Tim's Talking about FLSA, Paid Sick Leave and Domestic Manufacturing Production Statistics

Try to keep up with me because this months "News" is loaded?

Meal Periods 

The FLSA requires that in order for meal time to be unpaid it must be bona fide.  To be Bona Fide the employee must be completely relieved from duties during the meal period.

So a receptionist answering phones while eating lunch does not qualify for unpaid meal time.

Discrimination Awards Increase

The office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) enforces affirmative action regulations.

The OFCCP recovered a record $67,510,982 in back pay for 24,508 individuals in 2008 . . . A 20% increase over 2007.  New leadership and a bigger budget are responsible.

More on 'We Don't Make Anything Here Anymore'

Those that think we don't manufacture in this country need to get out more.  As a company that provides light industrial labor throughout NE Ohio I know first hand about all the things we make locally. 

Consider these facts:

1. The US provides 45 percent of the total value of finished goods in the world.
2. The US produced $1.7 trillion worth of goods in 2008 which is more than the entire Russian economy.
3. In 2008 the value of our manufactured exports was more than the economy of India.
4. 52% of teens in the country have no interest in a manufacturing career.  61 percent of teens have never visited a manufacturing facility.  Only 21 percent have taken a shop class.

What has happened is that manufacturing jobs have declined from 20 million in 1980 to 12 million today.  The reason for this is because labor intensive, repetitive, jobs have gone overseas.  High tech solutions have increased productivity.  We make more steel today in this country than in 1970 with about 60 percent fewer employees as an example.

It's interesting to note that recently GE just over the state line in Grove City, PA secured an order to make a 100 diesel Locomotives to go to South America.  How many out there even knew these were made close by?

Contagious Paid Sick Leave Coming?

House Democrats have introduced legislation that would require employers of 15 or more to provide paid sick leave to employees that are required to go home as a result of a contagious illness.

The motivation in part may come from a Wal-Mart sick leave policy that punishes those that stay home with H1N1.

FMLA Expanded

FMLA has been expanded to cover those requesting leave to care for a family member that is a Veteran undergoing medical treatment.  This care was not previously covered.

Union Elections

Fewer union elections are being conducted, but the number of union wins is up 7 percent.  Unions are winning at a 73 percent clip in 2009.  Machinists (IAM), Teamsters and Service workers (SEIU) are the big winners.

Now don't you feel smarter?

Tip of the Month: What Payrolling Can Do For You

When the less savvy users of temp staffing hear the word payrolling, their thoughts often turn to Paychex or ADP and their paycheck preparation services.  This is not an unreasonable conclusion.

In the staffing world, payrolling is when an employer has identified a qualified candidate to work at its place of business, but does not have the ability to direct hire the individual.  Instead, the employer contracts with a third party staffing supplier and the individual is placed on the staffing company's payroll as their employee.

Now, you may be asking yourself what the difference is between this and just having the staffing company send out a person to work at your location.  The one and only difference is that you found and selected the candidate and not the staffing company... and this is significant.

In payrolling an individual you have in effect saved the staffing company the cost it incurs in recruiting, selecting, testing, orienting, etc.  As a result, the staffing company can offer you a significantly lower hourly bill rate while you still enjoy the benefits of not having the person on your payroll. These benefits include:

When the jobs end:

1. The unemployment compensation charges and paperwork flow to the staffing service.
2. If the individual gets hurt on the job, the staffing company's responsible for the claim.
3. The entire payroll process is handled by the staffing company including all those time consuming administrative requests for wage info.
4. You save on all the benefit costs associated with your permanent employees.

So, how much savings might you expect from payrolling?

That depends on the nature of the job duties being performed and the nature of your business.

On a light industrial position it would not be unreasonable for your mark-up percentage to be 5% to 10% lower.  On a 12.00/hr bill rate this could amount to between $.60/hr to $1.20/hr plus the sales tax savings.

The reasons for using payrolling services instead of conventional staffing are different but include such scenarios as:

1. A former employee that recently retired is needed back to cover for a vacation or an unexpected quit.
2. A current employee has a child, friend or relative that needs a job and you want to accommodate that person.
3. To get the best possible person that matches your needs you want to do your own recruiting, interviewing, and selecting because you best know your own business.
4. You have a simple need to keep your staffing costs as low as possible.      
5. Unemployment is high and you get an abundance of job seekers coming to your facility any way.

So, in the end, payrolling provides a flexible option that allows employers to maintain control and lower costs while still utilizing the Staffing suppliers HR administrative services.  Payrolling services are ideal for legally retaining independent contractor, retirees and college students by allowing the employer to identify qualified candidates.

With Ryan's service, employers can legally have payroll employee's work on site without the insurance risks or employer liabilities and benefits.      

Holiday Greeting from Ryan Staffing President Tim Ryan

It's time for a reality check.  If I may be so crude, 2009 sucked.  Or did it?

For sure, those that lost their jobs it did.  And for those that lost loved ones it was hard.  But the nice thing for me about the holiday season is that it provides a short moment to put aside those things that stressed us out all year long and take a look at what is really important.

First and foremost is that if you're reading this it means you are still on this side of the grass. . .  not bad.  And hopefully you have friends and family that surround you with love and support that comes in handy for all of us from time to time.

If you had food on the table, running water, flush toilets, clothes on your back and all of the other day to day necessities of life that we sometimes take for granted you're in pretty good shape.

With the holiday being a religious time of the year hopefully you've been able to find or keep your faith in God in some fashion and realize that no matter what, everyone of us has been given a life on earth that holds some meaning and purpose.

Most all of us don't need to be rich or famous to be happy campers.  We'd just like to struggle a little less at times, right?

So, when you look at the things that are really important, perhaps the end of the world is still a ways off.

From all of us at Ryan Staffing we wish you a Blessed Holiday Season and a better 2010 than 2009!

Sincerely,

Tim Ryan, President

Ryan Staffing Expands Our Digital Reach

As demand for temporary staffing continued its steady rise in November, according ot the American Staffing Association's monthly report, our business picked up.

Usually when we get an influx of more jobs to fill, we go straight to the newspaper. But this time, we're backing away from that and pushing digital opportunities to advertise.

Last week I started our Google AdWords campain. Although it has started out slow, it did not cost us an arm and/or a leg to try the ad platform.

Google sent me a free $100 to start advertising. It was easy to start up and the billing system is ideal because it works in the customer's best interest.

You only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Google has applications that help to optimise your ad campaign because its in their best interest to get your ad clicked on.

So it drives people to your site in the most cost efficient manner possible.

Your per click cost depends on the amount of clicks you get in a given period. Currently we're paying $.19.

The other digital initiative we're taking is advance to Facebook. I am currently designing our Facebook page, which will work much like our Twitter page, a means for forwarding employment news and job openings.

We may also start advertising on Facebook, a decision we'll make in the next few weeks. I haven't looked into too much, but Facebook advertising appears to be very similar to Google.

