If you're thinking about opening a business and are weighing possible locations, you may want to wait until after Nov. 2 and see if voters in Polk County, Florida, pass a referendum that will give new and expanding businesses a break from property taxes for up to 10 years. (more...)
Posts Tagged ‘jobs’
Rethinking the education-to-employment system
September 24th, 2010
By: Dan Davis
By: Dan Davis
I learned a bit of news that raised my spirits this week: This country's inability to educate its children is not a recent phenomenon. Apparently, the U.S. has been screwing up for years.
That sounds awful, I know. However, when you constantly hear about the failure of the U.S. educational system, you begin to think it might have something to do with your generation. Edward E. Gordon, an expert on workforce development, challenged that notion in an address to the Rockford, Ill.-area Workforce Investment Board at the group's annual meeting on Sept. 22. (more...)
Big money
September 8th, 2010
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
Last night I had dinner at Outback with my daughter, who often tells me that if she could do it over again — to which I always reply: Why can't you? — she would choose another college major instead of the one she chose the first time around. She's thinking about making a career change when the economy improves and feels that her options would be much greater if she had pursued another major. Given the current economy, what should she choose as her next major? Where will the jobs be? (more...)
Time's a wastin
July 28th, 2010
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
As noted in a speech by John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers — posted on YouTube July 26 — NAM appreciates the fact that the House is spending the last week of July talking about the manufacturing economy, "but it's not enough … it's simply not enough." (more...)
Tell it like it is
July 21st, 2010
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
I don't pretend to be an economic or political expert. I'm just an average U.S. citizen who is worried about our economy and about my fellow citizens, including friends and family, who can't find jobs. I'm also a taxpayer, and I want the money I pay Uncle Sam each year to be spent judiciously and transparently. I want to know what I'm funding and just what I'm getting for my investment.
This week I was reminded that the astronomical stimulus package, which many of my fellow citizens and I thought was supposed to create thousands of jobs through funding infrastructure projects, hasn't quite lived up to its promise. Two surveys about the spending were eye openers regarding just how little has been spent on infrastructure. (more...)
Who you callin' a protectionist?
July 9th, 2010
By: Dan Davis
By: Dan Davis
If you haven't read this opinion piece by Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel, you should probably check it out.
In the editorial, Grove makes the point that the U.S. has outsourced not only tons of jobs to Asia, but also the ability to innovate. He thinks that manufacturing companies that grew and scaled up their operations in the U.S. over the years also fostered innovative thinking among their own employees and contractors. When recent start-up companies launched business plans and went to Asia to fulfill their manufacturing destiny, their absence removed a key dynamic for sparking innovation stateside. And, yes, the reduction of jobs was another byproduct, according to Grove. (more...)
Signs point to more jobs
June 9th, 2010
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
Among the leading news items yesterday was an Associated Press story about job openings rising in April to the highest level in 16 months, a statistic that offers hope of increased hiring in the coming months.
The latest U.S. Department of Labor's Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey (JOLTS) showed that the number of jobs advertised at the end of April rose to 3.1 million from 2.8 million in March, the most openings since December 2008. (more...)
Just happy to have a job?
May 19th, 2010
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
In the last few years, as more and more jobs have disappeared, those who have remained employed have considered themselves very lucky. No matter how much they've been pushed to do more with less, or how many benefits they've lost, many of these workers have adopted the mantra: "Just happy to have a job."
If a recent Manpower survey is any indication, you'll be hearing this mantra less and less as the recovery continues, and employers who've had little to worry about in terms of retention are in for a rude awakening. (more...)
No pixie dust for manufacturing jobs
April 28th, 2010
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
Do you ever have one of those days, weeks, or years in which nothing seems to go right? (If you answered "no" to this question, let us all in on your secret.)
I'm having one of those weeks, and I'm attributing all the madness and irritations to the full moon. That's right; I’m blaming something totally beyond my control and out of striking range. This morning, I actually wondered if maybe this time I might just be down for the count, at least mentally, but then one by one, problems began to go away. It's as if the cosmos suddenly decided to reverse the ravages of the full moon with a generous shower of pixie dust.
There is no pixie dust for manufacturing job creation. (more...)
The green fields of America
March 17th, 2010
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
As I write this, it's March 17 -- St. Patrick's Day - - and as a member of the Irish diaspora, I'm wearing green and playing the CD Murphy's Irish Pub as I work. This is the one day of the year that I immerse myself in my ancestry.
I’m an American first and foremost, but who I am as an individual stems largely from my Irish ancestors, who emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in the 1700s. They left Ireland for many reasons, including survival during the Potato Famine. They saw not only an opportunity for survival, but also for prosperity in America, as evidenced by these lyrics from an Irish ballad, “The Green Fields of America”: (more...)
