Workers at a Wintek factory in Taiwan that makes touch screens for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch went on strike and started a violent protest last Friday over work-related issues. Employees blocked roads at the factory, damaged cars, and threw rocks at police to protest their pay scale and potentially hazardous working conditions, according to China Daily.

The factory workers were reacting to a government investigation that found no wrong doing on the part of factory officials in the deaths of employees. Workers have been claiming that toxic chemicals in the factory led to employee deaths.

“The truth has been hidden from public view. There are people dying from long-term exposure to the toxicant used in the factory but no one is paying attention to that. There needs to be further investigation,” commented a factory employee identified only as Zhu.

Employees have been complaining about the use of hexane, a chemical that can potentially cause nervous system failure in humans, to clean touch panels. According to Wintek, 47 factory workers showed symptoms of hexane exposure and were properly treated.

Along with concerns over chemical exposure, employees have been dissatisfied with other working conditions, too. “We had long been dissatisfied with the management, pay and even food provided by the company,” said Zhu.

Apple has not commented on the incident.

Source:

Gamet, Jeff. “Wintek Factory Workers Protest Over Working Conditions”. The Mac Observer.
19 January 2010. 20 January 2010.  <http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/wintek_factory_workers_protest_over_working_conditions/>

WASHINGTON: Bringing the recession-hit US economy back on track and creating jobs for Americans remain President Mr Barack Obama’s top agenda in office as he completes one year at the helm of the administration on Wednesday.

“I think the top priority, obviously is to continue to work hard on getting this economy back on track and creating jobs again,” the White House spokesman, Mr Robert Gibbs, told reporters at his daily news conference.

However, no special event is planned to celebrate the occasion, he said.

“He outlined some ideas in December on some successful programmes, some of which were in the Recovery Act, that many people have in the parlance, of oversubscribed in terms of the amount of money that was available but having applications for two or three or four times that amount of money. “His primary focus will be on creating jobs,” Mr Gibbs said.

Responding to a question, Mr Gibbs denied that the Obama Administration has lost touch with the American people. “According to any reasonable measure, the answer to that is, of course not,” he said.

He said: “The President isn’t going to get focused on the economy in the coming months; the President obviously has been focused quite clearly on the economy since his first moments in office,” the spokesman said. — PTI

Source:

Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications. “Obama’s primary focus”. Business Line.
20 January 2010. 20 January 2010. <http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/10201401.htm>

Competition for entry-level work is starched-shirt stiff right now.

But grabbing the first minimum-wage, dead-end gig that comes along won’t serve you well in the long run. After all, you don’t want to live in Mom and Dad’s basement forever. A better strategy is to pursue a career that allows your responsibilities — and your income — to grow year after year.

Here are eight of our top picks for those who are just starting out, and their median annual salaries, according to PayScale.com.

Environmental engineer
Have a bachelor’s degree in engineering? You’re in luck! According to the U.S. Department of Labor, environmental engineers make among the highest starting salaries of all college graduates. Entry-level positions in the field are similar to “an apprentice situation,” says workplace expert Alexandra Levit, whose latest book is “New Job, New You: A Guide to Reinventing Yourself in a Bright New Career.” “As you get more senior, you receive more independence to work on your own, eventually supervising your own staff.”
Median annual salary: $68,628.

Network systems/data communications analyst
Not a computer science major? Not to worry. In information technology, getting field certification is often more valuable than a formal education, Levit says. Once you cultivate an area of expertise, such as network security or enterprise software, “You can very quickly become the go-to person in the organization and eventually the head of IT,” she says. “And you can make a very, very good living.”
Median annual salary: $61,949.

Marketing research analyst
From high-tech and biotech to retail and hospitality, consumer-driven industries rely on market data to make smart business decisions. If you have a business marketing or statistical background, you may be able to analyze data from the get-go in this field rather than starting as “a [low-paid] telemarketer,” says Laurence Shatkin, author of more than 20 books for job hunters, including “200 Best Jobs for College Graduates,” which he co-wrote with Michael Farr.
Median annual salary: $58,423.

Copywriter
Fancy yourself the next Don Draper or Peggy Olson from “Mad Men”? Why not try your hand at writing ad copy? “Here’s something for the English major to be doing, now that journalism doesn’t seem to be such a prospect,” Shatkin says. Although you might start by contributing text to lower-profile agency projects, in time “you can be involved to the point where you’re developing entire ad campaigns,” Shatkin says.
Median annual salary: $53,288.

Sales associate
The beauty of sales is that you can enter the field even if you majored in art history, Shatkin says. “With a lot of products, you can learn what you need to know from a short training program,” he explains. “And sometimes you’ll work with a more experienced salesperson your first few days out.” To boost your income, he says, you can transition into selling bigger-ticket items, or you can move into management.
Median annual salary: $45,656.

