Recession Briefing: Is This Really Better than the 70s?

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Is the great recession really less miserable than ‘70s were? According to the “Misery Index,” we’re not faring as badly, but metrics like this are always fishy. (Christian Science Monitor)

It is the Wall Street equivalent of a coroner’s report — a 2,200-page document that lays out, in new and startling detail, how Lehman Brothers used accounting sleight of hand to conceal the bad investments that led to its undoing. (New York Times)

U.S. traffic fatalities last year reached the lowest level in 55 years, dropping nearly 9 percent from the previous year and demonstrating that the continuing recession has at least one upside. (Baltimore Sun)…

The Hard Truth about Fat-Cat CEO’s

Sometimes Recessionwire carries a certain bias, one that supports the out-of-worker and opposes the big, bad CEO. As a fair and balanced news source, we find it necessary to provide the reader a glimpse of both sides of the coin. What really goes on in the life of some of the world’s most powerful people? To find out, we get the perspective of the CEO of DASSCC (Dynamic Analysts and Synergetic Systems Consultants Corporation), Peter B. Gibbonsworth, in a segment we like to call: Myth…And Busted…

Screwed: 800 in the London Underground

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 1,942

London Underground transportation has planned 800 worker layoffs… 750 workers of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Britain plants are faced with early retirement as Toyota ends its work-sharing system… 202 employees are let go from IBM in the latest round of layoffs… Las Vegas labor unions have not agreed to concessions, a decision which will result in 100 municipal layoffs… In an effort to cut expenses in the 2010-2011 school year, Seattle Public Schools have given layoff notices to 90 staff members.

Downturnaround Deals: The Knot, BikeBandit, Ann Taylor, Gap, Abe’s of Maine

We make it easier to keep your spending in check, with weekly deals hand-picked for Recessionwire readers by the nice people over at Savings.com.

Getting hitched? Save 15% off orders at The Knot. (See more The Knot coupon codes.)…

Recession Briefing: Foreclosures Slowing

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

The foreclosure crisis isn’t over, but the pace of growth may finally be slowing down. RealtyTrac said Thursday that the number of U.S. households facing foreclosure in February grew 6% from the year-ago level, the smallest annual increase in four years. (Associated Press)

The number of cosmetic-surgery procedures in the U.S. sagged for the second year in a row in 2009, according to an annual survey by a plastic surgeons’ association. (Wall Street Journal)

An economically depressed British town is filling empty storefronts with fake businesses so that the district doesn’t look so empty. (BBC)…

Screwed: 1,019 in Long Beach Unified School District

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 1,338

The Long Beach Unified School District this week starting giving layoff warning notices to 1,019 employees, mostly teachers…The Pasadena Unified School District is cutting more than 164 jobs to help close a huge budget gap…

Recession Lessons from the Jersey Shore

Toss out your econ books and get your nose out of the financial section, because the best real-world lessons for surviving a recession aren’t in any textbooks or newspapers. They’re staring you down on Jersey Shore—the MTV reality series about eight 20-somethings struggling to find their true selves while living in a world awash in recession.

Okay, so the actual focus of Jersey Shore might not entirely be on educating people about the recession, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to be learned from watching it. After the jump, five recession lessons we’ve picked up from watching Jersey Shore.

Start performing at work or you will be replaced. Slacker employees may have had more leeway in the past, but employers have the advantage in a recession where the unemployment rate is hovering at 10.4 percent. Take it from Angelina, who got fired from her gig at a T-shirt shop for failing to show up and was subsequently booted from the show…

Recession Briefing: Hiring Finally Happening

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Job openings rose sharply earlier this year, evidence that employers are slowly ramping up hiring as the economy improves. The number of openings in January rose about 7.6 percent, to 2.7 million, compared with December, the Labor Department said. That’s the highest total since February 2009. (Associated Press)

IRS agents will be more flexible with taxpayers who have seen their incomes drop during the recession. (USA Today)

The number of U.S. households with a net worth of $1 million or more — excluding wealth derived from a primary residence — grew 16 percent last year, according to a new report. (Huffington Post)…

Screwed: 2,000 at Chevron

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 5,788

Chevron will lay off 2,000 workers this year… The financial crisis described by Westchester County Exec Rob Astorino may result in up to 1,600 county layoffs… Irish airline Aer Lingus is laying off 670 employees under a new restructuring plan…the Montgomery County Public School System in Alabama is axing 600 people…St. Mary’s paper in Canada will let go 300….Ceva Logistics in Indiana is letting go all 200 employees…The Minnesota Department of Human Services will cut 200 jobs from a mental illness care program… 110 workers have been temporarily laid off as Sierra Pacific Industries abridge operations at the Chinese Camp, CA cedar mill…NRG Energy will eliminate 70 jobs in Connecticut… 20 police officers are in danger of being laid off in Atlantic City… 18 special education teachers have been laid off from the D.C. School System… The Daily Press, subsidiary of the Tribune Co., will be instituting about 10 percent employee layoffs among the staff of 84…

Gen Next Will Rock the New Normal?

Millennials were born with the internet. They’ve probably never used card catalogs, Walkmans or typewriters. And unlike older workers, they don’t believe in job security.

In a nice counterpoint to a recent Atlantic Monthly story that argued GenY will be permanently handicapped by the recession, Nancy Cook, writing for Newsweek, wonders whether younger people are actually very nicely suited to the New Normal of jobs…