2002-04-01

2002-04-01
Jennifer Platania & Kevin Krieger _University of Western Florida_
Under-Employment: Are NW Florida Workers Being Fully Utilized
"Traditionally, under-employment has been divided into 3 very general categories.   The first type of under-employment is involuntary part-time employment and includes workers who are working part-time for economic reasons that are beyond their control.   In 1996 approximately 25% of the work-force was engaged in part-time or temporary employment and approximately 40% of these employees would have preferred to find alternative full-time employment.   In 2000 approximately 29% of the work-force was considered part-time or contingent.   The growth of this contingent work-force is suggested to be one of the largest contributing factors to the growth of under-employment in the U.S.A.
 
The second type of under-employment is over-education or over-qualification.   This category encompasses individuals who have more education, training or expertise than their current job requires.   This type of under-employment has been historically high among both laid-off workers who are re-employed in new jobs and recent college graduates who often find themselves competing with more experienced workers because of the elimination of thousands of mid-level positions in organizations due to corporate restructuring.   This type of under-employment is sometimes the hardest to identify since it involves a variety of factors that can be difficult to measure (for example training, education, aptitude, abilities, preference, etc).
 
The final type of under-employment involves wages.   Workers earning much lower-than average wages fall into this category and are considered under-employed due to the notion that they could be re-trained and then re-hired in much higher paying jobs.   This pool of workers has long been considered a potentially valuable source of labor for regional economies.   The largest problem with these measurements of under-employment however is that they are neither mutually exclusive nor exhaustive...
 
In order to determine if a significant wage gap exists between Northwest Florida and the U.S. as a whole, data on 4 Northwest Florida MSAs -- Pensacola, Forth Walton Beach, Panama City and Tallahassee -- were collected and analyzed.   The existence of considerable evidence of a wage gap leads the Haas Center to believe that pressing forward into the investigation of the causes and effects of this gap is justified...   Specifically, after accounting for all other factors, the model suggests that being employed in a small southern MSA (such as Pensacola) contributes to a $37.34 reduction in average weekly earnings...
 
'what is it about small southern MSAs -- aside from their climates, education opportunities, culture or crime levels -- which causes them to experience lower than average wages?'   A 1999 Bureau of Labor Statistics publication supports the conclusion that smaller MSAs have lower overall occupational wages than large MSAs...   these small southern MSAs lack the highly productive physical capital which is so vital to sustained economic growth.   Without high growth levels, the areas are unable to attract the number of high-tech and consequently high wage occupations prevalent in other areas of the country.
 
Another related hypothesis is that small southern MSAs may also lack highly productive human capital (i.e., highly skilled workers) and thus the area may find it difficult to attract any highly technical industries and/or occupations to the area due to the inability to find qualified workers to fill these positions.   Consequently the area becomes flooded with low-skilled, low-wage occupations and any highly skilled worker who moves into the area will find it difficult to obtain appropriate employment in his/her field.   An abundance of literature exists which discuses and proves the existence of a link between both physical and human capital and economic growth, and as a result, the lack of these factors seems an important source of the lack of high wage industries in small MSAs.
 
In addition, the literature suggests that a low cost of living structure may also contribute to the lower wages observed in small southern MSAs.   According to the theory of compensating differences as it applies to the labor market, if the average cost of living is higher in large metropolitan areas, workers will require an additional wage premium to induce them to remain in these areas.   Nevertheless, despite the arguments made in the literature most analysis of earnings, wages and income do not explicitly take into account this variable..."

2002-04-01
Jerry McNabb _Modern Car Care_
how to pass the family business on to a new generation
"fewer than 5% of family-owned businesses survive under family control beyond the 3rd generation."
 

2002-04-02

2002-04-02
_USA Today_/_Reuters_
Lay-Off Plans Fall, but Level Remains High

2002-04-02
_T Waves_
March Lay-Off Announcements Fell to 10-Month Low
"job-cut announcements for March totaled 102,315, compared with 128,115 in February...   Despite March's decline, first-quarter announcements were about 9% ahead of a year earlier.   The March figure is more than double the monthly average of the last recession in 1991."
 