Lobbyist
“There are all sorts of places where lobbyists exist: lobbying firms, public interest groups, trade organizations,” Levit says. “You can start with an unpaid internship and move within a couple years to making six figures.” To get your feet wet, Levit suggests volunteering for a political campaign or interning on Capitol Hill for a few months to see what causes interest you.
Median annual salary: $66,929.

Public relations assistant
“PR and digital marketing are hot hot hot,” Levit says. “Everyone is switching their traditional marketing to online, and they can’t fill positions fast enough.” Expect to work your hide off at a PR agency, a field with a high burnout rate, Levit warns. On the plus side, she says, annual promotions are the norm, with the path from peon to supervisor fairly short.
Median annual salary: $42,810.

Financial analyst
Yes, the financial sector took a beating during the past year, but finance jobs are starting to bounce back, Shatkin says. So if you’re looking to put that business, finance, or statistics education to use, consider analyzing financial data for a living. “Analysts contribute to the decisions that financial managers make,” Shatkin explains. Specifically, financial analysts make investment recommendations to the banks, insurance companies, securities firms, and other businesses employing them. From this starting point, Shatkin says, the sky’s the limit — all the way up to company controller, CFO, or CEO.
Median annual salary: $60,952.

Source:
Goodman, Michelle. Entry-Level Jobs With Big Earning Potential. Yahoo!hotjobs.
2010. 20 January 2010.  <http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-entry_level_jobs_with_big_earning_potential-1087>

With prospects for new jobs or promotions still looking grim, many workers are struggling to take their careers to the next level. Some, though, have found ways to cope and make themselves more marketable for when companies start hiring again.

“You don’t have to be stuck,” says Dory Hollander, a workplace psychologist and founder of WiseWorkplaces, a career coaching and executive-development firm based in Arlington, Va. “You can be an active player in shaping your own future.”

Indeed, there are a number of ways workers can bolster their résumés in preparation for when the job market ramps up. These include volunteering to gain new skills, building a wider network of contacts and moving into a parallel position within their company.

One of the reasons many people may be feeling like their careers are at a standstill: decreasing voluntary turnover. Between January and November of 2009, 19.6 million workers quit their jobs, an amount fewer than any during that period since the U.S. Labor Department began tracking the data in 2000.

“To get a promotion, somebody has to leave,” says Steve Gross, a senior consultant for New York-based consulting firm Mercer LLC. But fewer “people are quitting and [fewer] people are retiring.”

What’s more, many workers didn’t receive pay increases last year, and some even saw their salaries shrink. Of 555 large and midsize U.S. employers polled by consulting company Hewitt Associates Inc. in October, 48% said they froze wages in 2009 and another 10% cut salaries. And while many firms expect to reinstate raises this year, the average increase will be just 2.5%, the second-lowest level on record, reports Hewitt. The worst year for raises: 2009, when salaries dipped to 1.8%.

Once the economy improves, some 60% of more than 900 U.S. workers surveyed between October and November 2009 said they plan to pursue new job opportunities, reports Right Management, a talent and career-management consulting firm in Philadelphia.

Meghan Stinton felt her career had hit a wall early last year while she was working as an event and fund-raising coordinator for a national nonprofit’s Denver branch. After a colleague was laid off in March, the 25-year-old says she had to do that person’s job—program coordinator—on top of hers, despite not being given a raise or title promotion.

She kept her eyes open, but says she never saw any positions in her field open up above her at the organization. She also looked for jobs at other nonprofits but failed to find anything that matched her skill set and background. “I was pretty much at a standstill,” she says.

Ms. Stinton decided to make the most of her situation. She began doing volunteer work in public relations—a field she wanted to move into—for three nonprofits that weren’t hiring. She also joined two trade groups to expand her network, including the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

Later, when a manager position opened up in the chamber’s public-relations department, she applied by emailing her résumé to the membership director—one of several staffers she got to know on a first-name basis from networking. She landed the job in December, increasing her annual income by 20% to $32,000.

Another way to make yourself more marketable during a career slowdown is to see about transferring into a position at the same pay grade within your firm but in a different area—the classic lateral move. “You’re still learning and growing,” says Cindy Nicola, vice president of talent acquisition for Electronic Arts Inc., a videogame company based in Redwood City, Calif. “Broad-based experience can ultimately position you to move up.”

In late 2008, Kate Pullman, 31, moved into a director position at Prudential Financial Inc. in Newark, N.J., after about a year working at the same level but in a different niche within the financial-services firm’s human-resources department. “I thought it was better to move laterally than to wait for an opportunity to move up,” she says.

