2001 January

2000 March - 2001 March
_CyberAtlas_ from CyberAtlas
"According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks employee movement in the Internet industry 11,649 employees were laid off in February, down 9% from January's record 12,828 cuts.   By comparison, there were 303 & 101 cuts in 2000 January & 2000 February...   The February tallies on jobs eliminated hit a staggering 2,874, up 57% from the 1,829 lay-offs from January."

2000 quarter 4/2001 quarter 1
Miriam Wasserman _Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Regional Review_
EllisIsland.com?
"Indian software programmers were in high demand in 1999 and 2000.   About 70K Indian professionals received temporary visas in 1999...   Still, many high-tech and software industry leaders wanted more: They successfully lobbied Congress to raise the yearly cap on this category of visas (H-1B) from 115K to 195K...   U.S. immigration policy has been moving toward favoring highly skilled and highly educated immigrants...
  During the 1990s, the United States again granted about 750K green cards each year.   (Plus, it received an estimated 200K to 300K illegal immigrants annually.)...   The number of highly skilled temporary workers admitted in 1999 was 5 times greater than in the 1980s.   Specialty occupation workers (H-1Bs) and intra-company transferees [L-1s] added up to about 160K in 1999, a number equivalent to between one-quarter and one-fifth of legal permanent immigrants.   And these workers tend to be very highly educated: Of the H-1B visas granted between [1999] October 1 and 2000 February 29, more than 41% went to people who had a master's degree or higher, and 56% to people who had a bachelor's degree...
  Although workers hired under the H-1B visa program represent only a tiny fraction of the U.S. labor force of 133M workers, they made up about 6% of its labor force growth in 1999.   The impact was especially felt in computer-related occupations, where more than half of new H-1Bs were employed.   But their presence was also noted in fields as far from the world of computers as fashion models (see the charts).   Given that temporary foreign workers made up about 10% of the information technology (IT) work-force devoted to research and development, the National Research Council concluded that this sector would have been unlikely to grow as rapidly as it did without foreign workers...
  Paul E. Harrington and Neeta P. Fogg at the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.   After surveying 310 Bay State firms that employ scientific, engineering, and technology workers, the researchers found that over 7% of their employees hired during 2000 April had H-1B visas.   In biotechnology, almost 1 out of every 5 hires had an H-1B visa...   as many as 30% of 'permanent' immigrants leave the United States within a decade or 2 of their arrival, while many of the skilled workers who come in under temporary visas desire to stay permanently...   Computer-related H-1B petitions, median wage $53K, 39,214 workers...   81,262 H-1B non-immigrant visas that were approved between 1999 October and 2000 February."

2001-01-01

2001-01-02

2001-01-03

2001-01-03
_Detroit News_
Retail Leads Severe Job-Loss Month
Biz Report
"In the most extraordinary job-cut month in more than 8 years, U.S. employers in December announced plans to cut 133,713 jobs.   Led by the retail sector, which accounted for a whopping 30% of all cuts in December, in 20 business days employers slashed jobs at a rate of 6,685 per 8-hour day or 418 job cuts every 30 minutes.   December's was the largest job-cut month since 1993, when Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. began keeping detailed monthly records.   It marked only the fourth time in those 8 years that monthly job cuts surpassed 100K.   Despite the December deluge, the year-end job cut total of 613,960 was 9% below 1999 (675,132).   December was 203% higher than November (44,152) and 199% higher than 1999 December (44,682)."

2001-01-04

2001-01-04 09:44PST (12:44EST) (17:44GMT)
_CNN_/_Money_
US employers slashed 133,713 jobs in the final month of 2000
"The company stated that December's job cuts were 203% higher from 44,152 job cuts in November and up nearly 200% from the 44,682 cuts in 1999 December. The monthly Challenger Employment Report highlighted that the retail sector, which was especially hard hit, accounted for a whopping 30% of December's job cuts. And for 2000, the retailers also took the lead with 94,354 job cuts, 47% higher than 1999. December marked the fourth time that a monthly job cut report surpassed the 100,000 figure since Challenger began keeping records in 1993."

