Sharon Gadberry's Weblog

Oil Industry: Profits up, employment downn

So, the Oil industry is ever more profitable and business has never been better.  Despite this,  the industry continues to downsize http://ogj.pennnet.com/articles/article_display.cfm?Section=ONART&C=TOPST&ARTICLE_ID=225739&p=9 This article opines that the industry will suffer for it in the future, as a lack of professional expertise develops.

Wages Are Down While Profits Rise

The latest news is that while US employment is flat,  even the wages of those who are employed have  not risen in concert with inflation http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wages11apr11,0,5092199.story  There is other news that most older workers take a significant pay cut,  if and when they can find employment after being laid off.

Profits up, job down

Even though the economy is growing,  there is still no job growth.  After a glimmer of hope early in the year,  job creation is disappointing. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/business/yourmoney/03view.html? Plus, the stock market is down for the year.  Despite all that,  CEO's astronomical salaries continue to soar at 12% over last year,  and Fortune magazine listed 100 more billionaires than last year. 

Maybe a clue to all this is the fact that lowering taxes does not help the economy:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/business/yourmoney/03view.html?  There is apparently ample research to prove this, yet current administration keeps on proposing tax cuts as the ecoomic solution.

Manafacuring Employment Still Down

This is a really good article in a Seattle paper http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2002194840_manued03.html about the seemingly permanent shrinkage of manufacturing jobs.

Stock market grateful for low employment figures

I could never quite figure this one out.  The free market is supposed to be terrific for everyone, and make us all prosperous.  Yet one event that is always likely to depress the stock market is a high employment (or low unemployment) figure.  So good news for American workers is bad news for free enterprise!  http://www.businessweek.com/index.html#smallbiz  This month was no exception, with the market rescued by the disappointing employment figures.

Seasonal job phenomena

I think this article is enlightening.  http://www.nypost.com/business/39587.htmFirst of all, there is apparently a justifiable assumption (fact?) that many companies go out of business in January and June , as opposed to other months of the year. I guess that explains why my outplacement business was always so busy during those times.  I also have seen the same trend the other way...that there is an opening up of the job market in January.  In the beginning of the new year,  many companies decide one way or another that they are going to hire or fire.  On the other hand,  it looks like the statistics may not be reliable, due to the adding and subtracting of assumptions.

Investors not betting on increased employment

The media has been all over the place predicting a better employment picture "soon."  Investors in the stock market are not so optimistic:http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/01/04/ap1737989.html 

UCLA predicts better job market in CA

The Anderson School predicted the dot.com bubble in 2001.  Now they are predicting the "collapse" of the real estate bubble, but along with it a rise in jobs in California:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=2026&e=7&u=/latimests/20041208/ts_latimes/californiausinahousingbubbleuclaforecastsays  I guess this is good news/bad news.

Large layoffs continue

These layoffs hardly make the news, they are so common in recent years. http://us.f529.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=8865_17446053_104450_1274_9579_0_113251_45052_467939682&Idx=23&YY=21669&inc=25&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=Inbox Still,  they mean a lot to the people who are affected.  In the 'old days"  companies did not fire people during the holidays,  but now it is common practice.

Self-emploment: Opportunity or refuge?

Every time a survey shows the rise in self-employment by women and minorities,  the ideological "libertarians"  tout this as great news.   The land of opportunity and freedom to run your own business.  http://www.smallbizenews.com/articles/viewarticle.cfm?articleid=182  Reading the details, you find that the average "company" has one employee, and the average revenue is about $32,000.  This sounds more like third world "entrepreneurialism"  includes everything from market stands to begging on the street corner.

Behind the headlines proclaiming the "growth" of small business (ie more small businesses) is the reality of fewer small businesses with a critical mass to support employees, the owner, and the community in the long term.

I've been a small business owner and an advocate of small business for 25 years.  However,  in the past 5-6 years I have observed that as the social infrastructure and regulatory protections disappear,  it is harder and harder to maintain the "traditional" small business that comfortably supports anywhere from 6 to a few hundred employees,  contributes to the local community,  and affords the owner either a nice retirement or a continuing job until he or she dies on the way to the office or factory,  or serving a customer.

Some say the strict employment laws are to blame.  Yes, they can definitely be draconian.  My own perspective is that all the laws unfairly discriminate against small businesses whose profits are eaten up by accountants, lawyers, payroll services, insurance,  municipaltaxes.  In the meantime  the big businesses are able to either twist the law so it doesn't affect them (ie move the business offshore to avoid taxes,  offshore services to avoid employees),  pass laws that protect their interests,  or just basically get away with avoiding existing laws. 

There appears to be very little business school interest in the plight of small business.  I am looking for someone, somewhere,  who is conducting studies of this phenomenon.  What is good for big business (ie the US Chamber) is not necessarily good for small business,  and could actually be destructive.