Jobs in Nevada Not Recovering

More jobs in Nevada (Click here) were lost last month, and even though the state's unemployment rate slightly decreased, officials believe that decline to be only temporary.

The Nevada Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation recently announced that the state's unemployment rate dropped from 13.3 percent to 13 percent during October. However, Gov. Jim Gibbons believes this is only a temporary decline and not a sign that Nevada's economy is actually improving.

"I would like to tell the citizens of Nevada we have seen the worst of the economic crisis and are seeing the fruits of recovery," he said. "The decline in unemployment has not been followed by an increase in the employment base. Clearly the federal stimulus dollars have been better at retaining existing jobs rather than creating new jobs."

Preliminary October reports from the Nevada Department of Taxation do not indicate an increase in the modified business tax, which is based on the number of employees in each location. If new jobs had been created, the modified business tax revenue would have increased.

In addition, the unemployment rate is actually expected to increase during November and December, in part because the long-awaited CityCenter will open, which will result in the loss of thousands of construction jobs.

"My office continues to receive reports from businesses who regretfully must implement additional employee layoffs," Gibbons added. "We are working diligently on all fronts to bring new businesses to Nevada and to develop a new renewable energy industry in Nevada to create green jobs. I will continue to fight for new jobs for Nevadans."

Nevada had a total non-farm employment of 1,174,800 workers during October, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 1,179,700 workers during September and a 6 percent decrease from last year.

Twitter Recommendation Engine in Beta?

Just came across the following on my Twitter stream:



"Wondering who this is? Someone you follow thought this was worth retweeting, which is why you are seeing it in your Home timeline."

Looks like Twitter's version of a recommendation engine, similar to Facebook. Not sure how I feel about it being right in the middle of the updates ...

Portland Nursing Jobs Have Most Openings

Fortunately for anyone looking for a career in healthcare, there are more Portland nursing jobs available than any other occupation.

During the spring of this year, employers in the Portland Tri-County area had about 8,575 available jobs, according to the Oregon Employment Department's Job Vacancy Survey. Of those vacancies, one-tenth were left unfilled for at least two months.

The 25 occupations with the most job openings represented only 42 percent of all job vacancies in the Portland area, which means an array of other occupations beyond those 25 also were left unfilled.

Overall, healthcare and social assistance, educational services and retail trade accounted for the most job openings. The four industries combined represented 61 percent of all job openings in the Portland area.

Registered nurses had 451 job openings, accounting for 5 percent of all vacancies in the Portland area, making it the most in-demand job. That was followed by personal and home care aides with 235 openings and retail salespersons with 224 openings, each of which accounted for 3 percent of all vacancies in the area.

Among all other occupations, no single occupation represented more than 2 percent of the total job vacancies. About one-tenth of all job openings remained unfilled for at least 60 days. Occupations in personal care, social services, education, architecture and engineering and healthcare had the highest rates of long-term vacancy.

As further proof that Portland nursing jobs are thriving, the area's healthcare industry has continued to add jobs on a monthly and yearly basis, despite the current state of the economy.

The Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton area's education and health services area employed 134,100 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 129,200 workers during August and a 1 percent increase from last year.

Denver Medical Jobs

If you're looking for a career in Colorado, you may want to consider the various Denver medical jobs that are available, many of which have a positive outlook.

The healthcare industry itself is expected to grow by 18.3 percent between 2008 and 2018, which is faster than the 5.8 percent growth rate expected for all industries in the Denver area. That means 6,828 healthcare jobs, or about 683 jobs per year, will be created during the 10 year period.

There are currently about 155 employers in the hospital sector in the Denver-Aurora area. That includes general medical and surgical hospitals, psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals and other hospitals.

Employees in the hospital sector - including physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers - provide medical, diagnostic and treatment services. Hospital workers can be responsible for providing inpatient or outpatient care.

The top 10 occupations in the hospitals sector, according to the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment, include:

1. Registered nurses with 12,712 employees
2. Janitors and cleaners with 890 employees
3. Medical and clinical laboratory technologists with 888 employees
4. Radiologic technologists and technicians with 873 employees
5. Secretaries with 654 employees
6. Medical records and health information technicians with 631 employees
7. Respiratory therapists with 630 employees
8. Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses with 598 employees
9. Executive secretaries and administrative assistants with 583 employees
10. Pharmacists with 550 employees

Recent statistics show the healthcare industry's ability to grow and add jobs, despite the current economic recession, which also points to the fact that the industry is quite stable and will continue to progress in the future.

The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area's education and health services industry employed 137,600 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 135,900 workers during August and a 2.4 percent increase from last year.

Jobs in Atlanta Give City Low Milken Ranking

The inability of the local economy to support more jobs in Atlanta contributed to the city's low placement on a new report.

The 2009 Milken Institute's annual list of best performing cities ranked the metro Atlanta area 106th in the nation. The report ranks cities based on how they are doing at creating and retaining jobs amid a challenging economy and evaluates such factors as job and salary growth and the strength of local high-tech industries.

Atlanta's latest ranking is a large decline from the city's 59th place ranking during 2008. The city's five-year job growth, from 2003 to 2008, came in 63rd place, while its five-year wages and salary growth, from 2002 to 2007, came in 110th place.

Atlanta's lower placement is not a big surprise, given the recent state of the local economy, which has continued to lose jobs as the unemployment rate increases.

During September, the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta area saw its unemployment rate increase from 10.3 percent to 10.5 percent, which was higher than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.8 percent.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 2,270,000 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 2,280,000 workers during August and a 5.9 percent decrease from last year.

Two other Georgia cities actually improved their placement on the Milken list. Savannah was ranked 39th, up from 24th place during 2008, while Augusta was ranked 82nd, up from 121st place last year.

Austin, Texas, was ranked first in the nation, followed by Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas; Houston, Texas; Durham, N.C.; Olympia, Wash.; Huntsville, Ala.; Lafayette, La.; and Raleigh-Cary, N.C.

"Regional economic factors also strongly influenced the rankings this year, with the oil and gas sector, technology and alternative energy providing stability among metros in Texas, North Carolina, Washington and Louisiana, which also benefited from low dependence on housing/construction," the report noted.

On the other end of the scale was Flint, Mich., which placed dead last, followed by Detroit, Mich. and Toledo, Ohio.