As part of the jobless bill passed today (March 10th), the Senate voted to extend eligibility for unemployment benefits and COBRA through the end of 2010. Today’s Senate bill adds to the legislation passed on March 2nd, which extended eligibility through the end of March.
The House of Representatives still needs to vote on the new bill, which is expected to happen before the end of the month.
As a side note, if you haven’t yet visited Beyond.com, it’s worth a look. It is the world’s largest network of “career communities” and lets you search across thousands of sites to find the perfect job opportunity. Beyond is free to register and use.
Here’s what President Obama had to say about unemployment and jobs in his State of the Union speech:
Unemployment
- Bailing Out The Banks. He said that if the government had not gotten involved during the financial crisis, there is a chance that unemployment might be twice what it is today.
- Extensions. The President mentioned the unemployment extension. During the past year, unemployment insurance was “extended or increased” for more than 18 million Americans.
- 2 Million Jobs. Because of the Recovery Act, over 2 million people who otherwise would have been out of work still have their jobs. These include police officers, teachers, prison workers, and fire fighters.
Jobs
- New Jobs. The one specific area of jobs mentioned was clean energy jobs.
- Full Employment. “The only way to move to full employment is to lay a new foundation for long-term economic growth.”
- Financial Reform. By requiring banks to lend to small businesses, President Obama believes that these companies will be able to operate with enough financial stability to retain current employees, raise wages, and hire new workers.
- Encouraging Innovation. The area of focus here was again clean energy. New technology drives economic growth, and economic growth will lead to new jobs.
- Investing in People. President Obama referred to education. He proposed a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college, increasing Pell Grants, and forgiving loans on student debt.
If you are reading this, you are probably looking for a job.
The most recent data from the Labor Department shows that there are 2.4 million job openings available across the country. Sounds great, right?
Here’s the challenge: The 2.4 millions jobs pales in comparison to the over 15 million people who are unemployed. In other words, there are over six people available for each job. On top of this, 85,000 more jobs were lost in December 2009.
While this may sound overwhelming, here is one strategy for finding a new position in ANY job environment: Go where the growth is.
I know you are thinking, “you just said that 85,000 jobs were lost last month”. Indeed, but this across the economy as a whole. Looking closely at the numbers from the Labor Department, some secrets about the job market are revealed:
- Professional and Technical Services gained almost 9,000 jobs. The two key subcategories here were architectural / engineering services and computer systems design.
- Health Care and Social Assistance added nearly 25,000 jobs. Specific areas of growth: offices of physicians, home health care services, and hospitals.
- Federal Government created over 3,000 jobs.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics published a survey in 2008 showing that Americans hold an average of 10.8 jobs over the course of their careers. Don’t be afraid to learn a new skill, and go where the growth is.
