So I thought I would check out the tech sector:
"Tech firms on upswing even while.... downsizing.... state’s digital technology companies are expected to keep right on downsizing.... eliminate another 2,600 jobs"
Maybe I should go to the bank (need to make a withdrawal anyway):
"Financial jobs are harder to find.... plans to add only about 50 jobs over the next year, most of them overseas.... not going on a hiring tear"
All right, let's go for the tried-and true factory job:
"Sector cobbles jobless comeback.... reduces hiring needs.... manufacturers are still expected to slice another 14,000 jobs"
That's not only a "jobless comeback," that is a JOBLOSS "comeback!"
At least I can always go back to school:
"Higher education is one of the few major industries in New England to add jobs.... The sector is expected to continue to hire.... could end up making more cuts"
Education as an "industry?"
Addition = Subtraction?
Only in MATH CLASS, NOT BUSINESS!
Related: MSM Manufacturing an Economic Recovery
MSM Manufacturing an Economic Recovery (Part II)
Deja Vu, Massachusetts!
The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Jobs Gone Forever
Economic Recovery Missing Massachusetts
Corporate Cheerleaders
They sure are!
"Tech firms on upswing even while downsizing; From chipmakers to start-ups, revival seems underway" by Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | October 27, 2009
It’s been a long, hard recession, but for Massachusetts technology companies, the end may be in sight. Take, for example, Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc..... even as the pink slips flew, Varian’s prospects were improving....
From established chipmakers to ambitious start-ups, there’s a consensus among Massachusetts tech companies that an industry revival is underway. Not that a boom will occur; instead, executives speak of slow, steady growth at best.... In fact, despite higher output, the state’s digital technology companies are expected to keep right on downsizing. The research firm Moody’s Economy.com of West Chester, Pa., predicts the Massachusetts technology sector will boost production by 2.2 percent in 2010 but eliminate another 2,600 jobs. The increase in activity is reaching tech companies nationwide....
Massachusetts tech companies are posting similar results. EMC Corp. of Hopkinton, which sells data storage equipment, recently reported better-than-expected revenues and profits for the third quarter, and boosted its revenue prediction for the entire year. “We expect a slow but steady recovery,’’ said EMC chief executive Joe Tucci, speaking in a conference call with analysts.
Also see: EMC Moving Out of Massachusetts
Tucci further predicted that demand for storage and data security products - EMC’s core businesses - would grow at a faster rate than overall information technology spending. Teradyne Inc. of North Andover, the world’s leading maker of semiconductor testing equipment, began the year with a global workforce of 3,800 but laid off nearly 900 in the first half of the year and imposed a 10 percent pay cut on the survivors. The vanished jobs are still gone, but early this month, Teradyne announced that it’s rescinding the pay cut....
None of this will matter if cash-strapped consumers won’t buy....
recent economic data suggesting that Americans may be in a mood to spend....
Yeah, and MAY BE NOT!
The Yankee Group’s Green isn’t nearly so optimistic about a pickup in consumer spending.
Emily Nagle Green, president of Yankee Group, a Boston technology research firm, agrees conditions are no longer getting worse and actually improving - but very slowly: “We see some fundamentals in the economy that are really concerning, like 10 percent unemployment. Most of us see a light at the end of the tunnel, but that tunnel’s still fairly long.’’
And there is a train at the end of it.
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Also see: Slow Saturday Special: Evergreen Turns Brown
"Cracked by crisis, a pillar holds up; Sector beginning to rebuild cautiously as fears of instability linger" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | October 28, 2009
No wonder the economy is crumbling.
The stock market is lower than it was a decade ago. Many banks have become hesitant about lending, particularly for large construction projects. Fat bonuses have gone on a diet. And financial jobs are harder to find....
Sort of get sick if the LIES!
Many financial executives, however, say they are seeing glimmers of hope....
Local mutual fund executives are particularly optimistic because the rising stock market has boosted investment assets and encouraged investors to start buying funds again....