Though her salary remained flat, she got to supervise employees with different work styles than those she previously managed, plus she oversaw a company-wide initiative for the first time. She says the move paid off. In November, she was promoted to vice president of staffing operations and received a 12% raise.

Keep in mind that before moving sideways within a firm, it can be wise to research the opportunity to make sure it won’t only benefit your career later on, but that you’ll also enjoy it. You can do this by meeting with colleagues in the department you’re targeting to find out what the culture’s like, what they find most challenging and others insights they might have that could help you decide whether moving there makes sense for you.

Chris Karel, 35, wishes he took this step. In 2005 he switched to a director job in the passenger division of British Airways from a director job in the cargo area to expand his knowledge of the business. “The end goal was to be able to choose which side I ended up in at the (vice-president) level,” he says.

But he didn’t research the culture of the company’s passenger side and was disappointed to learn that it “wasn’t as entrepreneurial” as the cargo area, he says. The following year he quit the company.

Offering to take on extra responsibilities at work that will allow you develop a new skill or gain experience in a new area may also be a way to bolster your résumé, says Margaret-Ann Cole, a senior consultant at Towers Watson, a human-resources consulting firm based in New York. Just be sure to limit your efforts to a specific time frame such as six months to avoid being taken advantage of, she advises. Also, make sure what you’ll be doing will help you move up later on by first running the idea past someone in your target job, a mentor or a career adviser.

If you think the additional work might overwhelm you, see if you can delegate some of your primary duties to a junior colleague who could benefit in the same way, says Ms. Cole. “Managers love when you say, ‘Here’s my plan to take on more and not leave myself to suffer,’ ” she says.

Finally, consider enrolling in workshops or classes on a subject pertinent to your goals, and once you’ve finished, add them to your résumé, says Ms. Hollander, the workplace psychologist.

“It negates the idea that you’re lazy and just biding your time,” she says. “It shows you’re taking charge and no matter what the market’s doing, it’s not going to stop you from reaching your goals.”

Source:

Needleman, Sarah. “Revving a Career While It’s in Neutral”. The Wall Street Journal.
19 January 2010. 20 January 2010. <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703657604575005000275255376.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_2>

Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown’s stunning win over Democrat Martha Coakley for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the passing of Edward M. Kennedy both reshapes the public policy landscape and puts President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats on notice: Fix the economy and bring back job growth — or face large seat losses in the November Congressional election.

To be sure, Coakley’s poor campaign performance contributed to Tuesday’s shocking result. Among other problems, at times she projected the appearance of feeling “entitled” to the seat, and at other times was viewed as being insensitive to the needs of typical, working-class Bay State residents. But the bigger factor affecting vote undoubtedly was — you guessed it — the economy, including Massachusetts’ high unemployment rate.

Voters Want Jobs

As I’ve noted in previous articles on DailyFinance, if unemployment is high near election time, the party in power gets the blame. Massachusetts residents, like the rest of Americans, are frustrated by the high jobless numbers and the U.S. recession. Because the Democrats are in power in Washington and Coakley was the Democratic candidate, the voters blamed her. Net result? The biggest Senate upset in the modern era, and perhaps the biggest U.S. election upset since President Harry Truman (D-Miss.) fended off challenger Gov. Thomas E. Dewey (R-N.Y.) in 1948.

Also, without question, concern over President Obama’s health-care reform bill and a belief by voters that the bank bailout has “helped out the bankers without helping the typical person on Main Street much,” probably influenced some voters’ decisions as well, but the sense here in Massachusetts is that the election day polling data will reveal the poor economy and lack of jobs were the top issues affecting the vote, as they have been during many other elections when conditions were similar.

So the advice for President Obama and congressional Democrats is obvious enough: Implement every policy possible to create jobs, including, if necessary, a second stimulus package. The Democrats can also move forward with health care reform — which would serve their base and the rest of the nation by lowering health care costs — but the critical issue, from a election standpoint, remains jobs and the performance of the economy.

Further, Obama and congressional Democrats should neither look for nor wait for Republican support on job creation, health care reform, or any other issue, for that matter. Republicans didn’t support Obama before regaining the filibuster power: Does anyone really think they’re going to vote for health care reform or a second stimulus package now? That’s also why the Democrats should use every method at their disposal — including the “reconciliation” tactic, which bypasses the filibuster — to pass both a second stimulus bill designed to create jobs and health care reform.

Neither should Obama and his fellow Democrats worry about being called “big government liberals” or “socialists” or even “communists”: The Republicans and Tea Party partisans are going to use those labels to describe Obama and the Democrats, whether or not a jobs bill and health care reform is passed, so not acting won’t help them avoid the name-calling. But not acting to create jobs or pass health care will alienate the Democrats’ political base, and would leave unaddressed the No. 1 issue (unemployment) that the American people want their government to solve — so there is a strong incentive to pass the two bills.

