Jobs vs Economy

[Furby]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while and trying to figure out just how to do so.
Now that more and more folks around the country are seeing the falling economy in the US, how are the jobs?

Here's what I'm looking for:
Roughly where are you speaking from (state/county)?
What type of jobs are you speaking of?
How are those jobs doing and how do you think they will be doing in a few years?

[bitternut]

Seems to be lots of jobs. There must be or we would not have a few million illegals running around the country.

[DanG]

Well, I ain't totally sure what you're asking, but I'm saying that from Gadsden County, Florida. ;D

I'm not convinced that the US economy is falling, but it is moving in some direction.  Things shift with the times, and the times are shifting right now.  This is the sort of time the Gov't workers and others in stable business seem like the smart ones.  When times are booming, they tend to look lackluster because they aren't cashing in on the dollar frenzy.  If you intend to spend your working years toiling away for a wage, your choice is pretty much a crapshoot.  You can do like I did and work for a stable corporation for 34 years, and see all your retirement security yanked out from under you at the last minute.  Or, you can go it on your own and risk having all you've worked for zapped by a lawsuit or a change in technology, or your own loss of health.  

Construction is a field that offers some big paydays, along with some lean times.  Trucking seems to be lucrative, if your name is J.B. Hunt.  Maybe the tire business or truck repair would be the way to go.  Who knows?  The only thing I can say for sure is, you better be putting something aside for the future, because you never know what the future will bring.  Don't go into debt, and don't fail to save something out of every paycheck, whether you're slinging burgers or brokering mortgages.

[J_T]

Furby  Here Ky Tenn border If it weren't for Goodyear at Union City Tenn and two chicken plucking plants neer us you couldn't park on any bank parking lot. Of course we got MTD at Martin Tenn and a few other. It's bad and could get worse fast  :-\ Now I been out Colorado way and they booming  I mean booming had to have some payment money  :'( Got me some Me and the boss didn't gee haw to well  >:( They paying truck drivers 50 & 60 bucks an hour if you got your own truck they pay fuel & plates ect be sure you got a good sleeper cause there is no room in the inn  . Building is booming too This be at Rifle Co Halaburton got more trucks there than you can count . Grey Wolf got a bunch of rigs just a drilling 24/7 They think 10 to 15 more years of this .If I were younger I would of stayed may have to go back in the summer . Yep we stood on a little hill one night and counted 11 rigs Ps that hill was around 11thousand foot it was 7 miles of road  and took 1 hour 45 minnets to get there wide open.

[sawguy21]

The economy is strong here and trades jobs are plentiful but the nay sayers are spouting that it will end sooner than later due to the slumping U.S. market. I went through the oil boom collapse in Alberta in 1981 and don't want to do that again.

[Furby]

This is what I'm looking for.
I want to see where the jobs are and aren't and what those jobs are.
Also what you feel the future holds for those jobs.


By all major indicators nation wide, the economy is falling.
Local economys may be stable or rising and by looking at the jobs, that's what I'm looking too compare around the country.

Trucking on average nation wide has been falling like a rock.
Between the slowing economy and high fuel prices, truckers and trucking companies are scaling back where ever they can. It also has historicly followed the economy perfectly and it is.

[logwalker]

Keep your powder dry boys, the tough times are just getting started. With the current crop of idiots in Washington we don't stand a chance. Sorry if that viewpoint depresses anybody. One bit of advice if anyone cares to listen: Be a jack of many trades. The one thing they can't outsource is construction. In the words of Sophie  Tucker"s depression era song..."keep Smilin' Thru"   

[Kansas]