2001-01-05

2001-01-05
Jim Vande Hei & Tom Hamburger _Wall Street Journal_
Bush Endorses High-Tech CEOs' Agenda: Tells Investors to Be Patient With Holdings
"At a 2-hour, closed-door meeting with 17 chief executives of technology companies, Mr. Bush promised efforts to cut taxes, reduce regulations, promote global trade & increase the number of skilled workers from abroad, as part of his overall strategy to stimulate the economy now & keep it prosperous in the long term...   Mr. Bush appeared amenable to allowing more H-1B visas for high-skilled workers, a top priority for high-tech firms looking to recruit from around the world.   And he also pledged to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA] to cover more countries & reform litigation laws 'so that capital isn't driven out of our economy'...   Craig Barrett of Intel... John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems... James Barksdale on AOL's board... Michael Dell of Dell Computer... Lou Gerstner of IBM"

2001-01-06

2001-01-06
_DoL ETA_
unemployment insurance weekly claims

• 558,768 initial claims
• 3,067,097 continuing claims
• 2.4% insured unemployment rate

2001-01-07

2001-01-08

2001-01-08
Art Jahnke _Darwin Magazine_
Is Technology the Economy's Straw Man?: Traditional businesses should share responsibility for the economy's recent down-turn.
"As long as venture capitalists were willing to take risks, says Mandell, the economy continued to expand.   But that expansion, which began in 1991 and ended abruptly last spring, made a U-turn when the money men began to get cold feet.   Mandell believes that the economic pain has only just begun, and that we are headed not for a recession, but for a lasting depression that will be felt around the world...   A report of recent job cuts conducted by the out-placement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas suggests that the most troubling economic problems lie in the retail and automotive sectors, not the e-commerce and Internet sector.   In December, according to the report, American companies announced 133K job cuts, the highest number recorded in one month since the annual survey began 7 years ago.   Of those cuts, only 7% came from companies in the e-commerce and Internet space.   Nearly 30% were made in retailing, and more than 19% were made in the automotive industry."

2001-01-08
_US Business Advisor_
Dot-Com Job Cuts on the Rise: December marked 7th straight month of increasing job cuts at Internet companies
"According to out-placement firm Challenger, Gray &qmp; Christmas, 10,459 people lost their jobs with Internet companies in December, up 19% from November.   A total of 498 dot-coms have cut 41,515 jobs since December of 1999.   Job cuts didn't begin to really increase until the second half of 2000, when many dot-coms began to struggle just to stay afloat, or tanked completely.   (According to a report from Webmergers.com, nearly 60% of the dot-com shut-downs took place during the fourth quarter as funding dried up.   In December, at least 40 Internet companies went under; in all, an estimated 210 Internet companies shut down over 2000.)   While 5,097 people lost jobs from January to June, the period from July through December saw 36,177 lay-offs.   Webmergers adds that between 12K and 15K lay-offs resulted from closures."

2001-01-08
Marianne Kolbasuk McGee _Information Week_
OutLook for 2001
"Despite the uncertainties of the economy, IT executives are generally optimistic about the new year.   Most IT executives in our fourth annual Outlook Study say they expect IT spending to keep rising...   2001 IT budgets will exceed last year's, with IT spending representing an average of 8% of their companies' total revenue.   That's up slightly from 7.8% last year & 6.8% in 1999...   Nearly 80% say they're confident that their companies' revenue growth will be better in the coming year than it was in 2000.   Only 7% say 2001 will generate less revenue growth for their companies.   About 15% expect revenue growth to remain flat...   the U.S. Commerce Department reported that growth in the second quarter of 2000 for new IT equipment orders rose 34% compared with the same quarter in 1999; but in the third quarter, growth of these orders rose only 1.2% compared with the same quarter in 1999."