But because the Facebook platform requires users to compile personal profiles of each other, it may be an ever more efficient method for advertising if your clients (people you want to reach) are registered with Facebook.

Our digital media approach has been to expand our voice in as many cost efficient ways as possible. Craig's List has been our most successful application. Twitter has been our least successful.

As I learn from our experience, I'll make note of it here in the blog and in our monthly newsletter.

WSJ: Job Cuts Comming As Stimulus Fades

Uncle Sam pumped $5.04 billion dollars into Ohio's economy (alledgedly creating 17,085.89 jobs) and $787 billion into the U.S. economy (allegedly creating 640,329 jobs), according to Recovery.gov.

But as construction jobs wrap up, some of those employees will be losing those new found jobs.

Here's an article from the Wall Street Journal Dec. 1 that goes into greater detail.

WASHINGTON—Highway-construction companies around the country, having completed the mostly small projects paid for by the federal economic-stimulus package, are starting to see their business run aground, an ominous sign for the nation's weak employment picture.

Tim Word, vice president of Dean Word Co., a heavy-construction company in New Braunfels, Texas, said his income is now coming mostly from projects that are winding up. He said that in normal times he has about $100 million of signed contracts in hand. But that number has fallen to $30 million, and the pipeline is empty. In the past two years, his work force has shrunk nearly 40% to 260 from 420.

"Having something to bid on is the lifeblood of the industry, and it's running out," said Mr. Word. He isn't sure what will happen next year without new projects. "There's no pavement fairy that's going to help."

Since the recession began in 2007, employment in the construction industry has fallen by 1.6 million, the Labor Department says. Though the housing sector accounts for many of those job losses, road builders have also suffered, and executives in the industry expect layoffs to rise next year.

More broadly, the Congressional Budget Office late Monday said it estimates that the federal stimulus package sustained between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs in the third quarter, and raised gross domestic product by 1.2 to 3.2 percentage points higher than it would have been without the program.

The construction industry's unemployment rate, including related extraction businesses, such as gravel processing, climbed to 19.1% in October, up from 10.7% a year earlier. The transportation and material-moving sectors saw unemployment rise to 11.6% from 7.9% over the same period.

State officials and local contractors trace the industry's woes to the recession and the collapse of the residential and commercial real-estate markets. In addition, they cite the federal government's delayed plans to enact a transportation bill. In one version, the law would have provided $450 billion for highways and infrastructure projects over the next six years.

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Happy Thanksgiving from Ryan Alternative Staffing

Follow Ryan Staffing on Twitter to Win Amazon Gift Cards

WSJ: Showdown Set for Health Bill

Editor's Note: The following article ran in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid set the stage for a climactic debate in the Senate over health care by unveiling a 10-year, $848 billion bill that would extend insurance to 31 million Americans without coverage.

Mr. Reid's proposed legislation, 2,074 pages, is the Senate's answer to a bill that narrowly passed the House Nov. 7. The two bills have differences on taxes, abortion coverage and a public-insurance plan and would require considerable work to reconcile if Congress hopes to pass some form of health care overhaul -- the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's domestic agenda.

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Tim's Talking about GINA, Swine Flu and Last Month's Poll Results

DON'T LOOK NOW ...

Just when you thought you've experienced everything in the world to worry about complying with in operating your business you get GINA!
 
The Genetic Information Non Discrimination Act (GINA) will go into effect on November 21, 2009. 

This law will prevent discrimination against individuals based on genetic tests.  It of course requires a new poster.
 
This is good news for the poster companies.

DARN THAT SWINE....

Can you operate with 25%-50% of your employees off work with the flu?  That's a worry of the H1N1 crowd.  But did you know that absences due to seasonal influenza may qualify for unpaid leave under FMLA?  And that making inquires about an employee's health condition or that of a family member can cause ADA legal problems?

So what's the answer?
 
The pros say encourage employees to stay home if they are sick;  leave work and go home if they get sick;  wash your hands a lot;  sneeze in your armpit;  cross train employees;  and minimize face to face contact.

Feel better?

MANUFACTURING MYTH...

America no longer makes things.  You hear this all the time.  In a previous "Corner Stool" we put some numbers together to dispute this myth.

Now consider these: According to the 2009 Economic Report of the President:

1. Total manufacturing output in the U.S. hit and all time high in 2007.
2. 2007 output was 8% higher than 2000,  69% higher than in 1990,  81% higher than 1987,  184% higher tan in 1980 and ...
3. Manufacturing output as measured by the
   Industrial-Production Index was 213% higher in 2007 than it was in 1967!      
   

The lesson here is that manufacturing as a share of gross domestic product is down 30% since 1987 not because of less manufacturing but because of substantial growth of construction and services.

OVERLOAD IMPACTS OFFICE PRODUCTIVITY...
The average worker that sits in front of a computer all day will:

• Check e-mail 50 times
  
• Instant message 77 times
  
• Visit 40
  web-sites
  
• Take 24 minutes to get back to work after checking e-mail
  
• Score 10
  points lower on IQ test
  

They call this person an "electronically distracted worker" I call it crazy.
---
Editor's Note: While those procrastination statistics may be alarming, there are two sides to the argument.

This column in Wired magazine argues that people actually are problem solving when they mindlessly wonder the Web.

Now I don't know about the statistic with the IQ test, I can't find where Tim got that one, But there's at least some food for thought.

Tip of the Month: Understand Your Billing Rate

The computation of the hourly billing rate that Staffing Services charge can sometimes be misleading.  Consider these examples:


Example 1: 

• Pay rate = $10.00/hour
• Staffing service quotes a 50% markup of the pay rate
• Final bill rate is $15.00/hour (10x 1.5) simple enough right?

 Example 2:

• Pay rate = $10.00/hour
• Staffing service quotes a 33 1/3% markup
• Final bill rate is $15.00/hour
  

How can 50% and 33 1/3% produce the exact same bill rate you ask?  Semantics. . . . or as we use to say in the 60's, Tom Foolery!

The first example utilizes a pure mark up formula.  The second utilizes a retail marketing gimmick to make themselves look cheaper. 

Instead of marking up the pay rate by 33 1/3% (which would yield a $13.33/hr bill rate) they take the difference between the bill rate ($15.00) and the pay rate ($10.00) in this case $5.00/hour and divide that in to the bill rate ($5.00 / $15.00) to get the 33 1/3% markup.

Example 3:

• Pay rate = $10.00/hour
• Staffing service quotes a markup of 20% plus burden costs
• Final bill rate = $16.00/hour
  

How can this be you ask? 
The key word here is burden. Burden is staffing service lingo for payroll tax costs.

So in this case the staffing service is trying to sell you that their payroll tax cost is 40% or $4.00/hour.  This is highly unlikely.  It really means more in their pocket.


What does this all mean? You request quotes from three staffing companies and the response if
20%, 33 1/3% and 50%.  A no-brainer right?

Now what's the tip?
 
