Career Advice: What Smart Young People Need to Know
Got a bright young person in the family? If so, steer him or her to Marc Andreessen’s blog, where he has a series of posts with career advice. Start here, then go here, and then …
Labor Surplus or Shortage: The Jamaicans of Mackinac Island
Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country. That would typically indicate a surplus of labor. But on a recent visit to Mackinac Island, the resort community in the straits between Michigan’s upper and …
Wage Growth Steady Despite Tight Labor Market
Wages and benefits are not accelerating despite the tight labor market: The benefits change shifts around a bit, but the blue line, which totals wages and benefits, shows great stability. This despite the low unemployment …
Employee Performance: Measuring to Reward Success
Labor markets are tight. It’s important to retain your best employees. But who are the best employees? That question is tough. A recent article in Business 2.0 magazine helps employers get a handle on employee …
Employee Retention
Labor markets are tight, as I’ve mentioned several times. Ken Tanner has a great, short summary of the case for focusing on employee retention before hiring. Read it here. Ken does hands-on consulting for companies …
Employment Solid, Labor Markets Still Tight
Job growth continued at a solid pace last month, and the unemployment rate is still low: The recent pace of job growth is 1.5 percent over the last 12 months. The population is growing not …
Hiring Good Employees: Not as Easy as You Think
The most dangerous part of the hiring process is what you think you know, but which might not be true. I just finished reading Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, a best seller from a few years back …
Quit Rate Levels Off
The employee quit rate has leveled off: This is good news for employers, in the sense that the problem is not getting worse. It’s bad news insofar as quits are still fairly high. In this …
Job Growth Slow, But Not Recessionary
The number of jobs increased last month, but not by very much: The growth rate is just under one percent annualized, which puts it just a tad below population growth. The unemployment rate ticked up …
Wage Inflation Heading Up
Wage inflation ticked up in the first quarter, by the more reliable measure, the Employment Cost Index: As a reminder, the ECI adjusts for the mix of jobs, so it’s an apples-apples comparison of what …
The 4 Steps to Using Metrics in Hiring Decisions
Forbes reports that employers are increasingly using quantitative measures in hiring decisions. (Article here, but free registration required.) This will scare some folks, but who hasn’t had really bad job interviews? One fellow wanted to …
Job Growth Good
Job growth was good last month. Not great, but good. There was some weakness in manufacturing and telecom and a few other categories, but generally the data are fine. Not booming, but fine. Further, the …