2001-01-08
Stephanie Stahl _Information Week_
Spending Plans ReInforce Tech Value
"According to InformationWeek's Outlook For 2001 Study, 72% of respondents say IT budgets at their companies will increase in 2001.   On average, IT spending will represent 8% of revenue."

2001-01-09

2001-01-09 10:37PST (13:37EST) (18:37GMT)
Keith Regan _eCommerce Times_
Kozmo.com joined MVP.com, Ameritrade and New York Times Digital in announcing staff cuts this week
"The latest job cuts account for about 6% of Kozmo's work-force, which had been trimmed several times during 2000...   According to Chicago, IL-based executive search firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, the month of 2000 December set a record for Internet company lay-offs, with 10,459 jobs cut, 19% more than in 2000 November."

2001-01-10

2001-01-11

2001-01-11
Thomas Sowell _Capitalism Magazine_
The Cause of the California Electricity Shortages: Price Controls
"As an economist, whenever I hear the word 'shortage' I wait for the other shoe to drop.   That other shoe is usually 'price control'...   In the absence of price control, a shortage is usually a passing thing.   When prices are free to rise, that causes consumers to buy less and producers to produce more, eliminating the shortage.   But when the price is artificially prevented from rising, the shortage is prevented from ending."

2001-01-12

2001-01-13

2001-01-13
Jon Dougherty _WorldNetDaily_
Elaine Chao's ties to Chinese leader: Expert: Bush's Labor nominee 'family friend' of Jiang Zemin
"President-elect George W. Bush's choice to head the Labor Department, Elaine Chao, and her father have extensive personal ties to communist China's President Jiang Zemin -- contact described as 'regular' and 'deep', WorldNetDaily has learned...   The Sino expert told WND the relationship with Jiang stems from Ms. Chao's father, James S.C. Chao, who attended college with the [Red Chinese] president before fleeing for Taiwan in 1949, in advance of the communist government takeover of the mainland...   Ms. Chao, 47, a Taiwanese immigrant, is the former chairman of the Heritage Foundation's Asia Studies Center Advisory Council and a distinguished fellow at the conservative think tank.   She once served as deputy secretary of the Transportation Department under the president-elect's father, President George Bush, and also served as chair-woman of the Federal Maritime Commission.   She became director of the Peace Corps in 1991 and led the United Way of America from 1992-1996.   Married to senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY, Chao is said to be on the fast track to Senate confirmation."

2001-01-14

2001-01-15

2001-01-15
_USA Today_
Some Employers Give Leaves Instead of Lay-Offs

2001-01-16

2001-01-16
Downey Grimsley, Kirstin _Washington Post_ pg H1
Independent Contractors' Victory in M$ Case May Have Wide Impact

2001-01-17

2001-01-17
_Bloksberg_
The Culling of the Dot-Coms Will Continue
"Though many dot-com executives say their battered industry will turn a corner in the new year, few see that corner approaching quickly.   Analysts say closings and job cuts among Internet companies will peak in January and February following the holiday shopping season.   They say some dot-coms will call it quits after failing to hit fourth-quarter revenue targets...   Challenger says Internet firms cut a record 10,459 jobs in December, a 19% increase from November's 8,789.   But that spike trails the 55% leap in Internet job cuts in November vs. October, the firm says.   Challenger began tracking dot-com lay-offs in 1999 December.   Since then, his firm has reported 41,515 lay-offs by 496 Web Companies.   Challenger says 91 of those 496 companies, or 18%, have gone out of business.   Over the last year, Challenger says, dot-com services, which include Net consulting, financial and information firms, accounted for 19,535 lay-offs, or 47% of the total.   E-tailers accounted for 9,523 job cuts, or 23%...   The firm says Net execs accounted for 16% of the 113 tech CEOs who left last month."