Simple, when you send out for bids from staffing services request specific pay rates along with the  corresponding hourly bill rates.  Don't solely base your pricing decision on a "mark-up" number because as you can see they are computed differently.  You want to compare apples with apples.


And for the record, Ryan Staffing uses the first example.  We are a no tricks or gimmicks supplier.

SHRM Talks With Senate

On November 10, SHRM member Elissa C. O'Brien testified at the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families hearing titled, "The Cost of Being Sick: H1N1 and Paid Sick Days".  Ms. O'Brien is Vice President of Human Resources at Wingate Healthcare in Needham, MA, and a member of SHRM's Special Expertise Panel on Labor Relations.

In her testimony, Ms. O'Brien shared the HR perspective with senators who are considering crafting a federal protection for workers during this winter's flu season.  She explained the efforts SHRM has undertaken to educate its 250,000+ members on H1N1 preparedness and described her employer's workplace flexibility and leave policies.

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Society for Human Resource Management: Congress should vote 'No' on HR 3962

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962 on Nov. 7. And the national chapter of the Society for Human Resources is asking its members to write their Congressman to vote "No" on the current bill.

Here's what SHRM had to say about the bill in it's current form:

"SHRM is committed to achieving comprehensive health care reform that provides high quality, affordable health coverage to all Americans in a manner that strengthens the voluntary employer-based system.  HR professionals realize that the current system, which has health care costs rising faster than inflation, is unsustainable. That  is why SHRM has supported efforts to control costs." 

To meet this goal, SHRM supports public policy that achieves the following:

• Strengthens and improves the employer-based health care system;
• Encourages greater use of health prevention, promotion, and wellness programs;
  
• Strengthens the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to ensure a national, uniform framework for health care benefits;
• Reduces health care costs by improving quality and transparency;
•  Ensures tax policy contributes to lower costs and greater access.

Here's a list of Northeast Ohio's Congressmen (click name to get to their electronic contact form):

Senators:
Sherrod Brown
George Voinovich

Representatives:
Charles Wilson District 6
Tim Ryan District 17
John Boccieri District 16
Dennis Kucinich District 10
Marcia Fudge District 11
Steven LaTourette District 14

CDC: 22 Million Reported H1N1 Cases

Editor's Note: The article ran in The Wall Street Journal Nov. 13 issue.

An estimated 22 million Americans have been sickened with swine flu since April and 3,900 have died, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, as shipments of vaccine fell behind government predictions.

The sharply higher numbers of illnesses and deaths are the result of the CDC trying to better quantify the new H1N1 flu's impact, authorities said, and do not mean the disease has become more virulent. Most cases have been mild; of those sickened, 98,000 have been hospitalized, the CDC said.
 
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Great Interactive Graphic from WSJ.com on flu spread

Economists say unemployment may hit 12/13 percent

Editor's Note: The following is an exceprt from the WSJ.com blog Real Time Economics.

(Economist David Rosenberg) points out that beyond those who are counted as officially unemployed, “there are the record number of people [about nine million] who got furloughed into part-time work,” plus many more who have dropped out of the labor force altogether.

Mr. Rosenberg’s call comes at a time when despite glimmers of improvement in the nation’s job market (such as a slowdown in new unemployment claims and a small uptick in job openings), unemployment continues its sharp rise. The U.S. unemployment rate hit 10.2% in October, according to the Labor Department, double the 5% rate seen just last year and the highest level since 1983.
Other economists, such as Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs and Nouriel Roubini, a professor at New York University, have floated the idea that unemployment could hit or even surpass 11%, but Mr. Rosenberg is the first to predict an unemployment rate as high as 12%-13%.

“If it weren’t for the drop in the labor force participation rate… the unemployment rate would be testing the post-WWII high of 10.8% right now,” he writes. “The business sector has a vast pool of resources to draw from before they start tapping into the ranks of the unemployed.”
“Hence the unemployment rate is going to very likely be making new highs long after the recession is over — perhaps even years,” he writes. “This will undoubtedly be a major political issue.”

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Portage County Human Resource Association November Meeting

Click image to enlarge.

Whatever they're paying, it's not enough....

WSJ.com: U.S. Factories Are 'Grossly Underutilized'

Editor's Note: The following article ran on the Wall Street Journal Web site on Monday Nov. 9.

U.S. manufacturing is finally on the mend — though as many factory bosses are quick to point out, when you’re in a hole this deep, everything looks up. That’s certainly true of capacity utilization.

The numbers show U.S. factories remain “grossly underutilized,” writes Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist of MAPI/Manufacturers Alliance, in a new report. Capacity utilization, which includes manufacturing, mining and utilities, has been hit hard in this recession, reaching 70.5% in September after being in the 80s for years. In the manufacturing sector, factory utilization for September ticked up to 68% — rising from a post World War II record low of 65% in June. Capacity utilization for manufacturing dropped like a rock in this recession, falling from 79% in December 2007. The problem, as Meckstroth notes, is that while any movement upward is welcome, there has to be a lot more growth to simply soak up all those idle machines and assembly lines.

Looking beyond the headline number points to another sobering reality: Some industries were hit much harder than others — and therefore have further to go to get back to more normal utilization. Capacity utilization in primary metals plunged from 86% in December 2007 to 55% currently, mainly because of collapsing demand for some types of steel, while the utilization rate in the computer and peripherals industry fell to 58%, down from 83% in December 2007.

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Wal-Mart's sick leave policy spreading H1N1?

The National Labor Committee released a report earlier this week that said Wal-Mart's sick leave policy may lead to the spread of H1N1 this flu season.

Punishing workers for taking sick leave puts Wal-Mart on track to be a major spreader of swine flu this fall.  The retail giant gives workers demerits and deducts pay for staying home when they are sick or to care for a sick child.

In interviews with Wal-Mart “associates” at stores across New York State, employees confirmed that they had no choice but to work sick.  One Wal-Mart employee from a supercenter explained:  “Plenty of girls are coughing their brains out.  But they cannot go home because of points.  Everyone comes in sick.  You cant stay home and God forbid if you leave early.”  “Associates” –including food handlers working in the grocery, meat and even deli departments—are routinely coming to work with the flu, conjunctivitis, fevers, strep throat, diarrhea and vomiting.  It is only when an employee is coughing too loudly and violently that he or she will be transferred from the food section to another department, where the sick worker will still be interacting with customers.

An experienced worker at a Wal-Mart discount store similarly confirmed that “people are coming in sick all the time.”  In fact, just last week several cashiers at her store came to work with flu-like symptoms, only staying home when they were so sick it was impossible for them to work.  (The most contagious period for swine flu is at the beginning of the illness.)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is strongly recommending that employers “advise workers to be alert to any signs of fever and other signs of influenza-like illness before reporting to work every day, and notify their supervisors and stay home if they are ill.”

Government Goes Facebook

Are you on the always growing social networking site Facebook? No, well your government is.

I happened to be on my Facebook, and saw a post from a colleague/fellow Ohio University alum who works at the Associated Press stating he was working on an article on the White House's Facebook Live feed.

