Job Listings Continue to Fall in May

The national unemployment rate continued to rise is June, increasing 0.1 percent from May's 9.4 percent to 9.5 percent. This marked the 9th consecutive month of growing joblessness. Considering this, it is no surprise that job listings and other indicators showed further signs of decline during the month.

According to a recent report from the Conference Board, its Employment Trends Index (ETI) saw another moderate decline in June. Last month it lost 0.8 percentage points, falling from May's 89.1 to 88.4. Currently the Index is down 21.6 percent from the same month last year.

"Compared to the beginning of the year, the decline in the Employment Trends Index has significantly moderated, and we therefore expect job growth to resume around the end of the year," said The Conference Board's Senior Economist Gad Levanon in the press release. "However, over the last month, leading indicators of employment were mostly disappointing, suggesting the Employment Trends Index is still seeking a bottom."

During the month of June the indicators the Conference Board utilizes to create its ETI reported a mixed picture, which is why the decline was only moderate. Indicators that showed decline included: the percentage of respondents that they find "jobs hard to get", the number of employees in the temporary-help industry, industrial production, real manufacturing and trade sales and job openings.

The Employment Trends Index uses eight separate labor-market indicators, all of which have been found to be accurate in their own right. Afterwards, these areas are combined to give a better picture of the current hiring situation. By doing this, the Conference Board is able to get a better picture of whether or not the number of job listings and other factors affecting the job market are actually declining. It also enables them to see what the trends really are.

The eight areas that come together to create the index are: the percentage of people polled who say that finding a job is difficult (The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey), Claims for Unemployment Insurance (U.S. Department of Labor), the number of employees hired on a temporary basis (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), the percentage of firms that are not able to fill positions at the time (National Federation of Independent Business), the number of people hired by temp agencies (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), part-time workers hired for Economic Reasons (BLS), job listings (BLS), Industrial Production (Federal Reserve Board) and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis).

The Conference Board will be releasing its next Employment Trends Index at 10:00 am on August 10th. This report will highlight the condition of July's job market. The Conference Board releases its ETI each month on the Monday after the Friday that the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its employment situation report.

Job Losses to Hit Ohio

The State of Ohio will be losing more than 2,000 jobs in the near future.

According to an article by The Columbus Dispatch, seven companies that do business within the state have filed layoff notices. The companies will eliminate a total of 2,358 positions at plants in more than a dozen locations throughout the state by the middle of summer.

• Severstal Wheeling Inc. announced the biggest cut, as it plans to layoff more than 916 workers at plants in Steubenville, Mingo Junction, Yorkville and Martins Ferry.
• Colfor Manufacturing will layoff about 589 workers at plants in Salem, Minerva and Malvern.
• Sencorp will cut 300 positions in Cincinnati.
• Johnson Controls will eliminate 205 positions in Greenfield.
• Faurecia Exhaust Systems will cut 168 jobs in Troy.
• Shiloh Industries is planning to get rid of 111 jobs in Valley City.
• ArcelorMittal will see the loss of 69 jobs in Warren.

Not surprisingly, all of these companies serve the auto industry, which has been faced with mounting trouble as of late.

Concerns among the steel industry along the West Virginia border, where most of Severstal's losses will take place, are nothing new. At one point, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel, the company's predecessor, had 15,000 employees in the county. However, there are currently only 2,000 employees and many of them will soon lose their jobs.

In March, Ohio had an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, the highest since 1984. There are now 577,500 unemployed workers in Ohio, an increase of almost 200,000 from last year.

On the up side, Wildfire Motors in Steubenville currently employs 75 workers and plans to add 100 more positions. The difference - the company produces electric vehicles.

Mass Layoffs Involve More Than 50 People

In December, employers took 2,275 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. Among the twenty-one major industry sectors, six registered series highs for both mass layoff events and initial claims for all of 2008--construction; transportation and warehousing; finance and insurance; real estate and rental and leasing; management of companies and enterprises; and accommodation and food services.

Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer; the number of workers involved totaled 226,117 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number of mass layoff events in December decreased by 58 from the prior month, while the number of associated initial claims increased slightly by 478.

Over the year, the number of mass layoff events increased by 806, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 80,201. In December, 871 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 105,402 initial claims. Over the month, mass layoff events in manufacturing increased by 3, and initial claims increased by 4,759, the fifth consecutive over-the-month increase for both measures.

New Research: Employee Job Satisfaction Related to Personal Vision and Self Confidence

Job satisfaction may depend as much on the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual resources the employee brings to the workplace as anything that’s happening on the job, according to data gathered from 120,000 working adults.

“The people who score in the top 10 percent of job satisfaction report they have a much stronger sense of purpose and vision—a stronger personal story—than those who have lower job satisfaction,” says research by Dr. Jim Loehr, chief executive officer of the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Florida. The source of Dr. Loehr’s data, the Full Engagement Profile, is based on concepts in his book, “The Power of Full Engagement.”

“People who report the greatest job satisfaction are highly self-confident individuals,” said Loehr, who noted an 85 percent correlation between high job satisfaction and self-confidence. “They are not only satisfied with their jobs; they also feel competent in work and life. These two are mutually reinforcing.”

He added that employers get only one chance at good selection for their openings, but have a daily opportunity to encourage people towards practices that renew physical energy. They also can encourage employees’ self-confidence through training and recognition.

“The catalyst to high engagement seems to come from one’s personal story—that voice in the mind that tells the person he or she is in the right place and on the right journey,” Loehr said. “While engagement is a highly personal process, employers can offer the tools to help people find it and keep it. And employers can remove the distractions that undermine it.”

Loehr's organization found the connection between job satisfaction and personal vision and commitment by studying responses to the statements: “I am happy and satisfied in my job” and “I am fully engaged at work.” In addition, people who rate themselves in the top 10 percent of job satisfaction and engagement rate themselves as much as two-and-one-half times higher on commitment, passion, vision, purpose, self confidence and spiritual capacity than those in the lowest 10 percent.

“If the tensions of the job or a discouraging environment take away focus, enthusiasm and time to create positive energy,” said Loehr. “The individual with high job satisfaction is at risk of becoming a different kind of employee.”