2001-01-18

2001-01-19

2001-01-19 11:30PST (14:30EST) (19:30GMT)
Stefanie Olsen _CNET_
Job sites flush with resumes amid dot-com down-turn (with table)
"This week, Monster.com, the Net's second-most-popular career Web site, said that the volume of resumes on its site hit a record of about 38K a day this month.   Its data-base peaked at 12M job seekers.   The Maynard, MA-based company also said that its service for senior executives, launched in September, had reached 100K members.   JobsOnline.com, the highest-ranked career Web site for traffic [since bought out by Monster], jumped from 352K visitors in 1999 December to 6.6M visitors in the same period a year later, according to Jupiter Media Metrix, a New York-based Web measurement company.   Similarly, HotJobs visitors mushroomed from 513K in 1999 December to 2.7M in 2000 December...   attracting job seekers is key to drawing in paying customers, the companies say...   what has traditionally been a fragmented industry, one that encompasses about 40K independent placement agencies and where the largest player commands less than 2% of the market...   Staff cut-backs have touched the smallest tech companies to the largest media conglomerates.   For example, NBC Internet said Thursday that it is cutting about 150 positions, or 30% of its staff, in a move to reduce costs.   Concerns about a slowing US economy have also dug into media companies such as CNN, which recently announced staff cut-backs...   From October to December, the number of job-seeker stats on [CareerBuilder] rose 250% from 300K to 1M.   Some of the increase can be attributed to the company's absorption of CareerPath, as well as deals with Knight Ridder and Tribune Company."

2001-01-20

2001-01-21

2001-01-22

2001-01-22
Emily Leinfuss _ComputerWorld_
How to Hire an H-1B
"many IT managers will soon be discovering this source of IT labor for the first time...   And it's the green card that's the brass ring for many H-1B visa holders and employers, especially after they make the investment in relocation and training, says Jeff Chambers, director of human resources at SAS Institute.   'We have converted a lot of H-1B visa holders to permanent residence after they work out on the job.', he says."

2001-01-22
James K. Glassman & Rick White _Tech Central Station_
High Tech Executives' Top Concerns: Over-Regulaiton, State of Economy
"You've just taken over as CEO of TechNet, the network of high-tech executives that lobbies and educates Congress on common public policy concerns affecting the Internet.   Last year, your organization successfully sought approval for a permanent trade status with [Red China], more visas for high tech workers and the rescission of federal accounting rules that were deemed adverse to high tech industry...   Number one, education is definitely going to be at the top of our list...   Privacy is an issue that is going to be on top of everyone's mind, and we want to be involved in that.   We want to make sure that these accounting issues that you mentioned are finalized...   right now you don't have the level of math and science literacy in the U.S. population that you should have to able support the things that technology companies do.   That's one reason why we ended up having to have so many H1B visas issued, so that people can come in and do those jobs...   I represented M$ when I was in Congress, and obviously I was not a big fan of the antitrust suit...   In terms of intervention with respect to the Internet, I certainly believe that the less government, less regulation, the better."

