Recession Briefing 10.21: Downturn Sends College Prices Up

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

The recession helped push up the cost of college this year, with students facing bigger bills because of reduced state spending on higher education and diminished campus endowments. Four-year public colleges in the U.S. raised annual tuition and fees by an average 6.5%, to $7,020 this fall. (Los Angeles Times)

The financial panics of last September and October will always be part of the story of this recession. But recent research questions the claim that the financial panics themselves contributed to their contemporaneous and severe employment downturns. (New York Times/Economix)

A British survey has found that more people are visiting museums during the recession. (Art Daily)

Screwed: 3,000 at Sun Microsystems

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

Today’s Total: 3,174

Sun Microsystems will likely lay off 3,000 employees in the interim of its acquisition by Oracle… The New York Times plans to cut 100 newsroom jobs by the end of the year… Kuhn North America is laying off 40 employees in its second round of layoffs this year… Montgomery County Administrator Deborah Feldman proposes 30 layoffs in the county commission departments… Hubbard City lays off 4 police dispatchers… California-based Slipgate Ironworks is laying off an undeclared number of employees…

The Recession Will End… When Google Says So?

Says who: Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive

“While there is obviously a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us… So we’re very optimistic now about the future. We now have the business confidence to invest heavily in the next phase of innovation, hoping to invent the future as we see it.” (via SeekingAlpha)

Why he might be wrong: For the 15.1+ million Americans facing the most challenging job market in decades…

An Unemployed Girl’s Review of a Novel on Unemployment

The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter makes a fine primer on unemployment for the uninitiated. But for the over-educated and under-employed (me, for example) that the protagonist Matt Prior is based on, it can be plain unsettling at times to discover your anxious likeness captured and distilled into eloquent, neatly packaged prose.

Matt is aptly named, as the recession has gone and rubbed its dirty feet all over him. But his hare-brained career choices are as much to blame for his situation as the forces of Wall Street.

Recession Briefing 10.20: Hawaii Schools Out for Recession

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

School’s out for recession: Teacher furloughs in Hawaii will shut down the school system for 17 Fridays beginning this week. (Honolulu Advertiser)

Companies across the economy are holding off on hiring even as the profit outlook improves, amid economic uncertainty and their own success at raising productivity in rough waters. (Wall Street Journal)

Among the recession’s more unlikely victims have been infertile Western couples wanting children and prepared to travel abroad to use Indian surrogate mothers as a cheaper alternative to fertility clinics back home. (Agence France Presse)…

Screwed: 21,773 at AvtoVAZ

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

Today’s Total: 26,969

Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ is set to eliminate up to 21,773 workers through the end of this year… The Chicago Transit Authority will trim its staff by 2,000 workers over the next two months… Massachusetts could lose up to 2,000 state workers after massive budget cuts… Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection anticipates the layoffs of 400 employees in response to state budget cuts… Arizona’s Department of Public Safety could lay off up to 250 staff members if the state budget crisis persists… BAE Systems will eliminate 130 workers from its West Manchester, Penn. facility… Caesars Windsor Casino of Ontario, Canada laid off 120 employees on Monday… The New York Times plans to hand out 100 pink slips to newsroom employees by the end of the year… More than 100 state parks employees in Missouri are set to be laid off due to declining sales tax revenues…

Ditch the Downturn, Go to… Zurich

From the picturesque buildings to the awe inspiring landscapes, there is a reason people like Zurich so much. Designer boutiques and culinary treasures lie behind every corner, while world-class ski resorts are just a short ride away. Meanwhile, with the unemployment rate in the U.S. rising to 9.8. percent last month, abandoning the States for a better life overseas may have never sounded like a more rational decision. Of course, picking up and leaving isn’t quite that simple.

Job prospects in many exotic locales are even bleaker than they are in the States, while the benefit from a low cost of living could easily be offset by high taxes or low wages in other cities across Europe…

Is the Age of Joy Upon Us?

Robbie Blinkoff, a consumer anthropologist and founder of Context-Based Research Group, a Baltimore firm that advises corporations on product strategies, believes that the recession is turning us into “grounded consumers.” He spoke to us about the rite of passage we’ve been through in the last year, how we’re all becoming happier, and why this will be the Best Holiday Ever.

So the “grounded consumer.” As opposed to what?

I’m a cultural anthropologist. What we’re looking at is people living within our culture—that culture defines our rules. Where our economy has taken us is to a point where we say we have a culture, but what we really have is a market. Market has supplanted culture and drives the way we live. Consumerism has supplanted cultural identity, like when there’s an eclipse the moon comes over the sun. People have been foregoing relationships in return for material goods—though nobody went out and said I’m buying an iPod because I don’t want to have relationship with someone.

Has this sort of thing happened before?

We did a study after 9/11, and people were realizing they’re more in control of their identities. Last fall—Sept. 29 actually—the market fell all of 129 points. This feels to me like Sept 11 without the terrorism. It was the same blue sky that day. This is going to transform us…

Recession Briefing 10.19: From Middle-Class to Homeless

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

If Congress fails to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, Ricky Macoy of Quinlan, Texas plans to take it out on the Republican Party by camping on his congressman’s lawn. (Huffington Post)

Growing numbers of Americans who have lost houses to foreclosure are landing in homeless shelters. (New York Times)

The entire financial crisis in seven minutes. (YouTube/iheartwallstreet)…

Screwed: 550 at Sanmina-SCI

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

Today’s Total: 1,836

Some good news: Volkswagen taking applications for 1200 jobs…

And the bad: Sanmina-SCI plans to lay off 550 employees in Hungary… Alstom announces plans to lay off 502 employees… Verizon lays off 266 workers… GM anticipates 300 layoffs in Mexico… Smith Medical PM Inc. plans to lay off 100 employees… Capital Hill Publications lays off 44 staff members… Mueller Industries cuts 37 workers…