September 2008 News Recap
Sep 3, 2008
Bankrupticies on the rise for 55 year olds and up
“More people in their 50s and 60s are still making mortgage payments and carrying credit card balances than ever before,” she says. “Those debts make them vulnerable to any other problem—an illness, trouble with their pensions, loss of a part-time job, an adult child or grandchild who needs significant help. The squeeze is getting more intense, and without years of high earnings ahead of them, much of the pain falls directly on seniors.”
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/personalfinance/articles/bankruptcies_wallop.html
Sep 3, 2008
Rutgers study shows U.S. workers worse off
In its first national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said that more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work or underemployed. That is a nearly 25 percent increase from one year earlier.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/01/workers.report.ap/index.html
Sep 5, 2008
Jobless Rate Jumps to 5-year High
WASHINGTON — The nation's unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of 6.1% in August as employers slashed 84,000 jobs, dramatic proof of the mounting damage a deeply troubled economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike.
http://www.nysun.com/national/jobless-rate-jumps-to-5-year-high/85280/
Sep 9, 2008
Study shows IT budgets getting slashed
Forrester's data shows the situation to be significantly worse in North America, where 49 percent of companies said they have cut their IT budgets, compared to 31 percent in Europe. However, McCarthy noted that since the study was conducted in late May and early June, economic conditions in Europe have further deteriorated.
In terms of vertical markets, the financial services sector was particularly hard hit, with 49 percent reporting IT budget reductions, compared to 39 percent of the media, entertainment, and leisure industry organizations polled.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/09/09/Forrester_IT_budgets_getting_slashed_1.html
Sep 9, 2008
Pay gap between workers and executives widens
A generation ago, top CEOs made 30 to 40 times the pay of average workers. Last year, CEO pay outpaced average worker pay by 344 times.
http://www.nj.com/opinion/ledger/perspective/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1220243752111960.xml&coll=1
Sep 10, 2008
US congress votes to “recapture” (read expand) work visas to 550k
Congress is back in session. Instead of taking up the financial crisis, the budget deficit, oil speculators, the energy bill, extended unemployment benefits or any legislation that puts U.S. citizens first for jobs in their own country….the very first thing they are going to try to do is, increase employment based Visas by over HALF A MILLION!
http://blog.noslaves.com/the-trojan-horse-stop-congress-their-cheap-labor-agenda/
Sep 10, 2008
New York Jobless Fund Running Dry
It would not be the first time. The state’s unemployment trust fund has repeatedly run dry in the last several years, most recently in the early months of this year. To fill the gap, the state had to borrow from the federal government until it collected enough payroll taxes to cover the weekly checks it sends to the state’s unemployed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/nyregion/29fund.html?ref=nyregion
Sep 11, 2008
Washtech study shows degress are less valuable
How important has your college degree been in your career growth? How actively do you use the knowledge you acquired in college at your present job? The answer, after talking to a variety of professionals, and educationists across the country, is “very little.” American IT professionals today grapple with a job market saturated with candidates, most of whose trump card is not higher education, or deeper experience, but their pennies on the dollar value. Home grown IT professionals today fight outsourcing, and each other, as they vie for an increasingly smaller number of open positions. The situation repeats itself from Boston to the Silicon valley. In this global economy, having a college education is merely the first step towards gainful employment, and no longer any guarantee of work.
http://www.washtech.org/news/labor/display.php?ID_Content=5261
Sep 11, 2008
Lobbyist groups AeA and ITAA may merge
In yet another sign that the technology industry is becoming part of Washington's lobbying establishment, two major tech trade groups are hoping to join forces to deliver a more unified message to lawmakers and regulators.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/bd3ed9905d35b21e88c85eff4a9afee2.htm
Sep 16, 2008
Hewlett-Packard to Slash Nearly 25,000 Jobs
Hewlett-Packard will lay off more than 24,000 workers as it integrates recently acquired technology services firm EDS into its own operations. The job cuts, which amount to roughly 7.5% of the combined company's workforce, will result in annual cost savings of $1.8 billion, H-P said Monday, ahead of an analyst meeting to discuss the move.
http://www.legitreviews.com/news/5177/
Sep 17, 2008
Calif. Court Denies Illegals In-State Tuition Benefits
WASHINGTO (UPI via COMTEX) – A California appellate court has thrown out a state law providing tuition breaks to illegal aliens, possibly opening the way to denial of other benefits.