I think the hardest part of predicting the economy of the future rests on one thing....whats the dollar going to do? I personally think it will continue to collapse over the next few years, with the usual spikes and dips, but the general trend will be down.  If the dollar continues to get weaker, here is what I think will happen.
1).   Energy.   The low dollar will keep oil prices high, no matter how much or little we use. Oil services, drilling etc. will be very strong.  No matter who gets elected president, you will see a heavy emphasis on alternative energy sources. There will be a lot of spending on new technology, be it wind, solar, fuel cell, etc. New technology means jobs manufacturing those products. Wether you believe in global warming or not, that doesnt change the fact that spending, and jobs, in those areas, are coming.
2)  Agriculture.   A low dollar, plus the ethanol craze, means a very strong economy. I think you will see all agriculture commodity prices strong, and the low dollar will also eventually lift the meat industry. Its kind of hard to imagine strong beef exports right now, but I think in a couple of years, you will see very strong demand on all meats. One bright spot in manufacturing right now is agriculture machinery, and I  think that will continue to be very strong.
3). Commodities in general.   A cheap dollar will make the price of metals high, and I think it will eventually lift up the price of basics in this country-including logs and lumber. I know with the current train wreck of prices in the forestry industry its hard to imagine that, but a weak dollar will eventually lift those prices. It might take 2-4 years, but I do think good times in the sawmill/logging businesses are on the way.
4). Building.. residential housing.... I would hate to own a hammer, its going to be awful for quite a while.  Commercial construction-plants etc. should be fairly strong. With the changes of the weaker dollar, new manufacturing plants will have to be built to accomodate new industries.
I think you will see a good upturn of exports and the manufacture of heavy equipment, higher tech equipment. I think anything associated with manufacturing low tech  products will be gone. No matter what you think of immigrants, legal or otherwise, we are losing the cheap labor pool they provide. Its not talked about that much in the news, but with the hostile climate towards illegals, plus the fact that the american dollar isnt worth near what it was when they send those dollars back home, a lot of illegals are headed back south, or other directions, for that matter.
5). Military Spending..  Again, no matter who gets elected president, they are going to be confronted with a falling dollar, a whopping bill for our past wars that we have put on credit,  a serious budget deficit. Eventually, its going to have to be dealt with-to some extent, the rest of the world is making us deal with it by devaluing our dollar. My guess is, you will see serious cutbacks in military spending. It might be a few years down the line, but it is coming.
6). Health Care. We keep getting older.... A lot more dollars, a lot more spending.
Thats what my crystal ball says, bear in mind this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

[Bibbyman]

In our area(Mid-MO), the jobs are construction and service – especially health services.

You can't hardly throw your hat out the window as you drive down the road without it landing on a new housing development,  shopping mall, or something.  We had a nuclear power plant go in in the early 70's.  The whole area just exploded with new growth.  Lots of high-paying jobs and people that wasn't afraid to spend it. Now they are planning to put in a second one.

We have the state hospital in our town (lucky us). And there are a dozen other big hospitals in our area plus countless retirement homes, etc. All are short of health care providers and staff of all kinds.  The prison system is a big employer too.

Then every pizza place, fast food joint, and gas station has a sign up wanting help.

[customsawyer]

I don't have any answers as far as what jobs there are and all of that. My thoughts on the matter are that alot of the country is going through what the southeastern forestry industry went through about 8 years ago.
If you are in a certain job market you might have to go out and learn a new trade or get a different job to make ends meet. This will mean that you will go through lean times as you learn that trade or work your way up through a new job. If you are one of the lucky ones that are in a work field that is booming, brace yourself as the only thing that is constant is constant change.

[Haytrader]

Here in southwest Kansas, things are about like they have been for a long time. And I expect that will continue. Agriculture being the core business, most concern is not enough rain, too much rain, or other weather related things. Wheat prices are at an all time high but nobody has any to sell due to a poor harvest. Corn prices are high mostly because of all the ethanol plants being built.

With my hay business I get to see what is going on away from home. We cover an area basically from Denver to Amarillo to Oklahoma City to mid Mosouri and southern Nebraska. When I hear the economy is bad, I wonder where. I don't see it at all. I hear  housing is in a slump. Where?  Definately not in the area mentioned above. I have three girls and a boy. All the girls built new homes in the last year. One in Tulsa, one in Wichita, and one in N.J.. My son works for me and lives in a nice remodeled house I bought for $15,000. We just finished fixin up a small two story house I bought for $5000. Housing is cheap in the country. I bought a square block across from our home for the taxes a month ago. $568.00

As for jobs, there are plenty. From $6.50 at the C store to $9 to $12 at the rest home or a couple small manufacturing places. Trying to find a truck driver is almost impossible. The oilfield industry keeps the papers fulll of help wanted ads. Diesel is high but I-40, 35, and 70 are full of trucks. Meat packing plants, big dairys (that moved here from Ca. and Az.) and feedlots are always looking for workers.

