The Mood is Optimistic Regarding Employment Data
February 8, 2010
Even with mixed results on the employment reports for January, the overall consensus appears to be that we are experiencing positive trends.
The video below is an interesting discussion on what happened in January.
- Categories: Uncategorized
Small Business Lending – More Access to Credit
February 4, 2010
Following a week that saw President Obama outline a plan to provide tax incentives to small businesses that hire new employees, Tim Geithner, on CNBC, outlines the basics of a program to provide access to credit for small businesses as well.
The proposal is meant to help small businesses gain access to capital up to 5% of their assets.
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Small Business Lending To Pick Up?
January 29, 2010
“I’m proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat. I am also proposing a new small business tax credit – one that will go to over one million small businesses who hire new workers or raise wages.”
President Obama said the quote above in his State of the Union Address. Regardless of how it will work, the prospect of providing greater credit and incentives to small businesses to hire is positive news.
- Categories: Uncategorized
Signs of Recovery for the Economy?
January 29, 2010
A government report shows a faster rate of GDP growth in the last quarter of 2009 than the US economy has seen since the 3rd quarter of 2003. The growth followed a gain in Q3 as well.
The CNN article states, “two straight quarters of economic growth is typically a sign of a recovery” , but also points out that government stimulus may have caused some of growth and this rate will likely be unsustainable.
- Categories: Uncategorized
Don’t let uncertainty stop you from being successful
January 23, 2010
There is a lot of uncertainty in the Financial Services sector of the economy right now.
As Mort Zuckerman of U.S. News and World Report outlines in the video below from CNBC, the questions of what regulations and taxes are around the corner for financial institutions could cause you to be paralyzed in your business.
Add to that the questions of what, if any, Healthcare Insurance reform the near future holds, and the Financial Services, Mortgage, Insurance, Real Estate, and Business Services sectors face a lot of uncertainty.
- Categories: Industry Trends
California Housing Market Continues to Show Signs of Strength
January 20, 2010
The median price paid for homes in Southern California in December rose 4%.
With mortgage rates below 5% and the government offering tax credits ($8,000 for new home buyers, $6,500 for existing home owners) through April, it seems likely that the market will continue to see improvement in both volume and prices through the first quarter of 2010.
And Southern California should prove indicative that positive trends in real estate will continue nationwide.
- Categories: Industry Trends
Jobs Outlook
January 14, 2010
Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com, addresses the current jobs market on CNBC.
Employers are projecting that they will start hiring this year, and in some cases even increase total headcount. That seems to me to be good news projecting our economic and job strength in 2010.
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Layoffs Are Tough…
January 11, 2010
Laying off employees is a terribly difficult thing to do. And laying off “with dignity” is of course beneficial to the person being let go. But there are also a lot of benefits to your organization to make the experience as painless as possible.
According to the below article, 18% of laid-off workers are rehired by their former employer. When that statistic is combined with the projection that 32% of employers who laid off employees in 2009 will rehire in 2010, the impact of how your company lays off employees becomes even greater.
- Categories: Employment Outlook
Home Prices and Sales Continue to Improve in California
December 17, 2009
Median home prices increased 1.8% from October to November in CA.
The number of houses sold increased 14.7% year over year from 2008.
This according to a recent article from the LA Times for Southern California’s real estate outlook.
- Categories: Employment Outlook, Industry Trends
President Obama Reaffirms Commitment to Promote Lending to Businesses
December 16, 2009
In a speech following meetings with the CEO’s of some of the nation’s largest banks, President Obama continued to assure his administration’s commitment to taking steps that will promote employment growth by increasing lending to businesses.
That the White House is publicly declaring their stance that lending must increase is a positive sign that commerce will continue and hopefully build on the positive employment numbers from November.
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