It appears that Facebook users can go onto this page to watch events at the White House, and contribute to a national chat.

My question is, how many people over the age of 30 use Facebook?

Marketing research group iStrategy Labs reports that Facebook saw significant growth in the 35-54 and 55+ demographics between 2008 and 2009.

The 35-54 demo grew from about two million in Jan. 2008 to about seven million in Jan. 2009, an increase of 276 percent, according to the report.

The 55+ demo grew from 324,000 to 950,000 in that same time frame. But as Baby Boomers continue to move into retirement, will they embrace the Web to fill free time?

Also, if you're target demographics are 18-34, then Facebook kills with over 28 million users in those demographics.

Going on my post earlier today, it's got me thinking about taking Ryan Staffing's electronic marketing and advertising to that platform.

Are you buying newspaper ads?

For the past six months or so, we have increased our usage of new media in advertising job openings.

We use our Constant Contact e-mails, Craigs List and our Twitter page to get the word out on job openings. We updated our Google information and constantly put new information on this blog so Ryan Staffing becomes more attractive on Google searches.

But are tactics like this responsible for the demise of newspapers?

Newspaper publishers are running out of costs to cut, and they need to show some real ad-revenue gains soon.

Executives from major publishing chains have clung to a slight moderation in their ad revenue's year-over-year rate of decline from quarter to quarter this year as a sign of improvement.

But that probably has more to do with the mathematics of easing comparisons to last year's economic decline than it does with any actual improvements in this year's ad performance.

The reality is that newspapers are suffering severe declines in ad revenue this year on top of the double-digit percentage declines they suffered last year.

Compared with the first half of 2009, their recent performance doesn't appear to be getting much worse, but it has yet to show any real recovery.

-- Wall Street Journal

Now, because I play on both sides of the court (I am a reporter at a newspaper who's parent company currently is in bankrupcy court), I see the issue this way.

Newspapers always thought they were community institutions. They sponsored Turkey Trots, 3-on-3 tournaments, picnics and their buildings were supposed to be like city halls and court houses.

So they never changed.

With that in mind, why wouldn't companies with dwindling advertising revenues do things more efficiently with direct e-mails and more searchable Web sites?

When you want to know where to find a restaurant or what time a movie starts, do you look through the newspaper or do you go online? What about buying a car? Would you prefer to search through news ads, or go online where you can compare prices with search tools?

Although it may cost me some salary some day at my newspaper job, I cannot argue for newspapers in this regard. Online advertising is just better.

Ohio OKs Casino Gambling

The passing of Issue 3 Tuesday will bring four casinos to Ohio, including a $600 million casino in the section of Cleveland known as The Flats.

Here are some stories from around the Web on Issue 3 passing:

The Plain Dealer
Cleveland to get its casino; Voters OK gambling, approve Issue 3
By Reginald Fields

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Tuesday's election transformed Ohio from an anti-gambling state to one that will welcome four major casinos, including a glitzy new one in the Flats, just across from Quicken Loans Arena.

Issue 3, the constitutional amendment for casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo, coasted to victory Tuesday night with 53 percent of the vote, thanks in large part to voters in Northeast and Southwest Ohio.

With Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert pledging that construction of the $600 million Cleveland casino would begin no later than the second half of next year, city supporters are looking forward to thousands of new jobs and more tourism from this new form of entertainment.

"We're going to deliver something very special," said Gilbert, who declared victory shortly before midnight at a party in the Cavs' practice court on the fourth floor of the Q, a couple of hours after the Cavs' win over Washington.

He vowed not to build a walled-in, isolated compound, but something integrated with downtown Cleveland.

The promise of jobs and tourism for a city reeling from a devastating economy sold Mayor Frank Jackson, City Council and business leaders who got behind the casino plan.

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The Vindicator
Ohioans OK casino gambling, but Mahoning Valley voters reject state Issue 3
By David Skolnick

Backers of the casino initiative aren’t surprised by the results in the Valley, a spokesman says.

YOUNGSTOWN — Las Vegas-style casinos are finally coming to Ohio, despite the rejection of the statewide issue in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

Though disappointed with the statewide results, Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras, a strong and vocal opponent of the issue, said he’s proud of the unity shown by voters in the Mahoning Valley against the issue.

“I’m happy the Valley residents spoke loud and clear and stood arm-in-arm and voted as a region against this,” said Betras, who opposed the issue because it didn’t include a casino for this area.

“The people of Ohio spoke and Issue 3, despite its many flaws, was passed,” he added.

With 92 percent of the statewide vote counted, the gambling issue was winning 53.08 percent to 46.92 percent, according to unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.

The measure received 44.39 percent support in Mahoning County, 49.44 percent support in Trumbull, and 38.17 percent in Columbiana.

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The Dispatch
Ohio OKs casinos
By James Nash

Battered by a grim economy, job-hungry Ohioans approved casinos for Columbus and three other cities yesterday.

Voters broke a streak of four failed gambling measures in Ohio by approving Issue3 with about 53 percent voting yes.

The measure benefited from a strong appeal by unions and urban politicians to get voters in the four casino cities - Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo - to the polls. The measure carried by large majorities in the Cleveland and Cincinnati areas, won with a smaller majority in Toledo, and lost in Franklin County.

"We're going to deliver something very special, and we're going to work very hard with a lot of people," said Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and owner-to-be of two of the casinos. "This is not going to be a savior by any means, but it's another brick in the wall."

Gilbert will have the rights to casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati. His partner on Issue 3, Pennsylvania-based Penn National Gaming Inc., will develop casinos in Toledo and Columbus' Arena District. Construction could begin by late 2010, and the new facilities would open in 2012.

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Are you worried about H1N1?

There's been lots of talk about the H1N1 and office life. How does an office cut down on sick employees? What about sick time? Should office's be more lax on sick leave, getting sick employees away from healthy ones?

Here is a great Q&A article from Ogletree Deakins, one of America's leading labor and employment law firms.

Employment Law Q&As on H1N1 Flu

by Olgetree Deakins

Oct. 15, 2009

May an employer involuntarily send home an employee who has or is exhibiting symptoms of H1N1?

Yes. Of course, employers must be careful to apply such a practice in a manner that does not discriminate on the basis of other protected characteristics (e.g., gender, race, etc.).

May an employer send home an employee who is not exhibiting H1N1 symptoms but who has been in close contact with someone with H1N1 (e.g., a family member, close friend, etc.)?

Yes, although employers should be aware that the CDC has indicated that in general business settings (e.g., non-healthcare settings where individuals in the workplace are not at a greater risk of contracting H1N1), employees without symptoms, but with sick family members, may report to work. Employers are free to meet with employees who have been in contact with those with H1N1 to remind the employee that he or she should practice good respiratory etiquette and handwashing and should stay home if he or she begins to feel sick, for the health and safety of the employee and his or her co-workers and the continued operation of the facility. Employers should apply any "send home" policy consistently.

When may an employee who has had H1N1 or H1N1 symptoms return to work?