2001-01-23

2001-01-24

2001-01-24
Robert Locke _FrontPage magazine_
Why H-1B Visas are Bad for America
"But the very concept of a labor shortage is a sophistry that has no place in free-market economics.   Economics teaches that in a free market there are never shortages of anything, only things whose price, as set by supply and demand, is higher than some person wishes to pay.   There is not a technical job in America that could not be filled with an American citizen if the employer were willing to pay the right price.   The fact that the company in question "cannot fill" the position is merely a function of their desire to set an arbitrary price that they feel like paying.   This is not the way of the market, and frankly it is a form of corporate decadence for them to go running to the government for a subsidy in the form of cheap foreign workers...   Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich stated 'The H-1b program has become a major means of circumventing the costs of paying skilled American workers of the costs of training them.'   H1-B helps promote age and other forms of discrimination by giving companies a ready supply of foreigners who don't have any uppity American ideas about their rights and who can be silenced by threatening to send them back where they came from.   Because even companies that don't employ H1-B workers can threaten to do so, H1-B has a chilling effect on industry as a whole.   Though the H-1b has been sold as providing companies access to the 'world's best and brightest', reality differs from the sales pitch.   The law states the alien must have 'a bachelors degree or equivalent'.   Hardly indicative of the world's best and brightest.   Experience shows that the people imported are, in general terms, no better or no worse than domestic workers.   Nobody objects to bringing in Nobel-calibre scientists and the like, but this is a tiny number of people, not 200K per year...   For example, although Labor Dept. regulations require companies to pay at least 95% of the prevailing wage, companies are free to use biased data in establishing what this wage is...   They spin the data by grouping employees into inappropriate categories, by selective reporting, and by outright dishonesty...   Department of Labor Office of Inspector General Final Report.   Report Number: 06-96-002-03-321 Titled _The Department of Labor's Foreign Labor Certification Programs: The System Is Broken and Needs To Be Fixed_ dated 1997/01/24, states 'In our opinion, not all types of jobs being filled by H-1B aliens necessarily represent jobs that would enhance US employers' abilities to compete in a global economy.'...   Charles C. Masten, Inspector General, H-1B Labor Condition Application (LCA) program made the following comments.   'Audit findings in a recently issued OIG report found that both programs fail to adequately protect American jobs or wages, as intended by Congress...   DoL's role in the PLC and LCA programs did little to add value to the process of protecting US workers' jobs and wages.'..."

2001-01-25

2001-01-25
David Lewis _Internet Week_
IT Thrives Despite Dot-Com Lay-Offs
"The number of dot-com job cuts reached 10,459 in December, jumping 19% from November, according to a survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc...   Lermisaux said that companies Ilogos surveyed in 1999 used the Web because it reduced time in filling positions to about 20 days from the conventional 67 days."
 

2001-01-26

2001-01-27

2001-01-28

2001-01-28
_California Job Journal_
JOBWIRE

2001-01-28
William J. Holstein & Marianne Lavelle _US News & World Report_
Great Expectations: Executives hope GW Bush will do them special favors
"The execs would love to see Bush re-create on a national scale the kind of relationship he had with tech leaders in Texas.   One of those Austin power brokers is Steve Papermaster, CEO of software maker Agillion.   He argues that Bush, far from being a tech Neanderthal, knows how to go to bat for these companies.   He notes that Bush blocked an effort by state legislators to tax Internet E-commerce sales.   'He used his bully pulpit as governor.', says Papermaster.   Education is also shaping up as a tech sector top priority.   To fill nearly 850K job openings, the industry has fought to raise the number of [cheap] immigrants brought into the United States on H-1B visas.   But every executive worth his Palm knows that the best solution lies in giving America's youngsters a high-tech boost, and the sooner the better.   Traditionally, corporate interest has focused on universities, but now executives are seeking changes in earlier years...   High-tech leaders do have some policy concerns.   For example, some worry that conservatives in Congress might seek to block sales of advanced computer and communications gear to [Red China].   Elsewhere, a crucial debate over federal standards for Internet privacy is shaping up.   But if the new president replicates the Austin model at the national level, the Bush Era Take 2 should be good news for tech."

