pre-revenue startup, so there's an inherent risk. We also made a conscious decision to trade off technical risk (lots of people think that what we're trying to do is impossible) for market risk (people are already lining up to buy it if we can pull it off). Within that context, though, the prospects for success are as good as anyone without rose-colored glasses could expect or hope for.



Lots of hiring. Our problem has always been finding enough qualified people, not what to do with the ones we have.



Things are looking up a little. I'm not hearing any more horror stories about people with fifteen years' experience who've been out of work for two years. I haven't heard about any significant layoffs lately, and some places seem to be cautiously staffing back up. A lot of people use me as a reference (officially or otherwise) and I have noticed a distinct drop in the number of calls that I get asking about people I know. That's because they've found jobs, not because they've given up, so it's a very good sign.

Platypus,

Get back to work you slacker (just kidding)!

I've noticed upticks on East Coast hiring as well. My start date for the contract is January 28th, and that will have made my unemployment (forced self-employment) stint 27 months. I have 22 years experience, which may be too much for some outfits (meaning agism). Thing is as I take this position, another person enters the ranks of the unemployed. It's a wash.

I think this area is experiencing churn as the formerly preferred low-pay youngsters mess up the systems almost beyond all hope. There's always hope though, and if you're old enough/experienced enough, you know this. Might have to start from scratch, but level zero is always an option.

The military is hiring hot guns if you have secret clearance. Few techies that I know of have that. It's a sweet deal if you can get it.

Will high tech come through this time like last time? Don't know, but do know that tax cuts/deficit spending is the administration's formula for economic stimulus. Greenspan doesn't seem to agree. It'll be an interesting year and perhaps make/break for the present economic stimulus activity.

Now get back to work! (talking to myself here)

I just quit my second job at Subway last week... for over the past month, I've been working no hours on weekdays, and closing every Saturday. I talked to my manager and she said that there was a severe drop in revenue around the holidays

I personally do not work. Yet my dh's job situation is MUCH better here than it was in Europe.
I have been taking at least 1-2 calls a wk for job offers for my dh and he is not even actively looking he just leaves his resume up so people call and bug me. Also he said that now when he tells him his asking wage they no longer stammer and say on no we wouldn't be able to do that..now they don't seem the least bothered. Altho most of the work offered in on a temp basis...because a lot of the work in my dh's field is contracted.

My Dh tho is currently a DOD employee and I feel very safe with his current situation. The only fear I have are the ever increasing security clearances that he is being asked to have. What if he fails one? ack!