2002-04-03

2002-04-03
Dan Gillmor _SiliconValley_
Yahoo's Privacy Abuse
"Yahoo! Rips! Up! Privacy! Policy!   As from now, Yahoo! mail users are exposed to a dozen unwanted 'Special Offers and Marketing Communications', and users who've left their phone numbers with the portal will discover that they've been 'agreed' to cold calling and junk snail mail, for good measure."
 

2002-04-04

2002-04-04
_Job Circle_
Bust in Bangalore, India
"a programmer in Bangalore could be hired for as little as $200 per month, & office space could be leased from 26 cents to $1 per square foot per month."

2002-04-04
_WRAL_/_Local Tech Wire_
Vivek Wadhwa's heart attack caused cash crunch at Relativity
 

2002-04-05

2002-04-05
Tim McDonald _osOpinion.com_/_NewsFactor_
Implantable Spy Chip Gets Green Light from US FDA
"A Florida company... will begin marketing... a micro-chip that can be implanted under the skin...   The FDA advised the company, Applied Digital Solutions, that its bio-chip, called 'VeriChip', is not considered a medical device & therefore is not subject to FDA regulation...   that as long as the bio-chip is used for identification purposes only, it will not have to meet strict FDA guide-lines...
  'We could have, & we might in the future, put more information on the chip.   But right now we're very happy to put just the ID verification code & start getting it into the market-place.' [said Matthew Cossolotto]   The company said it has targeted VeriChip... toward patients who may arrive at hospitals unconscious or unable to speak, as well as at workers who need top-security clearance.   The biochip also could prove valuable for tracking children...
  the chip could be combined with a global positioning system (GPS) & used for security purposes by potential kidnap victims...   The company, which first announced the chip in 2001 December, said it will launch the product in the next 3 weeks, first in Florida & then nationwide & internationally.   The bio-chip is a miniature, implantable radio frequency identification device (RFID) roughly the size of a grain of rice...   The chip then transmits the verification number on a radio frequency of 125 KHz."
 

2002-04-06
 

2002-04-07
 

2002-04-08

2002-04-08
Robert Armstrong _HireAmericanCitizens_
H-1B + American High Tech Workers = un-employment (with table)
"By the end of this year, employers will have been approved to import over ONE MILLION foreign high tech workers under the H-1B visa program."

2002-04-08
Bob Weinstein _Tech Republic_/_ZDNet_
HR tips: Managing tech super-stars
"Take a long, deep look at the IT teams within leading companies, and you'll see that most boast at least a few tech superstars -- wunderkinds who display genius when it comes to technology innovations and problem solving.   These extraordinarily talented professionals can often steer a once-ailing company into a profitable venture, and their resumes don't list certifications as much as they list breakthroughs in software, hardware, and e-business concepts.   Recruiting and retaining these superstars often dictates a delicate management dilemma for CIOs: Many high achievers require a unique management approach, yet no tech leader can afford to alienate other members of the tech staff to pay special attention to one particular employee...   Nolan Bushnell, former CEO of the Atari Corporation, encouraged super-stars to work at their own rhythm.   David Kelley, IDEO founder, advised CIOs to just stay out of the way of superstars...   'Bright techies who have a "can do" attitude and a willingness to share knowledge are a great asset to any team.', he explained.   'The team's level of productivity, morale, and knowledge always improves with this type of person on the team.'   His formula for managing superstars is simple, yet not always easy, he admitted.   'Find bright people who have a positive attitude and a team approach.   Give them the tools, training, direction, and freedom to get the job done.   Finally, give them the recognition (public praise as well as the appropriate compensation) that they deserve.'   All of which is actually sound advice for managing the entire tech team."
 

2002-04-09

2002-04-09
Julia Malone _Cox News_
Bush Plans to End Job Program, Use Funds to Process Visa Applications
"The Bush administration is planning to cancel a high tech job training program for Americans and use the funds to speed up processing for foreign workers.   The move is raising concern in some high tech companies, which pay fees of $1K for each foreigner hired under the H-1B visa program designed for temporary, high-skilled workers.   The aim of the $185M training program has been to build up skills in the American work-force so that fewer foreign workers would be needed...   Norm Matloff, a computer science professor, at the University of California at Davis.   He said the training 'was a smoke-screen from the beginning' so that industry could hire more workers from over-seas.   Matloff holds that industry could find enough American workers if it were willing to hire and retrain programmers who are over age 40 and pay higher salaries.   'What they really ought to do is can the whole H-1B program, or enforce the spirit of the law.', he said.   The foreign worker program requires payment of prevailing wage, he said, 'but there are a ton of loop-holes for you to get around that'."
 