The CDC has indicated that in general business settings (i.e., non-healthcare settings where individuals in the workplace are not at a greater risk of contracting H1N1), employees may return to work 24 hours after no longer having or exhibiting signs of a fever (100° F), without the aid of fever-reducing medications (i.e., anything containing ibuprofen or acetaminophen). This is a change from the prior CDC guidance to stay out of work for seven days after the start of the illness or 24 hours after no longer having a fever (whichever is longer).

May an employer "dock" an employee for time away from work for H1N1, if he or she has exhausted vacation/PTO?

For non-exempt employees, yes. For exempt employees, it depends on whether the absence is initiated by the employer or by the employee: (a) if initiated by the employee, the employer may dock the exempt employee for full-day absences only; (b) if initiated by the employer (e.g., "you must stay home because of a sick relative, even though you are willing to come to work"), the employer may dock the exempt employee only for full seven-day absences that coincide with the employer's pay week.

Is H1N1 automatically an FMLA-covered serious health condition?

No. If H1N1 does not satisfy the regulatory definition of a "serious health condition," it is not a serious health condition, and employers should not count the absence against the employee's 12 weeks of FMLA leave. Employers should evaluate any applicable state mini-FMLAs to ensure they do not contain different or additional require-ments or provisions.

May an employer disclose an employee's actual or probable H1N1 diagnosis to others?

The EEOC has taken the position that H1N1 symptoms or an H1N1 diagnosis is considered confidential medical information which an employer can disclose to only a limited group, including supervisors (so that the supervisor can implement necessary work restrictions for public health and safety reasons), first-aid personnel, and others not relevant in the current H1N1 context. This group does not include co-workers, patients, or customers - i.e., those to whom an employer likely would want to disclose this information.

Despite this position, some (though not all) courts have held that employee voluntary self-disclosures (i.e., when the employee or his or her relative tells an employer that the employee has H1N1 or is ill) are not covered by this prohibition. Additionally, given the widespread and far-reaching nature of the H1N1 pandemic, an employer may be able to argue that its failure to disclose an employee's H1N1 status to co-workers, patients and/or customers is a direct threat to the health of co-workers, patients, and/or customers, by putting them at risk of not seeking treatment in a timely or appropriate manner, especially if any of the co-workers or customers is among the group at higher risk of developing complications from H1N1 (e.g., pregnant women, those with asthma, etc.) or is a patient in a health care setting. Because of the EEOC's stated position on this issue, employers should consult with counsel before making any disclosures of an employee's H1N1 status to co-workers, patients or customers.

Click here to read the entire article.

Here are some other links on the H1N1flu.

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Sick? Co-Workers Say, 'Don't Come In!'
Society for Human Resource Management
Oct. 23, 2009

Got an employee with a cough? His co-workers might send him packing if he doesn’t go home soon, according to a new poll.

More than 90 percent of Americans said they want their co-workers to remain at home if they are infected with the H1N1 flu, according to a survey from Mansfield Communications. Eighty-three percent of respondents say they would tell colleagues or senior management if a co-worker came to work with symptoms of the flu.

The survey interviewed 2,029 Americans Oct. 5-11, 2009.

Continue Reading

Click here to read all the SHRM swine flu articles.






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What Employers Can Do to Protect Workers from Pandemic Influenza
OSHA

During an influenza pandemic, transmission of the pandemic virus can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patients to workers in healthcare settings, but also from customers and coworkers in general work settings. Employers can use a set of occupational safety and health controls referred to as the "hierarchy of controls" to reduce exposures to pandemic influenza in their workplaces. The types of control measures, listed from most effective to least effective, that may be used to protect yourself, your workers and your customers are:

    * Engineering controls;
    * Administrative controls;
    * Work practices; and
    * Personal protective equipment (PPE).

Most employers will use a combination of these control methods. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of measure when considering the ease of implementation, effectiveness and cost.

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Evolution of our Halloween Mailer

Anyone who has ever worked with family knows it can be difficult at times. My mom (Vice President of Sales Susan Ryan) and I butt heads on our marketing graphics at times.

Usually it's a matter of two different visions. So usually the graphics I design get two or three revisions after she finally dictates what she wants.

Here's the original graphic that didn't make the mailer sent out today:



Meet Dora, my new puppy. She's 10 weeks old and a sheltie mix. I adopted her last weekend from the local animal shelter. My girlfriend bought her that costume (against my will), so she had to make it into a graphic wearing the pumpkin outfit.

But Susan wanted something closer to what we did last year:


So the comprise turned out to be the following graphic of Dora trick-or-treating at a spooky house.



If you didn't get the mailer, click here to see it in its entirety. To sign up for our newsletter, click here.
 
I hope you enjoyed it! I'm still looking for more dog photos for our Dog-Gone Temps graphics, that you can find here on the blog. Send them to newseditor@ryanstaffing.com and be sure to check out the blog to see who's pooch gets featured.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

BJD: Mahoning Valley Jobless Rate Drops, Still Highest Among Ohio Metros

Editor's Note: The following article ran in the Oct. 29 of the Business Journal Daily. Click here to read the article.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Mahoning Valley’s jobless rate remained the highest among Ohio’s 13 metropolitan areas in September, despite falling by nearly a whole percentage point from August.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area’s unemployment rate at 12.4%, just above the 12.2% rate recorded for the Weirton-Steubenville MSA, which had the second-highest jobless rate in the state. Ohio’s unemployment rate during September was 9.7%. Among the state’s metros, the Columbus MSA posted the lowest jobless rate, 8.2%.

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Copyright 2009 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.

How to Handle H1N1 in the Office Poll Results

Last week I took the reigns on the monthly newsletter for the Portage County Human Resource Association. In that newsletter, I included a poll to find out how offices are handling the current flu season.

It didn't get the results I hoped for, but here are the results of our small sample.

The question was: How are you preventing employees from coming into work sick?

People answered:

• Providing hygiene materials and only ask that they stay home. We have not lifted other restrictions and will only do so on a case by case basis at this time.
• Encouraging them to go home if they exhibit symptoms.
• We can only ask that they stay home if they have a fever or are sick. If they come to work and we are worried about the spread of infection, then we will send them home.
• Asking them to stay home if they are sick.
• Difficult to prevent. If they come to work sick their managers/supervisors are expected to send them home.
• We offer access to short term disability. if sick over five work days we pay from first day.
• We have asked them to stay home when sick.

Please, help us with our survey. It'll only take a few minutes. The more answers we get, the better information we can put out to everyone.

Click here to get the survey.

Thanks!

SHRM: Labor Market Continues to Send Mixed Signals

Editor's Note: The following ran in a recent newsletter of the Society of Human Resource Management. Members can click here to read the entire article.

HR professionals are gaining confidence in the U.S. job market. They hope to start hiring again. They just don’t know when.