2001-01-28
David Berliner _Washington DC Post_/_U of Colorado_
Our Schools vs. Theirs: Averages That Hide the True Extremes
"Not many weeks ago, theTIMSS-R data were released.   That's edu-speak for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study-Repeat.   The United States came out about averageamong the 38 competing nations whose eighth-graders took the tests, rankingonly 19th in mathematics and 18th in science.   In the United States, that is unacceptable...   But just in case nobodynoticed, Rickover's lazy and unfit students of the 1950s, students whosupposedly couldn't read or think and were doomed to lose the arms race, noware in charge of most of the nation's important government agencies andcorporations.   Those 1950s dum-dums haven't done too badly in terms of national defense, economic productivity or positioning America for a bright future...   The original TIMSS informed us that American fourth- andeighth-graders scored at about the same level as those in 41 other nations, butwell below some Asian nations in math and science.   The repeat of TIMSS showed the same trend.   Since the United States has 15K or more school districts, with 15K funding formulas, and 15K curriculum committees and school boards, it should have been obvious that change would not occur quickly.   Because our nation's public schools are run by local authorities, it was wasted effort to repeat TIMSS so soon after the 1995 studies.   Furthermore, TIMSS-R confirms a point many of us have long believed: Not all our schools should change.   Despite the doom-sayers, some of our schools are doing fine...   In TIMSS, at the eighth-grade level among the 41 nations, 32 nations statistically outscored Louisiana in mathematics.   Worse, 36 nations out-scored the District of Columbia.   But only 6 nations in the world beat Iowaand Nebraska in mathematics.   In science, 26 nations outperformed Mississippi, and 37 nations beat the District.   But only 1 nation, Singapore, scored above Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming...   In science, for the items common to both the TIMSS and the TIMSS-R, the scores of white students in the United States were exceeded by only 3 other nations.   But black American school children were beaten by every single nation, and Hispanic kids were beaten by all but 2 nations.   A similar pattern was true of mathematics scores."
 

2001-01-29

2001-01-29 07:28PST (10:28EST) (15:28GMT)
Barbara Darrow _Internet Week_
January Breaks Record for Dot-Com Cuts
"Lay-offs in the Internet sector hit a new record this month, totaling 12,828 -- up 23% from December, according to Challenger Gray & Christmas.   That brings the total number of employment casualties since 1999 December to 54,343 jobs, the Chicago out-placement company said Monday...   Some 108 companies, or 18% of the total, have closed their doors since 1999 December...   In the category-by-category tally for January, technology companies had the dubious distinction of leading the pack with 3,132 jobs lost.   Consumer services followed with 2,732 jobs gone, then professional services with 2,652 lay-offs."

2001-01-29
Ryan Laraine _InternetNews.com_
January Dot-Com Lay-Offs Set New Record
another link
Silicon Valley
"The number of dot-com employees in search of new jobs reached 12,828 in January, a new monthly record since the tracking began.   Out-placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which keeps track of lay-offs in the Internet industry, said dot-com job cuts in January represented a 23% jump over December's record total of 10,459.   The latest monthly survey from Challenger, Gray & Christmas said 54,343 employees from 610 dot-coms have received pink slips since 1999 December, when it first began tracking staff movement in the industry."

2001-01-29
Michael Mahoney _EcommerceTimes_/_News Factor_
Dot-Com Shake-Out Leaves Exec Salaries Unharmed

2001-01-29 10:00PST (13:00EST) (18:00GMT)
_CNN_/_Money_
A plague of job cuts
"DaimlerChrysler said Monday it would cut 19K hourly positions and 6,800 salaried employees from its Chrysler unit over the next 3 years, citing the high cost of launching new vehicles and a competitive U.S. market...   Companies cutting jobs 2001-01-24 to 2001-01-29: DaimlerChrysler, Xerox, WorldCom, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, Lucent, Sara Lee, Warner Time AOL...   At this rate, January promises to be a much grimmer month than December, in which 133,713 jobs were cut due to the U.S. economic slow-down, a jump of nearly 200% from the number of cuts in December 1999, according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas."