2002-04-10
 

2002-04-11

2002-04-11
Don Mathews _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
The Price of Envy
"Choate thought federal income tax rates were too high back in 1894, when the income tax consisted of a single rate -- 2% -- exacted on income in excess of what in today's money would amount to roughly $80K.   Choate came to argue the case against the income tax that came before the Supreme Court in 1895.   He won the case...   Between 1874 and 1894, 68 bills were submitted in Congress to restore the tax.   The 68th bill was tacked on to the Revenue Act of 1894 (now known as the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894), which Congress passed on 1894 August 15.   President Cleveland allowed the bill to become law without his signature.   The new income tax was soon challenged before the Supreme Court.   On 1895 April 8, the Court declared the income tax unconstitutional.   To Choate, the income tax was not a slippery slope but the thin edge of a razor.   He warned that the 2% rate of the 1894 income tax might one day rise to 20%.   Choate, of course, was right.   In 1913, the 16th amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving Congress the authority to tax income.   Instead of taking 2% of income over $80K as it did in 1894, the government today takes 15% of income up to $45,200, 27.5% of income between $45,200 and $109,250, 30.5% on income between $109,250 and $166,500, 35.5% on income between $166,500 and $297,350, and 39.1% on any income above $297,350.   And that's for married tax filers.   The income thresholds are lower for single filers."
Index of articles on mises.org

2002-04-11
_Reuters_
Hawaiian authorities search for missing China crew (as cited by Michelle Malkin 2002 _Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, And Other Foreign Menaces To Our Shores_)
 

2002-04-12
 

2002-04-13
 

2002-04-14
 

2002-04-15

2002-04-15 13:47:57PDT (16:47:57EDT) (20:47:57GMT)
Jeffrey Rosen _News from Babylon_/_NY Times_
Military-Technological Complex, Ellison Declare 'Privacy is Already Gone': Silicon Valley's Spy Game
"We already have this large centralized data-base to keep track of where you work, how much you earn, where your kids go to school, were you late on your last mortgage payment, when's the last time you got a raise...   Well, my God, there are hundreds of places we have to look to see if you're a security risk...   I really don't understand.   Central data-bases already exist.   Privacy is already gone." Privacy links

2002 April 16-19

Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conference
 

2002-04-16

2002-04-16
_Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal_
Auditor: Software deal may cost tax-payers millions
"A $95M contract by the state with a reseller of Oracle Corp. software is being blasted in a report issued Tuesday by California state Auditor Elaine Howle as providing services of limited use and perhaps costing the state millions instead of saving money.   The contract was signed last year with Logicon, Inc., a division of Northrop Grumman."
 

2002-04-17

2002-04-17
US Dept of State's Larson Sees High Tech Future in US-India Business Ties: Emphasizes information, medical technology, agriculture biotech
 

2002-04-18

2002-04-18
David Callahan _USA Today_
WM, not high tech, defines "new economy"
"While most people think of technology companies as the appropriate symbols of the 'New Economy', Wal-Mart and other service sector corporations are the true face of our changing economic system.   The real New Economy, unfortunately, is not nearly as appealing as the one of popular imagination...   In the Wal-Mart economy, the most valued productivity gains include those that automate service transactions, allowing them to be more easily completed by low-skilled, lower-paid workers.   These workers are easier to find, easier to use in part-time positions without benefits and less likely to unionize.   Wal-Mart's legions of low-paid, non-unionized workers (some 60% of whom don't have company-provided health insurance) are part of the fastest-growing labor-market sector: 73.9% of new jobs created between 1989 and 1999 were in such low-wage service industries.   In 2000, tech jobs comprised only 5% of all U.S. jobs...   Wal-Mart is famous for offering wide customer choices.   But it is also famous for driving surrounding smaller competitors out of business.   When they disappear, consumers' choices are decided by Wal-Mart, sometimes in disturbing ways."
 