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/politics/2008/9/17/calif_court_denies_illegals_instate_tuition.htm
Sep 18, 2008
May be more layoffs at eBay
And this week, people are expecting more layoffs at EBay – as many as 1,500 folks. It all began with an article in Barron's on Monday that cited a report from a Colorado investment research firm, suggesting that EBay would cut 10% of its 15,000 employees. Wedge Partners' Brian Blair and Ryan Hunter wrote that the company's business was “deteriorating.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/09/with-ebay-layof.html
Sep 18, 2008
Anti-American Worker Legislation Proposed in Congress Again!
These four bills (H.R. 4088, H.R. 5642, H.R. 5882 and H.R. 5924) will do nothing to curb the fraud in the H-1B visa program and they will have serious consequences for American citizens that are employed in the fields most effected by this type of legislation. We must learn from our mistakes. The current H-1B visa program has not served the best interests of American workers nor American companies. The current program has actually helped foreign competitors, with branch offices in the USA, hire almost no Americans and shift as many American jobs overseas as possible. How is this helping American workers and American businesses?
http://newsblaze.com/story/20080917130840zzzz.nb/topstory.html
Sep 19, 2008
Silicon Valley unemployment reaches four-year high
Unemployment in Santa Clara and San Benito counties reached 6.6 percent last month, up from a revised 6.5 percent in July and 5 percent in August 2007, according to data released Friday by California's Employment Development Department. The 6.6 percent unemployment rate in Silicon Valley is the highest since July 2004, when it was 6.7 percent.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10510850?source=most_viewed
Sep 23, 2008
Push to exempt H-1b from paying into Social Security
An agreement will allow Indians working in the US — under short term contracts — to secure exemption from contributing to the American social security.
Sep 24, 2008
NJ company caught in guest worker scam
In some cases, the employees were put on “non-productive status” for as long as seven months through “no fault of their own,” the labor department said in a statement.
Department of Labor spokeswoman Leni Fortson said one of the employees went unpaid for the “entire seven months the employee was in the country and associated with the company.”
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080923/NEWS/809240326/1010/newsfront
Sep 24, 2008
Evidence suggests that tech firms faking job ads to avoid hiring U.S. workers
Companies like Hewlett Packard, Cisco, and others are being accused of skirting federal laws to hire foreign workers while laying off American geeks
The key bit of evidence: Job applications are directed not to HP's normal human resources department but to one of its immigration specialists.
http://weblog.infoworld.com/robertxcringely/archives/2008/09/are_tech_firms.html
Sep 25, 2008
Financial Firms Will Offshore More Jobs in Wake of Economic Crisis
In the medium-to-long term, the sub-prime crisis will accelerate global sourcing adoption as financial institutions push the envelope on offshoring to cut costs, according to the Everest Research Institute. The Institute predicts BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) from the financial services sector will increase 40-45 times the current market size over the next five years
Within five years, the Institute projects spending for global BPO by the financial services sector will reach US$145-165 billion for India-based services, the hub of global sourcing for financial services. The report also projects offshore BPO adoption in the insurance sector will grow 12-15 times during the same time period.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/financial-firms-offshore-more-jobs/story.aspx?guid={2E10939F-EBFE-4197-B60B-3DBB06C77CD6}&dist=hppr
Sep 26, 2008
CA Legislature Torpedoes IT Overtime
California’s high-tech industry has won a significant political and financial victory in the Capitol: An obscure bill was rewritten late in the Legislature’s hectic session at the industry’s behest to eliminate the hourly overtime-pay rule for computer professionals. Organized labor says the action, which targets some 250,000 private workers, is unprecedented in a California state budget and the industry believes it is the toughest such exemption in the nation.
Sep 26, 2008
US ‘will lose financial superpower status’
“The US will lose its status as the superpower of the world financial system. This world will become multipolar” with the emergence of stronger, better capitalised centres in Asia and Europe, Mr Steinbrück told the German parliament. “The world will never be the same again.”
Sep 30, 2008
Black Monday hits tech stocks, likely to affect IT workforce
IT workers may soon hear a lot of talk of 'synergy' – that's code for layoffs
IT employment will also see turmoil, particularly in the financial services industry
That could be especially true of hard-hit financial services that may be under pressure to move jobs offshore to save money. IT career choices may be affected as well.
Sep 30, 2008
Borg study finds women in tech face greatest barriers at mid-career
The study, which sought to determine why there are so few high-ranking female engineering managers, found that women face the greatest barriers to advancement when they are in mid-career.
http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_10601626?nclick_check=1