I read newpapers online from some of the cities in the area I mentioned earlier. Not everyday but often there are articles talking about teacher shortages, nurse shortages, and the need for management personel.

Cedarman has mentioned lately about selling some quipment to a startup company that will be buying logs. There are plenty of cedar to be cut so the logging industry will be born just across the line in Ok.

There is a lady here in my hometown the makes small wooden religous figurenes (Worship woodworks) and employs six or seven full time.

LIFE IS GOOD IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

[Faron]

Dubois County just east of me (Flip's neighborhood) has the lowest unemployment rate in Indiana.  OUr area has seen major shifts over the years.  Jasper has always been big in furniture making.  That is still true, but many old businesses shut down the last few years, and the ones that remain hire fewer people, and are more mechanized. I believe a round of layoffs was recently announced by one of the larger factories.  Jasper Engines rebuilds engines and transmissions, and has a large workforce.  I don't know how their wages compare, but far as I know they have never had a layoff in their long history.  Many local support businesses have shifted to a regional or national focus rather than strictly local.
  The union coal miners around here under produced and over paid themselves for many years.  Many of them used to brag about how many hours sleep they expected to get in on a shift.  They were then surprised and outraged when the union mines closed.   :  The non union mines that are left here seem to be doing well.  They do seem to have trouble getting employees who want to show up for work, according to some friends of mine who work there.  It is hard work and the mines expect a lot from their employees. 
Toyota builds trucks southwest of here, and those jobs are highly sought after.  Pay is high, but working the line is difficult, and several workers are finding their body doesn't stand up to the pace very well.
Although it may not be exactly the job or the pay one would like, so far around here the only ones conpletely unemployed are those who either don't want to work, or can't pass a drug test. >:( Believe me, we have plenty of those. 
A new bio fuel ethanol and power plant is supposed to be built here, which will employ around a hundred people, plus construction, if the local idiots don't manage to stop it >:(

[Larry]

Furby, as you know I moved from north Missouri last year.  I would have been hard pressed to find a minimum pay job there and I have an excellent work record.

But what a change 300 miles can make.  Here in northwest Arkansas things are booming.  We don't have a large population base but I have never seen new construction going this fast.  New housing starts are the only thing I can see that has slowed down.  Of course the engine for our economy is Walmart, Tyson, JB Hunt, UofA, along with a few others.  Walmart is still a home town company and commands a local corporate presence from there business partners.

A little to the south is the Fayetteville Shale play.  A rapidly growing natural gas exploration area.  Don't know much about it other than the glowing reports I have seen in the press about more fuel for the economy.  It appears production is going to require a big work force to support it.

Bottom line is if a person hasn't found a job in this area he probably hasn't gotten off the couch.

Along with the growing economy the quality of life is great in this area.  We almost always get ranked in the top 20 places in the nation to make a home.  Think the biggest reason is affordable housing.

[thecfarm]

I'm in my own little world here and don't really know what is going on.That maybe a good thing.My job is we supply mostly interior trunk parts to cars.We are booming.People buy cars when they can't buy anything else.Some homes are going up here and there.Shopping malls are going up at a good rate.Two big ones are going up a little more than ½ hour from me in differant cities and the stores are moving into them as we speak.

[flip]

You can open the local paper here and if you are a nurse or truck driver you have the choice of working at about 10 different places.  Our unemployment is typically low so it is hard for somone to find a good paying $10-15/hr job easily.  You can usually find the odds and ends jobs but it is typically in some sort of service industry that starts at or near minimum wage.  I don't know what things are going to do but if our car sales guys don't get their butts in gear >:(   >:( >:(.  The service end of our business is going well and we are bussier than normal for this time of year.