2002-04-19

2002-04-19 08:20PDT (11:20EDT) (15:20GMT)
_Reuters_/_InfoWorld_
Ashcroft, Ellison win "Big Brother" awards
"US Attorney General John Ashcroft and data-base billionaire Larry Ellison were named this year's most notorious American violators of personal privacy by leading advocacy groups on Thursday...   The 'Worst Corporate Invader' honor went to Ellison of Oracle Corp., the world's leading maker of data-base software, for his advocacy of a centralized, Oracle-run government database that could be used as a national identification system.   The honors are given out in the spirit of author George Orwell and his warning about police surveillance in the totalitarian world of his novel _1984_.   The goal is to name and shame the bad actors.', said privacy advocate Jason Catlett, president and founder of Junkbusters Corp. of Green Brook, New Jersey."

2002-04-19 06:38PDT (09:38EDT) (13:38GMT)
_Reuters_/_USA Today_
"Big Brother" likes Ashcroft, Ellison
CorpWatch
USA: Ellison, Ashcroft Win "Big Brother" Awards

2002-04-19 11:48PDT (14:48EDT) (18:48GMT)
Kevin Poulsen _Security Focus On-Line_/_The Register_
Ashcroft, Ellison Win "Big Brother" Awards

2002-04-19
Andrew Brandt _PC World_
Is Digital Privacy Entering Dark Ages
"'These are really the unsung villains of the corporate world.', said Jason Catlett of Junkbusters, an anti-spam activist & presenter.   This year's ceremony featured one fewer award, however.   'We had to give up the people's choice category because it kept coming up M$, M$, M$.', Catlett said.   'M$ truly monopolized the category & so we had to give it up.'...   In the Worst Corporate Invader category, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison took the prize.   'In the tradition of the loud-mouthed billionaire, we have Larry Ellison, who said in a recent interview in The New York Times, "Privacy is already gone."', Catlett said.   Ellison volunteered to donate Oracle data-base technology (but not upgrades or consulting services) to the United States to develop a national ID system as an antiterrorism effort.   The Lifetime Menace Award went to Admiral John Poindexter, former defense department official convicted of felonies for shredding documents in the Iran-Contra scandal, & credited with coining the term 'plausible deniability'.   Poindexter, recipient of a presidential pardon from former president Bush, recently reemerged as head of the Defense Department's Project Genoa, described by Privacy International's David Banisar as 'an Echelon for all corporate computer data-bases.'"
 

2002-04-20

2002-04-20
_Squidly_/_Reuters_
Ashcroft, Ellison Win "Big Brother" Awards
 

2002-04-21
 

2002-04-22

2002-04-22
_Business Week_
Ashcroft, Ellison, Win "Big Brother" Awards: Privacy advocates honor foes at the Computers, Freedom & Privacy conference

2002-04-22
_Homo Numericus_
John Ashcroft et Larry Ellison Gagnent un Big Brother Award
"Il y a quelques jours, c'était la branche américaine de l'association qui désignaite les heureux élus, qui ne furent autres que l'Attorney General John Ashcroft, récompensé pour l'USA Patriot Act dont il est l'initiateur, et Larry Ellison, le très médiatique PDG d'Oracle qui eut la bonne idée de proposer l'instauration d'une carte nationale d'identité électronique (dont Oracle aurait la gestion bien sûr) dans un pays par nature rétif à ce type de fichage."

2002-04-22 10:34PST (13:34EST) (18:34GMT)
_Geek News_
Geek.com: Ellison wins Big Brother award
"This year, Ellison won the title of 'Greatest Corporate Invader' for his post September 11 proposal that Oracle software be used to create & track a U.S. national ID card.   In 2001 December Ellison followed through & donated Oracle 9i data-base software to an unnamed U.S. security agency."
 

2002-04-23

2002-04-23
Mike Banks Valentine _osOpinion.com_
Fight for Your Right to Privacy
"I came away from [the Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conference] with a rather pessimistic conclusion Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy was correct when he said, 'You have zero privacy anyway', to a group of reporters in 1999 January.   However, I stop far short of McNealy's suggestion that we should 'get over it'.   On the contrary, I suggest that we all consider getting on it & taking a wild ride to protect what little privacy we still have..."
 

