Survey shows 38 percent of company chiefs expect to add jobs over the next 6 months, up from 33 percent in March
The survey by the Business Roundtable, the country's main association of chief executives, showed 43 percent expect no change in employment at their companies, down from 45 percent three months ago. Nineteen percent expect jobs to decline, compared with 22 percent in March. Read more.
Workers win at U.S. Supreme Court on early retirement benefits
Pension plans can't take away early retirement benefits, already earned by retirees, by setting new limits on payments to those who take another job in the same industry, the U.S. Supreme Court said. See details.
Services growth slows, but job prospects improve in May
Growth in the giant service sector slowed in May but remained strong enough to create new jobs, a survey last week showed. The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index eased to 65.2 in May from a record of 68.4 set in April and just short of Wall Street estimates for a dip to 66.0. See details.
U.S. runs a high-tech trade gap
For the first time on record, the United States has a deficit in high-tech trade, prompting concern about American competitiveness in key job-producing industries from biotechnology to aerospace.
That deficit appears to be widening, fueled in part by the trend of offshore outsourcing in areas such as software design. As computer parts have become commodities, production has long since moved to places such as Taiwan and, now, to China. Read more.
High-tech work in US helps make up for outsourcing
Northwest Airlines is gutting two hangars at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport because the standard work of overhauling the airline's 747 fleet has moved to Asia. Air China, meanwhile, is sending its planes to San Francisco for high-tech engine work by United Airlines mechanics. See details. (Free registration required)
Federal agencies stick with hiring the hard way
Despite their complaints about cumbersome hiring rules, many federal agencies are not taking advantage of new options provided by Congress to assess job applicants and make swifter employment offers, a survey, part of a report by the General Accounting Office, shows. It found that many of the Bush administration's top personnel officials have moved slowly, or not at all, to put in place two hiring flexibilities approved by Congress in 2002. Read more. (Free registration required)
U.S. contractors in Iraq face dangerous, ambiguous tasks
The parallel work of battle and reconstruction has swelled demand for former military personnel and law enforcement officers to fill roles that a downsized military no longer can or wants to do. Contractors are protecting key leaders, escorting convoys, guarding military installations or oil pipelines, training Iraqi forces, interrogating prisoners. Far from simple guard duty, some have become entangled in firefights, pressed into the work of war.
See details.
More working parents play "beat the clock"
By one count, 40 percent of employed Americans work late hours or weekends or both. As more families like the Fulghams inhabit a topsy-turvy world that turns nights into days and weekends into just another time to punch the clock, some are paying a price. Read more.
Well-paid women's jobs still scarce
While the U.S. economy seems to have hit a sweet spot, with May showing a third-straight month of large scale jobs growth and even wary employers beginning to hire again, a report by the Economic Policy Institute highlighted another side of the coin: that higher-paying jobs are declining, lower-paying jobs are increasing and unemployed workers are staying unemployed longer. See details.
Hispanic group says state not protecting construction workers
The state isn't doing enough to protect Hispanic construction workers, leading to a rash of injuries and deaths among a fast-growing population in North Carolina according to a Hispanic advocacy group pushing two bills aimed at improving workplace safety, primarily at construction sites. Read more.
Big rally forming as home health care workers strike in New York
Thousands of elderly New Yorkers are caught in the middle of an ongoing pay dispute today. More than 20,000 home health aides in the city are on picket lines instead of on the job taking care of patients. See details.
Nearly half of college grads look outside Michigan for employment opportunities
Despite Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Cool Cities initiative, young Michiganders are leaving the state in large numbers as they look for particular types of jobs, warmer weather and cities with vibrant activity, according to a poll released over the weekend during the Detroit Regional Chamber's Leadership Policy Conference. See details.
| 
.gif){kind=icon}
#http://www.vault.com/images/spacer_1x1.gif#chr(34)#){kind=spacer}