One-third of HR professionals surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) have some level of concern about the U.S. job market for the fourth quarter of 2009, with 35 percent saying that they are somewhat optimistic and 4 percent declaring themselves very optimistic about job growth in the nation for the last three months of the year. That’s a big change from the first quarter of 2009, when 73 percent of survey respondents expressed some level of pessimism.

But when it comes to forecasting staffing increases for their organizations, only 20 percent expect such an expansion in the fourth quarter of 2009. Many HR professionals are hesitant to predict when they might increase hiring. The statistics are revealed in the SHRM Labor Market Outlook survey report for October-December 2009, released Oct. 22.

Among highlights of the report:

• Fifty-nine percent of companies will maintain their staffing levels in the fourth quarter of 2009, with 14 percent planning to cut jobs.
• Thirty percent of companies conducted layoffs in the third quarter, even though only 13 percent of organizations had predicted layoffs when surveyed by SHRM before the third quarter.
• The government sector eliminated jobs at the highest rate—41 percent—of any sector in the third quarter, despite federal stimulus funds beginning to flow to state governments for job creation. Many state governments have been forced to make deep staffing cuts to balance their budgets in the face of rapidly plunging revenues.
• Nonprofit organizations added employees at the highest rate in the third quarter of 2009, with 24 percent conducting hiring.

Safety: The Call You Hope Never to Get

Short and sweet...The safety of every Ryan Staffing employee placed on assignment is our most important daily concern.

Over the past 25 years we have declined to place personnel in situations of concern.
We believe strongly that the safety issue is a joint responsibility between Ryan Staffing and its clients.

Because our clients have total control of the work environment and provide all the job training for our temps, we rely heavily on our clients to provide an accident free workplace. We do however realize that despite all this accidents will and still happen.

Last month we experienced the most severe industrial injury in the history of our company. It was a severe crushing injury that resulted in severe abdominal internal injuries as well as crushed bones.

The injury happened on an early Friday evening shift. Our client never contacted us about the injury. We learned second hand about the accident the following Monday afternoon.

As you can imagine by the time our client permitted us to see the accident scene it had been cleansed. The clients' attorneys would not let us talk to witnesses that could
shed light on what happened. Nearly four weeks later we still don't know what happened.

Because of our clients casual attitude towards this near fatal accident we decided to remove the rest of our temps from our client's location with two days notice. We no
longer had any confidence in our client's ability to provide a safe work environment. In short, we feared for the safety of our employees. This wasn't the first accident there.

The response we got from the client's corporate attorney was that if we removed our temps they would never give us their business again. To this day they have never inquired about the condition of the injured employee to my knowledge.

You're probably wondering by now where all this is heading. It's pretty simple. As a matter of corporate culture or morality or plain old just doing the right thing, Ryan Staffing will walk away from business if we believe our employees are at risk.

It's not an easy thing to do especially during times when any business is hard to come by. But I think, rather I know, that most all of our clients feel as I do about the safety of all our employees while on the job. And for that, we are most appreciative.

As a side note, the injured worker in this case is making good progress towards recovery. He has a long road to full recovery ahead of him but at least he has a road.

Thanks for listening.

Tim's Talking about Casinos, Browns v. Steelers part II and Health-care Reform

Last month's survey concerning Ballot Issue Three on allowing four casinos to be built in Ohio received a large response.

Nearly 73 percent support passage of the issue. The poll showed 22 percent against and 5
percent had no opinion.

Browns vs. Steelers
With the November elections just around the corner its time to look back at the past year and gauge your feelings about the direction the good old USA is heading.

And for all those with an opinion, you will be entered in this month's drawing to win a pair of tickets to the Browns vs. Steelers game in Cleveland on December 10th at 8:00 pm.

So check out this month's survey question!

Health-care Reform...Who'll Pay?

According to the professional services firm Towers Perrin, US employers will not absorb any additional costs resulting from healthcare reform. Instead, they plan to decrease benefits, raise prices and cut jobs.

(Editor's Note: Towers Perrin is a human resource and financial consulting company. In July, the company combined with Watson Wyatt to become the country's largest human-resource consulting firm with an annual sales of about $3.2 billion. So those guys probably know what they're talking about.)



In a separate poll conducted by Watson Wyatt, 73 percent of US employers think reform will increase overall healthcare costs and 86 percent view reform as weakening the role employer sponsored plans play in providing coverage.

Proud Papa
Have you ever wondered who at Ryan Staffing puts our electronic media communiqués out? It is none other than Corey Ryan., Electronic Media Coordinator for Ryan Staffing (You gotta like that title).

Seriously, Corey is a recent graduate of the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio
University. He was fortunate enough to land a full time position as a reporter for The Valley Morning Star in Harlingen, Texas.

In his spare time (which is not a lot) he manages the publication of this e-letter, runs our blog and prepares other electronic marketing and recruiting programs for the company.

You can email your comments about things to him at newseditor@ryanstaffing.com. I'm sure
he'd love your feedback.

Tip of the Month: Now Would Be the Time

Demand for temporary staffing is on the rise. If you are a regular reader of our e-letter you know we keep tabs on the ASA Staffing Index which measures this demand. It has seen gradual increases now over the past nine weeks. It still remains about 21 percent lower than the same period in 2008.

If you read as much as I do about the future of our economy you know that the prognosticators are all over the board. (Editor's Note: This Wall Street Journal blog is very good at reporting and analyzing all of those conflicting economic indicators.) You don't know who to believe which means you can best rely on the signals your own business is sending.

If your business is showing positive signs but you're not sure it is sustainable you need to consider utilizing the services of a temporary help company. This is a text book time of why the industry was created.

You probably have worked hard to keep your core group of best employees gainfully employed during the current downturn. We have. You may have even taken advantage of the times to weed out some dead weight.

Using a staffing service allows you to re-build your workforce at a comfortable pace without the costs full time hires bring.

Utilizing the "temp to perm" approach can be like a "do over" as you re-tool your workforce.

If it's been a while since you have used temp help or if you are considering it for the first time I might suggest you take a trip back in our staffing tips archive. There you will find a treasure chest of brilliant information (I wrote it of course!) about how to best utilize the services of a staffing company.

Oh, and as a small tip of the month, keep in mind that the staffing index does have some correlation with the stock market as well. Happy Hunting.

NYT: $1.4 Trillion Federal Defecit

Editor's Note: The following article ran on Oct. 16 New York Times.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday that the federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before and the largest shortfall relative to the size of the economy since 1945.

The number, while lower than forecast a few months ago, underscored the challenges ahead in shrinking the deficit even as the White House and Congress are considering more steps to stimulate an economy that is making a slow recovery. The political hurdles to finding a solution were evident on Friday as each political party immediately blamed the other for the growth of the deficit.

The shortfall for the fiscal year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, translates to 10 percent of the economy, according to a joint statement from the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter R. Orszag. For the 2008 fiscal year, the deficit of $459 billion was 3.2 percent of the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product.

Economists generally agree that annual deficits should not exceed 3 percent of the G.D.P., and that is the level President Obama had vowed to reach by the end of his first term in 2013.