2002-04-24
 

2002-04-25

2002-04-25
Bruce Schimmel _Philadelphia City Paper.net_
Larry vs. US
"An ally of Adolf Hitler, [Benito] Mussolini would have admired the American software mogul because Ellison's data-base easily could have kept track of train schedules...   Oracle [is used to] tracks our purchases, our debits & credits, & from that it can infer where we were & what we do...   In a recent New York Times magazine article, the reporter questioned him about Americans' potential loss of privacy.   'I don't really understand.', replied the billionaire.   'Central data-bases already exist.   Privacy is already gone.'"
 

2002-04-26

2002-04-26
_Business Week_
Michigan Consumer Sentiment Falls
"The University of Michigan's final reading for April consumer sentiment decreased to 93.0 from the preliminary level of 94.4 & March's reading of 95.7.   The decline was larger than expected & was due to a moderation in both major components, with current conditions falling to 99.2 from the preliminary reading of 100.9 & 100.4 in March, while expectations slipped to 89.1 from a preliminary 90.2 & the March level of 92.7...   even with the April decline, the overall reading of sentiment still remains well above the [2001] September trough of 81.8 & the 91.5 reading of [2001] August."

2002-04-26
Jim Hightower _AlterNet_
How WM is ReMaking our World: Bullying people from your town to Red China
"Behind this manufactured cheerfulness, however, is the fact that the average [WM] employee makes only $15K a year for full-time work.   Most are denied even this poverty income, for they're held to part-time work.   While the company brags that 70% of its workers are full-time, at Wal-Mart 'full time' is 28 hours a week, meaning they gross less than $11K a year.   Health-care benefits? Only if you've been there 2 years; then the plan hits you with such huge premiums that few can afford it -- only 38% of Wal-Marters are covered...   Wal-Mart is an unrepentant & recidivist violator of employee rights, drawing repeated convictions, fines, & the ire of judges from coast to coast.   For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has had to file more suits against the Bentonville billionaires club for cases of disability discrimination than any other corporation...   72% of the salespeople are women...   there is 'a harsh, anti-woman culture in which complaints go unanswered & the women who make them are targeted for retaliation'.   Workers' compensation laws, child-labor laws (1,400 violations in Maine alone), surveillance of employees -- you name it, this corporation is a repeat offender.   No wonder, then, that turn-over in the stores is above 50% a year, with many stores having to replace 100% of their employees each year, & some reaching as high as a 300% turn-over!...   All along, the vast majority of the products it sold were from cheap-labor hell-holes, especially [Red China].   In 1998, after several exposes of this sham, the company finally dropped its 'patriotism' posture & by 2001 had even moved its worldwide purchasing headquarters to [Red China].   Today, it is the largest importer of Chinese-made products in the world, buying $10G worth of merchandise from several thousand Chinese factories.   As Charlie Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee reports, 'In country after country, factories that produce for Wal-Mart are the worst.   [It] is actually lowering standards in [Red China], slashing wages & benefits, imposing long mandatory-over-time shifts, while tolerating the arbitrary firing of workers who even dare to discuss factory conditions.' 71% of the toys sold in the U.S. come from [Red China], & WM now sells one out of five of the toys we buy...   _Toys of Misery_ a shocking 58-page report... from NLC..."
 

2002-04-27

2002-04-27
Robert Bartolo _Science Policy Network_
How much more data do you need?
index
 

2002-04-28

2002-04-28
_NetPatriot_/_iwon.com_
Ashcroft, Ellison win US Big Brother Awards
"The 'Worst Government Official' award went to Ashcroft.   Privacy International said the top U.S. law enforcement officer is responsible for a massive increase in wiretapping of phones & other electronics and for the imprisonment without charge of as many as 1,200 people in the United States in the wake of the September 11 attacks on America.   The 'Worst Corporate Invader' honor went to Ellison of Oracle Corp. (ORCL), the world's leading maker of data-base software, for his advocacy of a centralized, Oracle-run government data-base that could be used as a national identification system."
 

