It’s tough to find a job these days. In 2000, the Labor Department began keeping statistics on the ratio of unemployed workers to permanent job openings. This July, that ratio hit a record of six to one — representing the 14.5 million official unemployment count to 2.4 million permanent full-time jobs open (in the 2001 recession, the ratio was about two to one). With the open position ratio at three times the previous record, it makes me wonder why the Fed thinks the recession is over.
This is scary for workers. The New York Times interviewed 51-year-old Milwaukee resident, Debbie Kransky who lost her medical billing job in February. Since this was her second job loss in two years and the job she lost in February lasted only a month, her last unemployment check — $340 — is her final one. She has run through her $10,000 life savings.
Kransky — who lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment — is understandably worried.
It’s not often that you get to interview a man like Howard Lindzon. Not only is he a successful hedge fund manager for Knight’s Bridge Capital Partners and a successful player in venture capital, but he is also the creator of the highly popular Twitter-based stock market discussion platform, Stocktwits.com.
For anyone who watched the recent speeches by U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Hu Jintao at the United Nations, the difference between the character of their content was remarkable. Obama failed to give specific promises on just about anything. Instead, he boasted that his stimulus package had returned the U.S. to a leadership role in the global climate change debate. How’s that? It showered $80 billion in U.S. funds on cleaner technology development and production facilities, he said.