Republicans Will Remain the ‘Party of No’

Oh, Republicans may talk about “wanting to work with the president and Democrats,” but privately, they smell blood in the water, and sense a huge Republican victory in the November congressional elections if the economy is not fixed and job growth doesn’t resume. Privately, like Rush Limbaugh, the Republicans in Congress are hoping Obama fails. As noted, it’s unlikely that Republicans, now armed with the power to stop all Democratic legislation by normal means, will suddenly agree to work with Obama and the Democrats

Further, there’s even a 50/50 chance, if the Democrats don’t use the reconciliation tactic to get a jobs bill and health care reform passed, that Washington could get bogged down in gridlock on these and on other key economic issues, as the Republicans filibuster all key legislation.That wouldn’t be good news for the economy, the nation or investors large and small, as important problems — including the budget and deficit reduction — could go unresolved. And, needless to add, the financial markets would be displeased, to say the least, with a failure by Washington policymakers to address the deficit.

There are no positives when you lose a Senate seat that your party has held for more than 50 years, in a state in which your party outnumbers the opposition by 3-to-1, and in which your party’s nominee for president won just a year ago by 26 points. But if there is one ray of light for Democrats, it is this: This painful defeat occurred now, and not in November. In that sense, the voters of Massachusetts have done the majority party in Washington a little favor: They have clarified for Obama and the Democrats that they have until November to create jobs and fix the economy, or else.

Source:
Lazzaro, Joseph. “Massachusetts Message.” Daily Finance.
20 January 2010. 21 January 2010 <http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/massachusetts-message-democrats-must-create-jobs-or-else/19323438/>

(From the Atlanta Business Chronicle – Sept 3, 2009)

Federal agencies will be hiring more than 270,000 workers for mission-critical jobs by the end of September 2012, according to a new report from the Partnership for Public Service.

The total projected hiring for mission-critical jobs is expected to jump by more than 40 percent during fiscal 2010 to 2012, compared to the previous three years.

The D.C.-based nonprofit compiled the report by surveying 35 federal agencies about government-wide projected hiring needs for the next three years.

Most federal hiring will be concentrated in five fields: medical and public health; security and protection; compliance and enforcement; legal; and program management, says the report.

The medical and public health arena has 54,114 projected hires, with large concentrations of jobs within the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services. Wanted job areas include nursing, occupational and rehabilitation therapy, and radiology.

In security and protection, there are 52,077 projected hires in areas of intelligence analysis, international relations, foreign affairs and security administration. The most concentrated job type in the field is a transportation security officer within the Department of Homeland Security, which has 34,500 projected hires.

Compliance and enforcement has 31,276 projected hires, many of which are in DHS, for such jobs as inspectors, investigators and customs and border patrol and protection.

The legal field has 23,596 projected hires and there are 17,287 projected hires in administration and program management.

With Unemployment at 9.7 Percent, at Least Somebody is Hiring

(Source: ABC News Sept 15,2009)

As the job news grows ever darker — according to the Labor Department unemployment has now hit a 26-year high of 9.7% — a ray of light is shining from one unexpected quarter: the federal government.

A golden age of work for the government is just now dawning, according to a report released last week by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, a group in Washington that promotes government employment. There are several reasons: cyclical turnover; fresh demand in areas such as homeland security and veterans affairs, driven by the post-9/11 terrorist threat and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the financial crisis, with the stimulus spending it has spurred.

By the fall of 2012, the Partnership estimates, the federal government will have hired 273,000 new workers for jobs the group calls “mission critical.” In other words, those are all positions that are considered crucial and will definitely be filled. That’s a 41% increase over the three previous fiscal years. The jobs will be scattered around the world, from Washington to Portland, Ore., and even to such far-flung places as Japan.

To compile its report, the Partnership approached 35 of the biggest federal agencies, each with 1,000 or more employees, and asked them for hiring projections. After crunching the data, the group determined the 10 categories of jobs that will have the greatest job growth.

Topping the list: Medical and public health. The Partnership projects that 54,000 positions will have to be filled in this area over the next three years. They include work for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical technicians and occupational therapists. Because of the many U.S. soldiers returning from foreign wars, the Department of Veterans Affairs will be the most active employer, hiring 25,000 nurses and 8,500 doctors by 2012. One example of a medical job open now: chief of orthopedics in the Portland, Ore., office of the Veterans Health Administration, a post that pays up to $275,000 a year. (All the specific jobs mentioned in this article and in the accompanying slideshow can be found at the government’s official jobs Web site, www.usajobs.gov.)

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