2002-04-29

2002-04-29
Brian Sullivan _ComputerWorld_
Emotions Run Hot on H-1B
"Employers say foreign workers fill gaps left by a dearth of 'qualified' U.S. residents.   Unemployed IT workers and their allies say there's no labor shortage.   They claim that employers are just trying to cut IT costs and drive down wages by hiring foreign workers at lower pay rates...   Still, the available data does bear out that H-1B workers are often younger and better educated than their American peers and are seeking permanent resident status.   Most H-1B holders in the computer industry are hired to fill systems analyst and programming jobs.   Some receive the prevailing wage, while others make less working in job shops...   In the 2000-2001 academic year, foreign nationals took 60.4% of computer engineering master's degrees.   They earned 68.9% of computer science and 51.8% of combined computer science and engineering master's, according to Richard Heckel, technical director at Houghton, MI-based Engineering Trends Inc.   His firm tracks graduate information from U.S. engineering colleges.   As for Ph.D.s, foreigners took 66.1% in computer engineering degrees, 54% in computer science and 54.3% in combined computer science/engineering.   But that matters only if you believe the companies; Matloff, a vigorous critic of H-1B visas, says he doesn't.   His research shows that only 1% of H-1B holders have Ph.D.s and only 7.5% have master's degrees."
see graphs

2002-04-29
Julia King _ComputerWorld_
Hard Times: Tech workers trying to find jobs face a bleak future (with graph, tables)
"In interviews, more than 50 CIOs, high-tech hiring managers, recruiters, consultants and out-of-work IT professionals in different regions of the country told the same story: Two years of heavy corporate merger activity followed by the dot-com bust and a general down-turn in the economy have brutalized the IT job market, victimizing even veteran, highly skilled IT professionals.   The result is the largest pool ever of unemployed computer specialists, who are alternately bewildered, angry and, increasingly, bitter.   A harsh economy has forced many into lengthy unemployment, fueling two urban myths: Jobs are being lost to less-expensive younger or foreign workers.   The mere mention of the federal H-1B program, designed to enable foreigners to supplement the U.S. work-force, often triggers extreme emotions."

2002-04-29
Daniel Eisenberg, Cathy Booth Thomas, Unmesh Kher, Sean Scully, Maggie Sieger, Leslie Whitaker, & Daniel Terdiman _Time_
The help-wanted ads may look thin -- but thanks to aging baby boomers, that's about to change
"Applications to graduate programs in everything from law & business to education & engineering are up from last year by 30%-100%.   That approach should pay off.   Although 1.9M Americans with a high school diploma or less got the ax from 2000 September to 2001 October -- a time when the economy was slumping -- 1.2M people with college or vocational degrees were hired, according to the Employment Policy Foundation."
 

2002-04-30

2002-04-30
Brian Riedl _Heritage Foundation_
Still at the Federal Trough: Farm Subsidies for the Rich & Famous Shattered Records in 2001
"Members of Congress who are poised to spend at least $171G on direct farm subsidies over the next decade would be wise to examine newly released statistics detailing who actually receives these subsidies.   In 2001, Fortune 500 companies and large agribusinesses shattered previous farm subsidy records, while small family farmers saw their share of the subsidy pie shrink...   The current farm bills would provide even greater subsidies for large farmers, costing the average household $4,400 over the next 10 years, while facilitating increased consolidation and buyouts in the agricultural industry...   the federal government could bring the income of every full-time farmer in America up to 185% of the federal poverty level ($32,652 for a family of 4 in 2001) for just $4G per year.   In reality, however, the government spends nearly $20G annually on programs that target large farms and agribusinesses...   Growers of corn, wheat, cotton, soy beans, and rice receive more than 90% of all farm subsidies, while growers of most of the 400 other domestic crops are completely shut out of farm subsidy programs...   Thus, large farms and agribusinesses -- which not only have the most acres of land, but also, because of their economies of scale, happen to be the nation's most profitable farms--receive the largest subsidies.   Meanwhile, family farmers with few acres receive little or nothing in subsidies...   Despite an attempt to phase out farm programs in 1996, Congress reacted to slight crop price decreases in 1998 by initiating the first of 4 annual 'emergency' payments to farmers.   Subsidies increased from $6G in 1996 to nearly $30G in 2000 even though farmers have substantially higher incomes and net worths than the national average...   Consolidation is the main reason that the number of farms has decreased from 7M to 2M (just 400K of which are full-time farms) since 1935, while the average farm size has increased from 150 acres to more than 500 acres over the same period."