[Norm]

Furby you can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a job. ;D

The industry that we're in is booming, healthcare is strong and has been for the 30 years I've been working in it. You do need to have an extended education but the money difference is well worth it. A friend of mine's son is an RN. He can almost name the money he makes by traveling to areas of shortages. He's been working in AZ in the winter and then moves up north for the hotter months. According to him he's making very good money.

The farm economy is strong in our area as well. For that you need to be a producer as the hired help is still low paying. Input prices have gone up but export markets are driving crop prices more than ethanol. Land prices are going up strong still. Our year on year increase was 20%.

[Roxie]

Here in Souteastern Pennsylvania jobs and the economy have stablized.  We were in a new housing building boom over the past eight years, but now those houses are getting harder and harder to sell.  The price was outrageously high on new homes, and I believe it's just settled into a more reasonable price range.  We were also losing alot of farms during those years, and that has stopped.  The price of milk has helped the dairy industry. 

Like flip, if you are a trucker or nurse, you can take your pick of hundreds of jobs in this area.  But, there are manufacturing jobs as well as clerical positions available.  In the trades category, plumbers, electricians, welders, etc., are making money.  On the lower side of the payscale, almost every convenience store has a sign posted for help wanted. 

The county that I live in is one of the wealthiest in the state, and I've noticed that the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' is getting bigger and bigger.  Based on the foreclosure listings, even upper middle class people are struggling to pay their mortgages.  That problem could very well be because they just bought too much house and all the trimmings to go with it.  But, in some cases I've watched, these folks have mortages that are higher than the current value of their home.  The business that I work in (landscape design/build) has a client base that is at the very top of the earnings ladder, and those people are above the impact of oil prices and such.  I leave for work, and deal with clients that spend more for landscaping than my home is worth, and then I come home and tromp through the manure.  I'm happiest in the manure.   

[bull]

There are jobs everywhere, with applicable pay rates....... The average family is living outside of their means and refuse to take a lower paying job.... Many people will not take the ten dollar an hour job Because they feel they are better than that and would for go a pay check before they would stoop to a lower paying job...  The educators are teaching the kids today that they are better than everyone else and that when they graduate they will be earning $50,000 a year or better right out the door in a start up job"BS">>> even the teachert have forgotten that they had to start at the bottom and work their way up.... The parents won't allow their children to work minimum wage jobs because there kids are better than that... And the topper everyone has to go directly to college
from high school..... To many people haven't learned it take work to get anywhere and looking for a hand out or a freebee, will keep you in the same rut....... Also our schools have cut back Voc/ tech and are only teaching kids to go to college.....
There is very little value put on being the working man!!!!!

guess where I'm from,

[ely]

the situation is about the same here in se okla. atoka county, the oil and gas folks are here to stay it loks like. people that own land and minerals are leasing for more money than they have in the property. it is crazy right now. jobs are everywhere if you like driving trucks or working on a rig someplace. health care is always a great job for those who have the schooling. i would venture a guess that the people i just mentioned are 35% of the pie , probably another 35% are the ones others mentioned with state jobs and the like who are on a structered pay scedule. imo the ones who are not doing well are the people who are close to minimum wage and rent their homes. the fuel prices are eating them alive.

the gap that is between the haves and have nots that was mentioned, is fixing to start swallowing up all the people that do not have a concept of conserving money. i call them the "keeping up with the jones'"people. they all are living above their means, using credit cards to make up the difference. it is a sad state of affairs in reality. i can go to near about any town and buy a real decent vehichle in the 3k4k range. i am talking about suburbans and tahoes and pickups. mid to late 90's. it will get worse as time goes on.

just yesterday i heard about a man that went to the bank to borrow money on a land deal.they told him that if he had 35% of the money they would loan him the rest. that is not how it was done in the past. i would think the owners that are selling the land could finance it them selves for 25% down, unless they are some of those in financial distress too.

times are ok right now here,but i do tend to aggree with logwalkers post overall.