Then how come my pension is still s***?
Most investment companies earn fees for every $1 invested in their funds, so the higher the asset levels, the higher their revenue and profits. But here’s why companies remain cautious: Investors, who withdrew nearly $234 billion from stock mutual funds last year, have added only $15 billion to funds through the first nine months of this year, according to the Investment Company Institute.
MFS Investment Management.... plans to add only about 50 jobs over the next year, most of them overseas.... Fidelity president Rodger Lawson recently said the financial services giant, which cut 3,000 jobs over the past year, doesn’t plan any further major cuts but is not going on a hiring tear either. “We’re trying to stay lean and charming,’’ Lawson said in an August interview. “You need to be very efficient in this marketplace.’’
Many industry executives say a wave of consolidation could shake the mutual fund industry as firms buy smaller or weaker competitors or sell units that don’t fit their core business. One example: Bank of America Corp. is selling the bulk of its Columbia Management mutual fund unit, which is based in Boston, to Ameriprise Financial Inc. for as much as $1.2 billion.
“We’re a maturing industry,’’ said John Hailer, who runs the North American unit of Natixis Global Asset Management, a company that has about 1,100 employees in Boston. ’’You’re going to see some consolidation.’’
On the banking front, local institutions have reported lower profits, higher loan losses, and increased government insurance fees. Yet most community banks remain in the black, and a few are trying to grow.... Still, some of the state’s biggest banks have been hit hard by troubled investments such as subprime mortgages and commercial loans.
Bank of America, the biggest in Massachusetts, posted a $1 billion loss in the third quarter and received $45 billion in loans from the US government. The bank, which is shedding about 10 percent of its worldwide workforce, has already closed 11 of its 297 branches in Massachusetts.
Citizens Financial Group, the region’s second-largest bank, reported a $929 million loss last year and disclosed plans to cut 2,000 jobs nationwide. But the bank has continued to open branches in Massachusetts, including one in a Dunkin’ Donuts this month, and to hire in key areas, including 40 employees in its wealth management unit in Boston.
Apparently, they don't manage it to well!
For two of the state’s biggest insurance companies - John Hancock Financial in Boston and Sun Life Financial in Wellesley - they have kept their employment steady, even though their profits have been squeezed by investment losses and the need to increase reserves. Meanwhile, MassMutual Financial Group, of Springfield, eliminated 500 jobs after big investment losses last year, although it is beginning to hire again.
Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. expanded its operations after the state deregulated auto insurance allowing companies to set their own rates in 2008....
No part of the financial sector has been hit as hard as the mortgage and real estate industries, but a housing recovery may be underway....
PFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTT!!!!!
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Back into the salt mines:
To cut costs when the economy tumbled, Peerless Precision Inc. invested in computerized equipment, partly to eliminate the use of costly subcontractors. Now that new orders are coming in, the equipment is allowing the Westfield machine shop to expand production without adding to its workforce of about 20.
“The bottom line is that by working with our employees, we’ve improved efficiency,’’ said Larry Maier, the company president. “That’s why we’re still here. That’s why we’re having a good year.’’
Manufacturing in Massachusetts is rebounding from the deep recession, but as Peerless shows, the sector will be slow in recovering the 25,000 jobs it lost over the past two years. Even though production is projected to expand by nearly 5 percent over the next year, manufacturers are still expected to slice another 14,000 jobs....
Improved productivity, or producing more with the same or fewer employees, is a key reason why manufacturing no longer generates the jobs it did during the heyday of textiles, shoes, and other traditional industries.
Related: The AmeriKan Slave
Yeah, the OUTSOURCING and OFF-SHORING did NOT HELP, either!
