Employment

The Obama administration's new plan to stimulate refinancings of FHA mortgages is likely to help large numbers of homeowners — even those who are deeply underwater — cut their monthly costs by switching to a loan with a rate below 4%. Here's a quick overview of the "streamline refi" program and what it will take for you to qualify. First, the baseline criteria: Your current home loan must be FHA-insured and must have been put on the Federal Housing Administration's books no later than May 31, 2009.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A 29-year-old farmworker was convicted Tuesday of the murder of South African white supremacist leader Eugene TerreBlanche, but his teenage companion was acquitted in the killing, which had sparked fears of racial violence. Chris Mahlangu was found guilty of killing TerreBlanche, his employer and longtime advocate of a separate state for white Afrikaners. Patrick Ndlovu, 18, who was 15 and present at the slaying, was found guilty of housebreaking with intent to steal.

It could be the rhinestone stud in her cheek, her thin resume, or her unwillingness to interview before noon, lest job-seeking disrupt her gym routine or interrupt her beauty sleep. Or it could be that this is the weakest job market for teenagers looking for summer work in more than half a century. But two weeks of pounding the pavement -- or at least occasionally scrolling through "help wanted" ads on Craigslist -- have produced not a single employment offer for my 17-year-old daughter . . .

SAN FRANCISCO - California is one step closer to becoming one of the first states to ban companies from asking job seekers and workers for their user names and passwords on Facebook and other social networking websites. The state Assembly on Thursday passed a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose) that would make anything workers designate as private on social networks off-limits to employers. The bill, which passed the Assembly without a dissenting vote, now goes to the California Senate.

J. Paul Reddam might not be the type of businessman for whom people suffering through the recession can bring themselves to root. Reddam, 56, is president of Anaheim-based CashCall, the mortgage refinancing and high-interest personal loan company who critics say has unfairly capitalized upon people's financial woes during the country's economic and employment crisis. But the Sunset Beach resident is also owner of Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another, who could provide horse racing with a huge shot in the arm Saturday with a victory in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

It's mid-June. School's out. Now what? For college students, the answer is almost anything. Bolstered by a resurgent economy, the number of summer jobs and internships available to area college students is approaching pre-recession highs, job analysts said. And many positions are still unfilled. Creative college students can finagle summer jobs, especially unpaid ones, in almost any field through perseverance and networking.

One in a series of occasional reports about the U.S. unemployment crisis. Though some American firms are bringing overseas work back home, evidence is growing that companies are moving more jobs than ever to China and other countries ? a trend that could exacerbate efforts to bring down the nation's stubbornly high unemployment rate. One sign of increased offshoring is the rising number of applications for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance, which usually goes to factory workers who lost their jobs because their work was sent overseas or was undercut by cheaper imports.

Fresh Enterprises Inc. of Thousand Oaks, which owns the Baja Fresh Mexican Grill chain of restaurants, filed Thursday to go public. The firm will attempt to cash in on what has been a hot market for restaurant stocks this year. The company told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it hopes to raise as much as $58 million in the stock offering. Fresh Enterprises has 157 company-owned and franchise-operated restaurants nationwide, with more than half in California.

It's the old rich-get-richer story: If you need a job, you can't get one. But if you already have one, you get offers of more. Most executive search firms are besieged by out-of-work executives, said Paul Hawkinson, who publishes the Fordyce Letter, a newsletter for the executive recruiting industry. "But generally search firms aren't interested in those people. Those are the people who answer ads. Their resumes go everywhere on their own."

Ashley Nacole Webb of Oxnard wanted to spend her summer earning money. Instead, the 17-year-old spent more than half her vacation just looking for work. "It has been frustrating," said Ashley, who may have finally landed a job at a Boys & Girls Club that could start in two weeks. "Summer is almost over." It's been a tough summer for job-seeking teenagers.

SAN FRANCISCO - Dustin Moskovitz, at 27 the world's youngest billionaire, gained fame and fortune after founding Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg. He also gained the "Facebook 15. " He packed on the extra pounds while chowing down on free snacks and guzzling four sodas a day at the social networking giant. Today, Moskovitz is a svelte version of his former self. He runs Asana, a start-up named after the Sanskrit word for traditional yoga sitting positions. That's fitting since the company holds twice weekly group yoga classes at its San Francisco offices.

WASHINGTON - The nation's long, hard ride to recovery went off track in the spring: Job growth slowed for the second straight month, raising fresh fears about the underlying strength of the economy. In a disappointing development for President Obama's reelection campaign, employers added a modest 115,000 jobs in April, barely enough to keep up with the natural growth of the workforce. The unemployment rate inched down to 8.1% - not because more people got jobs but because more discouraged workers dropped out of the labor market.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge dismissed the criminal case against a Hollywood casting director accused of concealing his sex offender status with an alias Wednesday, saying the man had consistently provided his real name, driver's license and passport to the movie studios that employed him. "There is no dispute that every studio … was aware of his true and legal name," Judge Elden Fox said, throwing out the sole charge against Jason...

Re "Vets struggle to go from war to work," April 26 Veterans are a minority group representing about 8% of our nation's population, selflessly serving on behalf of the other 92%. They pledged their lives to defend our Constitution, which protects the many freedoms we take for granted. Some delivered on that pledge, while many are disabled for life from their military injuries. AMVETS, a national veterans organization, proposed a federal law to include veterans as a protected class against employment discrimination that currently includes race, age, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumers and employers will receive about $1.3 billion in rebates from insurance companies this year, according to a new study quantifying a key early benefit of the healthcare law that President Obama signed in 2010. That will translate to a few dollars to more than $150 apiece for nearly 16 million consumers nationwide, the report by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation found. Obama's healthcare law requires insurers to spend a minimum portion of customers' premiums on medical care.

Is President Obama trying to wedge his way to a second term? The economy will doubtless be the overriding issue in November's presidential contest, and Obama is hardly ignoring it. But a successful candidate appeals to all sorts of voters harboring all sorts of concerns, and the president and his backers appear to be using a pair of wedge issues to target two groups, Latinos and women, with messages grounded more in emotionalism than economics....

Local employment centers will have to start spending more of the $500 million in annual federal funding on vocational training — and less on helping the jobless write resumes, practice interviewing and search for work. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Thursday that requires local workplace investment boards to divert at least a quarter of the money for their job centers to programs that teach the jobless new skills for the changing economy. That minimum would rise to 30% in five years.

As President Obama began selling his new jobs package, he was pressed Wednesday from both the left and the right, with Republicans warning about ballooning deficits and black lawmakers seeking bolder action on an unemployment rate that approaches 16% for African Americans. Partisan tensions surfaced at a private White House meeting with congressional leaders of both parties. In an unusually aggressive move, Obama opened the meeting by accusing Republicans of "rooting against" an economic recovery, according to an account provided by Republican aides.

Organic agriculture generally comes at a cost of smaller harvests compared with conventional agriculture, but that gap can be narrowed with careful selection of crop type, growing conditions and management techniques, according a new study. Organic farming has been touted by supporters as a more environmentally sustainable method of farming that's better for consumers because crops contain fewer man-made chemicals. But without the high-nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides often employed in conventional agriculture, it's also less efficient.

A former soldier and police officer who transitioned from male to female has been allowed to proceed with a complaint against the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives alleging job discrimination based on gender. A ruling this week by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is being seen as clarifying that rules of employment law apply to transgender people, who may file complaints under federal anti-discrimination statutes. In an email to The Times, EEOC spokeswoman Christine Nazer wrote that the ruling is now "the EEOC's position, and we will apply it in all our enforcement activities" under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits job discrimination based on race, sex, religion and national origin.