[ely]

bull, you type faster than me ;D
i see the same thing here, if my kids will listen to what i have to say about money and learn from me they will be very rich men in the world, maybe not monetarily. but rich none the less. i do not care what my children choose to do for a career, but i do strive to teach them to do everything for themselves.

[woodhick]

I llive in the Kanawha Valley area of West Virginia.  We used to be considered the chemical vallley of the world.  Lots of chemical plants, Dupont,FMC, DOW(union carbide), Bayer, and others.   In the last 10 years this area has lost probably close to 6,000 jobs, most of which are $50,000 plus.  The economy in the area still keeps rooling along.  In the county I live in there are subdivisions going up right and left, most of which the homes are selling in the $200,000 range.  We have lost almost all of the manufacturing jobs so I don't know where the money is coming from.  Most appears to be Doctors or health care or sales.  I agree wholeheartedly with other posters that people are living way above there means.  I see it every day here in the schools where my kids go and even in my own family.  I do beleive that we are going to hit a big recession or depression if things keep going.  We are starting to see it with the major credit companies wanting help from our goverment now because they they made bad loans.  All of the car companies are screaming and look at how many jobs they have cut and retirement benifits they have cut from their retirees.  I also agree with others that we are raising a generation of youth that won't work for a decent wage but want to make $20+ hour and set on their butts while doing it.  I personally don't see how we can keep going at this rate without some fall somewhere. 

[Frickman]

Roxie lives in one of the wealthiest counties in our state, and I live in the poorest. At least that's what the numbers say. There are jobs everywhere, if you want to work. The same jobs you other folks have mentioned, health care, trucking, various service industries, you name it, even manufacturing. The only people I can find to work are older folks. Semi-retired types who took a pension somewhere but still like to get out and do something.

[SPIKER]

Here in Ohio
(northern center of state) there seems to be very little going GOOD.  read local papers there are 3~5 pages of foreclosures and 1/4 page of help wanted.   I am now unemployed as of friday the 14th.   I worked for the company 3 years in top wage job as an industrial electrician.    The company has been in business for 78+ yrs and has just about closed 2/3s of it;s operation only keeping enough going to keep business name here in states.  it is construction based and as most areas are experiencing a major construction down turn.  builders in this area are setting on multiple empty SPEC homes. loosing every thing.  If you want to buy used construction equipment come to northern ohio as very soon theres gonna be a ton of it for sale...  Ag around here is either Giant Farms or none, as all the smaller farms sold out to new developments and are now condos.  filled by doctors & nurses I guess and or truck drivers...   lots of those positions in papers. in fact I would say 90% of the help wanted ads are doctor/nurse/trucking with a few general mixed in.   Grain is being held high by the low dollar (cheap for over seas to buy our grain) and what was expected to be a high demand for ethanol but the overseas dollar is driving the ethanol plants out of business as they can't buy grains at a good enough price.  in fact if you check it out there are many plants that were/are in construction/design that are stopped simply due to poor economics of the end product (gas).   

What I've seen so far is that if you have good skill, willing to work for ave pay you can get a job.   If you are counting on construction in this area you are going broke (my brother is in drywall and hasn't worked full time in 2 years almost now, just a one or two jobs going broke in between.)   some places are going still but only hanging ON not making any profit, and with the weak dollar that means going backwards.   Lots of banks are going to start going under if you have over 100K in any one bank better diversify never know when it all can be going.  feds only insure up to 100K so if you have a good IRA or Pension in same bank as checking ect better count you're ducks...

mark

[bull]

I think its about time for a depression... We are in the midst of the 100 year cycle... only the strong survive.... bring back family,church and reliance on the local community..... bring it all home....USA..
Seems people have forgotten the american dream and gotten fat an lazy....

[Mr Mom]

Now for the Northeast Ohio report(Ashtabula)........It sucks.Not many jobs But truck driving and nurses. Ag dont know havent talked to any farmers in a while.
Things will get worst before they get better. Lots of houses for sale around here.
I haved talked to some people and they Dont have high hopes for this county.
But we will have the longest covered bridge in the U.S when they get it built at 8.8 million dollars.

Thanks Alot Mr Mom