Today’s number: 9 percent
Thursday, Sep 11, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Ugh…
Only 9 percent of chief financial officers surveyed in Chicago say they plan to add new jobs to their companies in the next 6 months, according to a report released Thursday by staffing firm Robert Half.
That means most — 79 percent of area finance executives surveyed — will only be adding staff to fill vacated positions, according to the firm’s “Chicago Professional Employment Forecast” report.
This market for new jobs falls short of cities such as Houston, where 24 percent of CFOs said their companies planned to fill new positions over the next half year. In Denver, 19 percent of CFOs said they have plans to create new jobs over the fall and into the winter months of 2015. Other cities, such as Salt Lake City, Ut. Des Moines, Ia., and the San Francisco Bay area also reported plans to ramp up job creation by more than 10 percent.
- Wally - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 10:39 am:
But, but, but the jobs situation in Illinois is improving. Right?
After all, the recession ended 5 years ago and PQ says he has turned things around and…….oh, what the heck.
- Ghost - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 11:01 am:
are they adding minimium wage jobs or higher paying jobs?
quality of jobs is more important then quantity, unless we are trying to take over all the sweatshops and drag our econmy to the bottom.
the share of wealth held by the bottom 90% fell to 24.7% in 2013. That’s compared to 33.2% in 1989.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/08/luxury/super-rich-federal-reserve/index.html?iid=H_E_News
it turns out as the rich make more money, they are less inclined to pass it donw in the form of wages, and are not spending enough of it to make a difference. So we are just reducing themiddle class into the poor and pooling more money in the hands of the few.
- Precinct Captain - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 11:04 am:
I’m sure we all wish this number was higher, but as Ghost said, we also want good jobs, not poverty jobs.
Obviously this won’t help in the next few months or few years, but because of water problems in the West and Southwest might there be a migration of big business and residents back our way on the longer term horizon?
- Ahoy! - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 11:13 am:
This isn’t surprising, just look at where Illinois Companies like State Farm are creating jobs, Texas and Atlanta. Better workers comp laws, lower unemployment insurance and more state government stability. Illinois is a hard sale to businesses right now, even with all our assets.
- Wally - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 11:19 am:
This information plays right into Rauners hands and is terrible news for Quinn. It is about the economy and it is lousy in Illinois.
- walker - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 11:40 am:
Yep. It sucks.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 11:48 am:
All jobs are good ones to someone.
Stop belittling them because you are also belittling the people who do them. Stop looking down your noses at entry level work because when you do, you are looking down your noses at the people doing that work.
Minimum wage work is good for someone. A kid, a special needs adult, a lonely senior, someone’s life is made better because they have a purpose, even if they are only receiving $8.25 a hour doing it.
Honest work is good work, regardless of pay. We so often hound one another over the minimum wage, but all of us probably earned the minimum wage at one or many points in our lives and it was better than being at home on a government check, wasn’t it?
I am sadden by all the young men who have never had a job. Men need to work. Sorry, but it may sound old-fashioned, but men need that self-esteem and confidence, or they lose value in themselves. We need that identification.
“So, what do you do for a living?” is one of the first things asked upon meeting someone. It is better to respond by saying, “I work at Joe’s, helping out with the dishes”, than it is to say, “I’ve never had a job.” It is a male brain thing, in my opinion.
So please, let’s respect each other’s opportunities to be a part of this community. Let’s wish that all find a place to work. Let’s stop speaking like we’d rather have 1000 high paying jobs than 1000 low paying ones. Everyone needs one at some point in their lives.
Thanks.
- central illinois - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 11:53 am:
thanks V Man - couldn’t agree more
- Anon - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 12:05 pm:
Jobs are important. But the federal minimum wage was higher in constant dollars during the 1950s and 60s than it is today, yet unemployment was lower. Today Australia and Canada have significantly higher minimum wages than the US, but haven’t faced unemployment rates as high.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 12:10 pm:
== quality of jobs is more important then quantity ==
Quality of jobs is very important.
But a job is most important to someone in need of work or on the verge of becoming homeless. Illinois’ having one of the highest minimum wages in America also helps that person make ends meet.
- Precinct Captain - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 1:17 pm:
Hear that everyone, if you want people to work and be free of poverty, you are “belittling” people.
- dupage dan - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 3:09 pm:
Hear that everyone? Wages must be set by an arbitrary gov’t panel made up of folks w/limited knowledge of the value of labor or your job is meaningless.
- Judgment Day - Thursday, Sep 11, 14 @ 3:13 pm:
When only 9% of CFO’s are planning for jobs expansion here in IL, we’ve got issues. Because we know there’s going to be jobs lost from the existing Illinois workforce - we just don’t know how large.
So this piece of information is only part of the puzzle. What are our job losses from current employment going to be is the other part of the puzzle.
With potential job losses that you always experience, we might be lucky to just hold our own going forward.
Be nice to get some good news…..
- VanillaMan - Friday, Sep 12, 14 @ 7:56 am:
Hear that everyone, if you want people to work and be free of poverty, you are “belittling” people.
While your intentions may be good, your means of communicating that - and the politics you are using, makes entry level work look beneath entry level workers.
- Arizona Bob - Friday, Sep 12, 14 @ 7:58 am:
Right now, Illinois is a bad investment, and saavy businesses know it. You have a prevasive culture of corruption and govermental incompetence that the voters overwhelming support at the ballot box every election, a punitive regulatory environment, and a $145 billion pension liability that will HAVE to be paid, and soon. The government hasn’t even taken the necessary steps to stop the bleeding by giving disincentives for public employers to moderate salry rises and pension spiking, let alone address existing obligations. Based upon Illinois political history, that burden will largely be placed upon business. Declining public educational outcomes, despite record spending and staff salaries, makes our “educated labor force” less attractive than it was a decade ago. The “cream of the crop” college graduates are leaving Illinois in record numbers. Labor law and administration in Illinois is so one sided that any manufacturer suggesting building a factory here would likely lose his/her job.
We know that Quinn can’t, or won’t, do anything to fix this. Rauner at least gives SOME hope, but in Illinois voting for anyone who claims to be willing to fix this is the triumph of hope of experience.
I personally think the 9% is high relative to what actually is going to happen over the next six months….