But subsequent spending and tax cuts to stimulate the economy, and lower-than-expected revenues as the recession deepened before bottoming out, combined to push the administration’s deficit forecast to 4.6 percent of G.D.P. for the fiscal year 2013.

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Attn: Portage County HR

Here's how to join the Portage County chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.

1. Click the image below.
2. Print that page out, and fill the form out.
3. Send out as directed on form.

WSJ.com: 'Clunkers' Sent Retail Sales Clunking

Editor's Note: The following article appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Oct. 15. For supplemental information on how Cash for Clunkers affected retail sales, check out this link.

Retail sales fell 1.5% in September with the end of the "cash for clunkers" program, but consumer spending rose in many categories, lifting hopes that the economic recovery is gaining momentum at the start of the holiday shopping season.

Excluding sales of autos and parts, total retail and food sales increased 0.5%. It was a welcome sign of consumer activity after the deepest downturn in a generation. August sales were revised downward 0.5 percentage point to a 2.2% increase. The government's monthly retail-sales tally isn't adjusted for inflation.

The retail-sales data prompted a few economic prognosticators to raise their forecasts for third-quarter gross domestic product. St. Louis forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers raised its forecast of third-quarter GDP to an inflation-adjusted 3.4% annual rate from 3.1% before the sales data came out.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said economic growth appeared "to have moved back into positive territory in the third quarter."

Whether that growth can be sustained is another matter. With unemployment still rising and myriad government programs propping up the U.S. economy, consumers don't appear able or willing to rush back to their old spending habits.

Continue Reading

WSJ.com: Job Openings Contract

Editor's Note: The following is from an Oct. 10 Wall Street Journal article. To read the article, click here.

The number of job openings declined in August, the latest sign that while the economy may be recovering, it isn't rebounding fast enough to get sidelined employees back to work.

There were 2.4 million job openings in August, down from 2.41 million in July and the lowest level since the Labor Department started tracking the data in December 2000. In August 2008, there were 4.65 million job openings.

Job separations outpaced new hires in August. The report showed that roughly 4.27 million people quit, retired or were laid off in August.

The data underscore the big hurdles still facing the economy. With wages stagnant and employers still cutting jobs, the economy's legs remain wobbly. The housing market and manufacturing industries have shown signs of improvement, but much of the recent growth has been supported by government programs that have expired or will soon.

With consumers cutting their debts and the job market stagnant, many economists worry that without new hiring, the economy's nascent recovery could slow down in the first half of next year.

Hiring activity remains at historic lows, with steep declines across most sectors, including mining and logging, construction and retail trade, according to Friday's report. Overall, hiring is down 28% since its July 2006 peak, with employers hiring 4.01 million workers in August.

A figure the Labor Department uses to gauge the ease with which workers can change jobs slipped slightly to 1.3% from 1.4% in July, signaling that switching jobs remains difficult.

Portage County Human Resource Invitation

Click image to increase size.

Federal Reserve: Small Business May Not Be What They Used To

Editor's Note: The following comes from a Oct. 6 blog entry on the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta's Web site.

During periods when national employment levels were expanding since 1992 (when this data series began), firms with less than 50 employees have made up approximately one-third of the nation's employment growth. During the employment declines associated with the 2001 recession, these firms made up only 9 percent of job losses. In the current recession, though, these very small firms have made up 45 percent of the nation's job losses.

Looking ahead, it's not clear whether small businesses will continue to play their traditional role in hiring staff and helping to fuel an employment recovery. However, if the above-mentioned financial constraints are a major contributor to the disproportionately large employment contractions for very small firms, then the post-recession employment boost these firms typically provide may be less robust than in previous recoveries.

Read Entire Article.

The Boss' Day Screw Up

Sorry, but I jumped the gun for Boss' Day. It is in fact Oct. 16, not Oct. 9 as indicated in the earlier post.

So don't put the fruit basket on his/her desk quite yet.

Don't Forget Tomorrow (Correction: Next Friday) Is Boss' Day

You didn't do it did you? You brown nose.


Ah, and you got him the fruit basket. Do you have no soul!

WSJ.com: Office Rents Dive As Vacancies Rise

Editor's Note: The following article appeared in the Oct. 7 Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125488352504069971.html?mod=djemTMB

Rent for office space is falling at the fastest pace in more than a decade as vacancies create a glut and landlords slash prices to attract tenants.

Nationwide, effective office rents fell 8.5% in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, the steepest year-over-year decline since 1995, according to Reis Inc., a New York real-estate research firm.

The decline came as companies returned a net 19.6 million square feet of space to landlords in the third quarter, slightly more than in the second quarter. For the first three quarters of this year, the net decline in occupied space totaled a record 64.2 million square feet, the highest so-called negative absorption recorded since Reis began tracking the data in 1980. (That doesn't count space that left the market as a result of the 2001 terrorist attacks.)

The vacancy rate, meanwhile, hit 16.5%, a five-year high, according to Reis.

Declining rents and rising vacancies in the office sector signal more woes for the commercial-real-estate market, which already faces a lack of credit and plummeting property values. With landlords more likely to default, financial institutions, which hold trillions of dollars in commercial-real-estate debt also face more pain. "It means more losses for the banks, because they will have to write off more bad debt," said Victor Calanog, director of research for Reis.

For tenants, however, falling rents represent opportunities to save. Landlords are offering concessions, in the form of free rent and build-out costs. "There's a recognition [from some companies] that this is probably a bottom, let me lock in long term," said Mary Ann Tighe, a New York-based leasing broker with CB Richard Ellis, who has negotiated corporate relocations for tenants including advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather and retailer Limited Brands.

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Last Chance To Win Springsteen Tickets

Win tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in Cleveland on Nov. 10. Answer our poll question by Wednesday October 7 for a chance to win. It will only take two minutes!

Good luck!

WSJ.com: Recession Spells End for Many Family Businesses

Editor's Note: This article ran in the Oct. 6 Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125478399429765967.html?mod=djemSB

Siblings Georgia, Jimmy and John Roussos have spent most of their lives working in the kitchen of the restaurant their father opened in 1954. The eatery managed to survive a hurricane and other setbacks, but it wasn't until this August that the recession took its toll, forcing Roussos Restaurant in Daphne, Ala., to permanently shut its doors.

After months of slow sales, family businesses are being forced to close, ending legacies and leaving behind a wake of sad customers and loyal employees. "Some family businesses that were just hanging on have said it's time to get out," says Dann Van Der Vliet, director of the Vermont Family Business Initiative at the University of Vermont.

An estimated 90% of U.S. businesses are family-owned or controlled, from traditional small businesses to a third of Fortune 500 firms, according to the Small Business Administration. Hard data are hard to come by on the number of small family-controlled enterprises that have closed in this recession, but experts say the prolonged slump has hurt a significant number. About 4.3 million businesses with 19 or fewer employees closed during the fourth quarter of 2007 through the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

These businesses, often steeped in tradition and not as flexible to change, tend not to have formal plans in place to respond to crisis. "They've seen reductions in top line revenue that they just can't react fast enough to," says Beth Wood, assistant vice president of market development and family-business advocacy with MassMutual. Problems securing credit in this recession have also prevented some family businesses from getting the funding they need, she adds.