2001-01-29
_Farlex Free Library_/_Gale Group_/_Business Wire_
BellSouth claimed telecomm competition in FL reached all-time high

2001-01-29
Cliff Radel _Cincinnati OH Enquirer_
no longer business as usual on Harrison avenue: Marge Engel died last week...
"Marge was a businesswoman, a shop-keeper, ahead of her time...   Back then, Cheviot and Westwood shared a thriving business district along Harrison Avenue.   In those days, Cincinnati's City Council did not have to board buses and tour Westwood.   Two Saturdays ago, council members got their shots, had their passports checked and ventured into the city's biggest, oft-ignored neighborhood.   They traveled along Harrison Avenue -- from the Western Hills Viaduct to the Cheviot border.   They looked at blight, boarded-up windows, closed shops, dilapidated houses, abandoned cars, broken-down people.   In Marge's heyday, Harrison Avenue knew no blight.   It was healthy...   At the mall, there's rarely a Marge.   She managed the Nadler's store with her husband, Vic...   Vic...was suave and immaculately dressed.   Wearing his just-pressed shirt, carefully knotted tie and tailored suit, he looked -- as my mom is fond of saying -- as if he just came out of a bandbox.   Marge was...funny, raw-boned, always on the go.   She knew where everything was.   And she knew where to put little boys when they came into her store.   'How's my boy?', she would always say and reach down to pick me up and plop me on her counter.   Sometimes she'd hand out a lollipop or a new shoe horn.   Most times she'd just let me watch all of the action.   She'd ring up a sale and make a production out of placing the clothes in a box or bag.   I can still smell the tissue paper, so new, so fresh, and remember presents bought with hard-earned money and service given with a smile.   Nadler's did not last forever.   Hardware is now sold from the same floor where Marge once stopped my dad, looked at what was on his head and made a sale by declaring 'you need a new hat.   That brim's too wide.'   Now, like Nadler's, Marge is gone."
 

2001-01-30

2001-01-30
Christine Woolsey _Craine's Chicago Business_
Dot-com job cuts hit record level of 12,828
"In January, dot.com companies set a new lay-off record, announcing 12,828 job cuts, a 23% hike over December's record total of 10,459, according to Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc.   Since it began tracking dot.com job cuts in 1999 December, Challenger Gray & Christmas has recorded 54,343 cuts at 610 companies.   Its latest report shows that 108 companies, or 18%, have closed...   Internet technology-related firms cut 3,132 jobs in January, 24% of the month's total.   Firms providing professional services to Internet firms slashed 2,652 jobs, or 21% of the January total."
 

2001-01-31

2001 January
Sundari Baru _Center on Policy Initiatives_
Working on the Margins: Temporary Work in California
"These non-standard arrangements, including independent contractors, on-call workers, contract company workers and part-time workers have been increasing at a high rate.   Researchers at the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that between 1995 and 1997, total employment in the United States grew by 2.8% while employment through temporary help agencies increased by 10%.   The American Staffing Association, the trade organization that represents the temporary help industry, estimates that its members placed over 3M workers a day in 1999, increasing from 1.2M a day in 1990, a 150% rate of growth; whereas, during this period, average civilian employment grew by just over 12%.   The growth of contingent work arrangements raises serious issues for workers, including the lack of income security, health and pension benefits, and potential for career advancement."

2001 January
_Humboldt State University_
Index of Economic Activity (graph)
"Unemployment Rate 5.2%, Help Wanted Advertising up 2.35%, Building Permits up 38/35%, Unemployment Claims down 9.85%, Manufacturing Orders up 30.30%...   The seasonally adjusted Index of Economic Activity for Humboldt County has been in more or less a steady state for the last two years, with minor month-to-month fluctuations.   Yet during December 2000 the seasonally-adjusted Index experienced its largest downturn in a year, falling 2.55%.   While the seasonally adjusted Index has experienced a sharp downturn, one month of data does not make a trend, and moreover the Index remains at a high level relative to past years.   For example, in the month-over-month comparison, the Index increased 0.12% over 1999, increased 5.67% over 1998 and increased 9.75% over 1997."

_BigCharts.com_ S&P Retail Index
Note the signs of weakness shown in the dip from 1998 July through November, relatively flat 1999, and the drop all through 2000.

AAA southern California fuel prices
AAA national fuel prices
AAA state by state

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