The Toughest City to Find a Job

Miami has a lot going for it–sun, Art Deco style and carb-loaded Cuban food. But just try finding work there.

A new report from job search engine Juju.com ranks the job search difficulty in 50 US cities. Washington DC is the locale where you’re most likely to score a gig–it has 1.18 unemployed people per advertised job opening. Miami, meanwhile, comes in at the bottom of the batch. For every job ad, there are more than nine people looking for work. Check out the rest of the rankings…

Recession Lexicon: 99er

99er n./ a person who has gone through all 99 weeks of unemployment benefits.

This is one of the sadder definitions in our recession glossary. According to a story in the New York Times several days ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by June, 1.4 million people had been out of work for at least 99 weeks–the maximum time you can collect unemployment, even with all the extensions that Congress has tacked on to give people more of a safety net in tough times.

Let’s put that a different way: A population almost the size of Philadelphia has been out of work for nearly two years…

10 Tips for Social Networking Your Way to a Job

It’s not just a load of Web 2.0 hype—you can find a job using social networks, according to Brad and Debra Schepp.

“ We’ve spoken to many people who use LinkedIn, Twitter and even MySpace to find jobs—regular 9-to-5 jobs or consulting gigs or freelance work,” says Brad, who with his wife authored How to Find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Other Social Networks.

I get pitched a lot of job-hunting books. Most of them should have been made into pamphlets instead. But after my first glance through the Schepps’ book, I quickly made a few adjustments to my LinkedIn profile—and I’m not even looking for a job. Here are ten of their tips for getting the most out of social networks.

Get on LinkedIn

The site has become so widely used, that if you don’t have a profile…

Senate Approves Unemployment Extension

If you care about this issue, you’ve probably heard that the US Senate voted 60-40 to keep emergency unemployment benefits going. Long story short: Good for jobless peeps, bad for the deficit.

Millions of people stopped getting checks in June when the program expired in June. According to the Washington Post: 8.7 million people were receiving jobless benefits at the end of June. A little more than half received state benefits, which are typically available for 26 weeks. The rest were receiving extended benefits financed by the federal government, which are due to run out soon unless the bill before the Senate passes. The Labor Department estimates that 2.5 million people had been cut off by the end of last week.

The House is expected to okay the bill this week…

Lemonade is a Sweet Recession Documentary

What’s good about getting laid off? Helping kids with cystic fibrosis. Starting a coffee roasting business. Teaching yoga. Becoming a painter. Lemonade is a beautifully shot 40-minute documentary about a group of people who used to work at an advertising agency, and the opportunities they created for themselves. It’s so appealing, we won’t even point out that our Lemonade Makers came first.

Oops. Just did.

Eight (of the 1 million) Reasons Not to Go to Law School in a Recession

Just when you’ve gotten used to spending your days curled up in a pink Snuggie watching game shows, UPS knocks at your door to deliver your future.

It comes from the law school you’ve been deferring for two years in hopes that you’ll find a scholarship, strike oil, or win big on Deal or No Deal. Inside is a leather bound notebook and a brochure showing how much fun you’d be having at said high-priced law school. There are pictures of attractive (but not too attractive) twenty-somethings playing soccer on the lawn and holding Tarts for Torts bake sales.

You almost buy it. Then you remember that the only thing worse than being broke and unemployed is being a broke, unemployed and $200,000 in debt.

Here are eight reasons it’s unwise to hide out in law school during the recession.

1. Paying $150,000 to defer unemployment will not get you a job

Since it’s nearly impossible to take economics courses without destroying your GPA, law students tend to bypass courses that help them understand the obvious: the supply of lawyers is greater than demand. Hence, you may not find a job after law school…

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.

Screwed: Possible 4,500 in Jackson Health System

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

Today’s Total: 5,076

The Jackson Health System in Florida is considering cutting a whopping 4,500 jobs and two hospitals to close its budget gap…In San Francisco, bio-tech company Exelixis Inc will cut 270 jobs, currently 40 percent of their workforce…In Tennessee, Ford Motor Credit Co. plans to lay off 200 employees by the end of the month…General Dynamics Robotics Systems handed pink slips to 90 employees yesterday, whose last day will be on May 6…

Recession Briefing: Bull Market Turns One Year Old

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

On Wednesday investors will celebrate the first birthday of the current bull market — the one born a day after stocks hit rock bottom on March 9, 2009, ending the second-worst stock market meltdown in history. (USA Today)

The percentage of workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings grew to 43% in 2010, from 39% in 2009, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual Retirement Confidence Survey. (CNN/Money)

Millions of Americans have been forced to rely on unemployment payments for extended periods as the nation struggles through its longest period of high joblessness in a generation, and critics are taking aim, saying that the Depression-era program created as a temporary bridge for laid-off workers is turning into an expensive entitlement. (Washington Post)…

Screwed: 500 at Vodafone

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

Today’s Total: 887

Vodafone will make 500 job cuts throughout the UK as efforts to cut £1 billion in company costs…In LA County, 300 Los Angeles Supreme Court employees will be handed notices by March 16 about subsequent unemployment on April 1st…In South Carolina, the Union County School District plan to layoff 30 employees by next year…In California, the Calaveras Unified School District will hand out pink slips to 24 teachers by March 15…In other school layoffs news, the Dinwiddie School Board in Virginia decided on a budget cut yesterday, resulting 23 layoffs, including 10 teaching positions…In Texas, Sigma-Herron laid off 10 workers in a pharmaceutical plant this morning.