2002-04-30
_Dice_
Dice Report: 29,319 job ads

Total	29,319
Java	3,285
C++	5,690
body shop	11,948
permanent	20,220

graphs
 

2002 April

2002 April
Rachel Krantz _Monthly Labor Review_
Business Services
"the number of jobs in business services [a sub-set of bodyshopping] peaked in 2000 September & then began the steepest job loss in the 43-year history of the industry.   In the 12 months between 2000 September & 2001 September, employment in business services fell by 384K, or 4%...   Two components of business services account for 59% of its employment: personnel supply services and computer and data-processing services. (See chart 2.)   Since 2000 September, these industries and (to a lesser extent) advertising were the weakest industries within business services...   Employment in personnel supply services posted its largest annual decline in absolute terms, down 459K, or 12%, between 2000 September & 2001 September.   Job losses were concentrated in help supply services, an industry that primarily provides temporary workers to other businesses.   Employment agencies -- the other component of personnel supply services, which includes intermediaries that match employers with employees -- also showed job losses, but to a lesser degree...   The temporary-staffing [bodyshopping] industry rode this trend, growing at an annual rate of 12% in the period from just after the recession to 2000 September... Temporary employment began to fall in 2000 October [the same month in which president Clinton signed a bill temporarily increasing the numbers of H-1B visas to 195K per year]... data from surveys taken in 1995 and 1997 indicate that about one-third of agency temporaries worked in the manufacturing sector... Employment in computer and data-processing services continued to grow between 2000 September and 2001 September, although at a greatly reduced rate compared with that of the previous few years. This industry accounts for 23% of employment in business services. Its recent slowing of growth, coupled with its size, identifies computer services as an important factor in business services' overall weakness. However, the weakness in computer services is misleading without knowledge of industry trends in the 1990s. Beginning in the mid-1990s, expansion of the Internet fueled demand for computer services as companies scrambled to develop Web sites and network their computers. As the year 2000 approached, concerns about Y2K intensified demand for computer services. Employment in computer and data-processing services reflects this heightened demand: in 1994 through 1996, employment grew at an average annual rate of 13%; in 1997 through 1999, the average annual growth rate increased to 15%. Perhaps because of the extensive preparations, the year 2000 arrived without the accompanying computer glitches many had feared, and employment growth slowed to 8% for the year. The industry slow-down continued in 2001, as business investment receded. Employment in computer services declined to a 2% annual growth rate during the first 9 months of 2001... The combined industries of information retrieval services and computer-related services, not elsewhere classified, were the 1990s' growth engine in computer services. Employment in these industries grew at an annual rate of 25% in 1996 through 1999, slowed to 11% in 2000, and slowed further, to an annual rate of 2% in the first 9 months of 2001... On average, computer-programming services experienced double-digit rates of employment growth from 1993 to 2000, reaching a high of 20% in 1998. The industry continued to expand through 2001 April, and then, between 2001 April and 2001 September, it contracted at a 6% annual rate. The approach of the new millennium generated unprecedented demand for computer-programming services, as companies hurried to adapt their software to prevent dating problems associated with the year 2000. Since the arrival of the new millennium and the slowing of the economy, demand for computer-programming services has waned relative to its recent record levels."
graphs

Employment in business services and annual rates of change, selected years, seasonally adjusted

Industry	1995 September	2000 September	2001 September	2000 Sep to 2001 Sep Change	Annual % change 1995 Sep to 2000 Sep	Annual % change 2000 Sep to 2001 Sep	difference
Computer and data-processing services	1,122	2,124	2,200	+76	13.6%	3.6%	–10.0%
Computer-Programming Services	254	526	534	+8	15.7%	1.5%	–14.2%
Pre-Packaged Software	187	308	322	+14	10.5%	4.5%	–6.0%
Computer Integrated Systems Design	134	226	238	+12	11.0%	5.3%	–5.7%
Data Processing and Preparation	225	286	303	+17	4.9%	5.9%	+1.0%
Information retrieval services and computer-related services, n.e.c.	237	678	701	+23	23.4%	3.4%	–20.0%

 