The economic downturn is really just the latest setback for family-run businesses. In the 1970s and '80s, exorbitant income taxes and estate taxes forced many to close, says John Ward, professor of family enterprise with Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Before that, the anti-establishment movement during and after the Vietnam War made many children reluctant to take over the family business, he says.

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WSJ.com: Unemployment Will Stay Elevated

Editor's Note: The following article ran in the Oct. 02 Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/10/02/feds-rosengren-unemployment-rate-will-remain-elevated/?mod=djemWEB&reflink=djemWEB

Unemployment in the U.S. is likely to remain elevated for the next two of years, but over time the country will return to “full employment,” Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President and Chief Executive Eric Rosengren said Friday.

Rosengren’s comments came as the U.S. Labor Department reported that employers shed many more jobs than expected last month, boosting the unemployment rate and underscoring that joblessness remains a big issue even as the economy shows signs of life.

Rosengren said the “unemployment rate will remain elevated for far longer than I would like,” and for the next couple of years. But over time, he said, “I think the economy will get back to full employment.”

Rosengren discussed the matter while answering audience questions following an address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. He discussed unemployment as he responded to a question about the New England economy, which he said is in better shape than it was in prior recessions due to the health of local banks and the types of jobs in the region.

In his prepared remarks, Rosengren said the economy needs more time to heal before the Fed eases up on its accommodative monetary policy. The Fed needs to eventually ease its accommodative fiscal policy as well, he said later, but “first we have to get the economy in recovery mode and get us closer to full employment.”

He talked about the importance of returning to full employment without households becoming over-leveraged in the process. “The goal is not to get leverage back to where it was before,” he said. “The goal is to get the economy back.”

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WSJ.com: September Sales May Foreshadow Holidays

Editor's Note: The following is a story appearing in the Oct. 5 Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125470031540363025.html?mod=djemITP

Retailers and analysts will be closely watching September sales reports due Thursday from key store chains for any sign they may need to adjust their already-gloomy holiday forecasts.

Two analyst reports predict that Christmas-season sales will be flat with last year's dismal results while a third projects they will fall 1%. Stores have been slashing inventories in hopes they can avoid profit-sapping price cuts.

Retailers also are planning plenty of bargains to lure thrifty holiday shoppers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says it will offer about 100 toys priced at $10 -- compared with just 10 such toys last year. Consumers are still "under a lot of pressure," said Wal-Mart's chief executive, Mike Duke.

For consumers, "it's a badge of honor to not spend as much as they used to," Linda Heasley, CEO of specialty retailer The Limited, said at a retail conference in New York last week.

Analysts are looking to the September sales figures for stores open least a year -- a key measure of retailers' health and consumer spending -- for clues about Christmas. These results are predicted to fall 1% to 2% compared to September 2008. That would be a harbinger of a season filled with bargain hunting and last-minute gift shopping.

The projected September decline is particularly worrisome because a late Labor Day and later school-start dates helped boost the month's sales, and a decline in September sales last year makes year-ago comparisons easier.

To read the rest of the story

Fall Leaves Balance Between Beauty And Mess

WSJ.com: Job Losses in U.S. Continue to Slow

Editor's Note: The following is an article appearing in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday Oct. 1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125431265253152341.html?mod=djemITP.

The pace of U.S. job losses continued to slow in September as the private sector shed fewer jobs than in the previous month, according to a report offering a preview of government data due Friday.

Meanwhile, gross domestic product decreased at a 0.7% annual rate in the second quarter, better than the 1% decline previously estimated, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. It was a big improvement over GDP's 6.4% decline in the first quarter.

Private nonfarm payrolls fell by 254,000 in September, down from the 277,000 drop in August, according to a report by Automatic Data Processing Inc. and forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers released Wednesday.

"We know that the pace of labor-market recovery always lags broader economic activity," said Ian Pollick, a TD Securities analyst. So "if the actual economic recovery is gradual we have to say the labor-market recovery is tepid at best."

Separately, the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index provided a jolt of unexpectedly bad news, falling to 46.1 in September from 50. The drop below 50 indicates that manufacturing activity is contracting. A decline in new orders contributed to the fall, which was particularly surprising given improving regional reports elsewhere, such as the Philadelphia and New York Federal Reserve Bank manufacturing indexes.

September's job losses were the smallest since July 2008. Analysts expect a similar level of job losses in the official employment report the U.S. Labor Department is set to release Friday that includes public-sector jobs, though it may be slightly smaller than the drop ADP reported.

The job losses were especially severe among businesses with fewer than 50 workers. Those companies shed 100,000 jobs compared with the 93,000 jobs lost at medium-size firms and the 61,000 lost at large employers with 500 or more workers.

The labor market is slowly improving compared with earlier this year but it remains weak. Economists expect the unemployment rate to hit 9.8% in September, up from 9.7% in August. Even with the high unemployment rate threatening consumer spending in the third quarter, many economists are predicting GDP grew between 3% and 4%.

The anticipated return to growth is buoyed by Wednesday's report showing that second-quarter GDP wasn't as bad as expected. Both business investment and consumer spending, which is the largest component of GDP, were revised upward.

There were few signs that inflation could soon become a threat to the economy as the government's price index for personal consumption rose 1.4% in the second quarter instead of the previous 1.3% estimate. Excluding food and energy, the price index climbed 2%.

Poll Results: Casino Gambling in Ohio

We've had 92 responses as of late Wednesday morning for our poll question on casino gambling in Ohio. And so far, the vast majority are for Issue 3.

Here is a for argument from the Web and an against argument.

Overall, 76 percent said they are in favor of the bill. That left 22.8 percent against the issue and 5.4 percent without an opinion, according to our informal survey.

Remember, there is still time to answer our poll question to be eligible for the Bruce Springsteen tickets!

Here are some of the comments people posted after taking the survey:

The state of California hasn't prospered from casino gambling. They're bankrupt! Keep OHIO Clean. Better to work out tax agreements with neighboring states for Ohio residents gambling in their casinos. I would think THEY wouldn't want gambling legalized in OHIO either. So they would want to assist in the lobbying against Ohio gambling.

Even if the number of permanent jobs is not great, the construction and ancillary jobs created would be a good boost to the local economy. Timing is everything and soon the market will be saturated with gambling facilities and this will not be as lucrative as it is right now.

IF IT WAS STATE WIDE IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT BUT WITH IT ONLY TARGETING JUST LARGE CITIES, NO

I am almost considering voting against this issue simply because of the way they are advertising it. I received a flier in the mail yesterday and if I didn't know any better, I would think it is a bill to build a hospital or something other than a casino. "CASINO" was no where to be found on the flier. Almost trying to gain votes by deception.