Job Market

A summer job is a traditional rite of passage for most teens, but this year that may be passing them by. Nationwide, teens are facing the most difficult summer hiring season in decades, experts say. The unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds hovered at 26.4% last month — the highest May figure since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking it in 1948 — as older workers continued snapping up jobs normally held by the...

Employee productivity took its biggest slide in a year, not because workers are slacking off but because businesses are boosting their head counts to keep up with demand. That's a good sign for the job market. It shows that bosses, who whittled their ranks during the lean years, are no longer able to squeeze as much output as they once were from their skimpy workforce. Despite frail GDP growth last quarter, demand for goods and services was strong (though it may be starting to slacken, depending on whom you ask )

With the U.S. economy losing jobs for a second straight month in July, evidence is mounting that U.S. companies are spending huge sums on new equipment and taking other steps to make them more productive without hiring more workers. The nation's unemployment rate remained stuck at 9.5% last month, the government reported Friday, as the economy sustained a net loss of 131,000 jobs. What's more, revisions of the previous month revealed a much bigger job loss than originally reported: The nation lost 221,000 jobs in June, not 125,000.

Despite weak job growth nationally, California's labor market showed a second month of strong job gains, with employers adding 38,300 jobs in June. With the swelling in payrolls, the unemployment rate dipped to 10.7% in June, according to data released by the state's Employment Development Department. California's gains are a marked difference from the national employment report. U.S. employers added 80,000 jobs in June, the third straight month of weak job growth. "It's an impressive number," said Christopher Thornberg, founding principal at Beacon Economics.

Despite double-digit growth in port traffic, a surge in retail sales and rising consumer confidence, employers added just 1,600 jobs in California in November. The unemployment rate remained steady at 12.4%, the state Employment Development Department said Friday. The state had added 42,300 jobs in October. Economists worry that this is another sign that the recovery will be a jobless one in both the state and the nation. The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.8% in November from 9.6% the month before as employers added just 39,000 jobs.

What job market? Re "U.S. job market shrinks again," Aug. 7 Forget about new jobs in the U.S. Self-employment will be the norm for most new college graduates. High school graduates will have to specialize in trades. Most of these Americans won't hire any "employees" either. They too will be able to procure services from contractors and make sales through commission-only salesmen. Large corporations will continue to export research and development, manufacturing and business operations to countries with cheap labor.

A special Job Market section in Part 2 of Business focuses on work and the family. Articles offer companies and employees ideas on how to balance the demands of home and office.

A special Job Market section in Part 2 of Business focuses on the struggle to redefine our expectations of work in an era of cost cutting and fewer opportunities for advancement.

Coming monday a special section will look at Southern California's job market, including: the coming turnaround, tales of successful job searches, a sampling of some of the best companies to work for and a quiz on whether it's time to change careers. Called "Looking for Light," the section will be published as Business Part II.

As one who recruits prospective employees on college campuses, I was pleasantly surprised by your article on college career centers ("College Job Offices Graduate to Career Centers" by Ursula Vils, Sept. 5). Your writer correctly noted that the career centers at many schools are evolving and changing in an attempt to meet the current needs of students. These changes are crucial in today's competitive job market. One major obstacle still needs to be hurdled, however: the isolation of the typical academic community.