2002 April
AnnaLee Saxenian, Yasuyuki Motoyama & Xiaohong Quan _Public Policy Institute of California_
Local & Global Networks of Immigrant Professionals in Silicon Valley
"In 1999, PPIC published Silicon Valley's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs, in which Saxenian noted that Chinese or Indian immigrants led 24% of all Silicon Valley firms and that foreign-owned firms accounted for 14% of the region's total employment...   The sample for the survey was drawn from the memberships of 17 leading immigrant professional associations in Silicon Valley...   This method of deployment means that there are potential sources of bias in the survey, particularly toward those who are association members and active members of the immigrant community.   There is also some potential for bias resulting from the self-selection of the respondents...   First-generation immigrants to Silicon Valley, most of whom have entrepreneurial experience, quickly adopt the patterns of external networking and information exchange that distinguish U.S.-born professionals in the region.   Chinese and Indian immigrants have a wide range of professional ties to their native countries.   Many return to their native countries regularly for business purposes and exchange technology and labor market information with colleagues and friends.   Some also advise companies, invest in start-ups and venture funds, and meet with government officials in their native countries.   The timing, location, and financing of start-ups founded by immigrants suggest that their businesses differ little from those started by U.S.-born entrepreneurs.   However, many foreign-born entrepreneurs have set up operations in their native countries to gain access to low-cost labor and, in the case of [Red China], access to its domestic market...   Most highly skilled Chinese and Indian immigrants in Silicon Valley have at least one friend or colleague who has returned to his or her native country to work or start a company.   73% of Indian and 68% of Chinese respondents say that they know between 1 and 10 returnees, and 4% of Indians and 9% of Chinese know 10 or more (Figure 4.1a).   45% of the other foreign-born respondents know of no such returnees...   only 13% of Taiwanese respondents know no one who has returned home and 17% know ten or more.   By contrast, 26% of Mainland Chinese surveyed know no returnees and only 6% know 10 or more (Figure 4.1b)...   82% of the region's foreign-born respondents report that they share information about technology with colleagues in their native countries (and 28% do so on a regular basis), 80% share information about jobs and business opportunities in the United States (24% do so regularly), and 69% share information about jobs or business opportunities in their native country (14% regularly)1 (Figure 4.3).   Indian respondents report sharing information about technology most frequently, whereas Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese report exchanging information about jobs and business opportunities in the United States and about technology at about the same frequency (Figure 4.4).   Chinese and Indians exchange information about jobs and business opportunities in their native countries the least frequently; 30% never exchange such information...   27% of all foreign-born respondents report serving as an advisor or consultant for companies from their country of birth.   This includes 34% of Indian respondents, 24% of Taiwanese, and 15% of those from Mainland China (Figure 4.5)...   An even greater share (40%) of foreign-born respondents report helping to arrange business contracts in their native country, including 46% of Indians, 42% of Taiwanese, and 34% of Mainland Chinese...   18% of the foreign-born professionals responding to the survey have invested their own money in start-ups or venture funds in their native countries.   Indian immigrants, in particular, report making investments at the same rate as their U.S.-born counterparts (22%) compared to the smaller numbers of Taiwanese (17%) and Mainland Chinese (10%) (Figure 4.7a)...   Silicon Valley immigrant professionals also meet frequently with government officials from their native countries.   30% of the survey's foreign-born respondents participate in such meetings sometimes, and 4% do so on a regular basis.   Interestingly, 35% of the respondents from Mainland China meet sometimes or regularly with government officials compared to 26% of Taiwanese and 27% of Indian immigrants (Figure 4.8).   Although the survey did not ask specifically about the substance of these meetings, our interviews suggest that they typically involve attempts by government officials to attract investments, encourage the return of Silicon Valley individuals and companies, or obtain advice concerning financial and regulatory conditions in the native country...   More than 75% of the technology start-ups in this sample were founded since 1995, and almost 90% since 1990 (Figure 5.1).   The great majority (91%) of companies founded by foreign-born immigrants have been incorporated in the United States (Figure 5.2).   And whereas 40% to 50% of these entrepreneurs report starting businesses with 2 to 4 co-founders from their native countries, only a handful (6% or less) have 5 or more founders that were born in the same country (Figure 5.3)...   38% of those surveyed are U.S. citizens, 30% are permanent residents, and 24% hold H-1B visas.   The Chinese surveyed are more likely to be U.S. citizens (45%) than their Indian counterparts (32%) whereas the Indians are more likely to be permanent residents (34%) or H1-B visa holders (29%)."

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