But manufacturing nonetheless remains a key component in the state’s economy, and one that will play an important role in its recovery, analysts said. Despite decades of job losses, manufacturing still employs five times as many workers as biotechnology and ranks second only to health care in total payroll because its jobs are generally high paying, according to analyses by Moody’s and Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy. Manufacturers account for $1 of every $8 in goods and services produced in Massachusetts and export more than $20 billion a year in merchandise to foreign markets, according to the US Commerce Department. Massachusetts manufacturers were hit hard in the recession, shedding 8 percent of their jobs and cutting employee hours. But the worst appears over. Many firms are reporting rebounds in orders and extending work weeks to meet the demand. Some are even calling back laid-off workers....
Some firms, however, say conditions are quickly brightening.... Analysts said the state’s manufacturing sector is well positioned for the recovery. Although the recession took its toll, the state’s manufacturers fared far better than their counterparts nationwide. Manufacturing nationally shed 15 percent of jobs, nearly double the loss here.
Yes, the boat took longer to sink, so you are better than them, Bay State!
Many economists expect the recovery to be led by business investment, particularly in the advanced technology and equipment in which Massachusetts firms specialize.
Yeah, MANUFACTURING is NOT IMPORTANT!
Manufacturers should also get a boost from a weaker dollar, which makes their products cheaper in foreign markets....
That is just an INSULT!
Related: A Slowly Dying Dollar
Yeah, a WEAKER DOLLAR is GOOD FOR YOU, 'murkn!!
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Oh, time for class!
Despite the relative stability, industry analysts and college financial managers predict that more difficult times may be ahead. The federal stimulus money that’s buoyed the budgets of the state’s public colleges will run dry in a year.
That is not stimulus.
Wealthy schools that rely on endowments to fund a large portion of operating costs have yet to feel the full impact of last year’s steep investment losses and could end up making more cuts....
To maintain enrollment while families’ financial fortunes tumble, many private schools have already steeply discounted tuition - cutting into their profits....
I guess "education" being "FOR PROFIT" is an EDUCATION in and of itself!
Within three years, industry watchers say, some second-tier schools in the college-rich region that fail to find new revenue streams could end up closing.... For the first time in its history, the credit rating agency assigned a negative outlook to the US higher education sector in January, an indication that the financial conditions of both public and private colleges could deteriorate further....
It’s been a difficult year for colleges and universities, a leading employer that pumps more than $99.7 billion into the regional economy. Harvard University - whose endowment had plummeted 27 percent, to $26 billion, in June - imposed salary and hiring freezes, laid off hundreds of workers, put a brake on its expansion into Allston, and even cut back on hot breakfasts for students and cookies during faculty meetings.
While their administrators pulled down six-figure salaries!
Brandeis University caused an international uproar when its president announced the closing of the university art museum and a potential sale of artwork to generate revenue....
And amid declining financial support from the state, UMass-Amherst is turning to out-of-state students, who pay twice the amount of tuition and fees as Massachusetts residents, to boost enrollment - and its coffers.
Related: Pigs at the State Trough
Is that where you wanted that tax dollar going?
Most colleges are poised to survive the recession, especially large research universities with selective admissions and hefty endowments, said Marc Savaria, a credit analyst at Standard & Poor’s. Enrollments have risen as laid-off workers and recent graduates flock back to school to ride out the recession. And many colleges and universities have remained resilient by drawing upon multiple sources of revenue - tuition, endowments, philanthropy, and increasingly for some institutions, federal research dollars.
Others, though, will have to quickly adjust to the changed economic environment and re-invent themselves to address fundamental issues such as rising tuition costs if they expect to come out stronger, analysts say. Some have already cut back by raising class sizes and hiring more adjunct faculty instead of costlier tenure-track faculty.
And this is the HEALTHY SECTOR of the economy?
“Schools should be taking advantage of the recession to reexamine their operations and expand where possible,’’ said Joseph Mercurio, executive vice president at Boston University, which is pursuing opportunities abroad as well as launching a new honors program next fall....
(Blog editor just shaking his head at the insult)
The state’s heavy concentration of elite research universities and affiliated teaching hospitals helps brings in about $2.8 billion in competitive federal research funding to Massachusetts each year, according to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.
The science and technology prowess of the state’s leading research universities, among them Harvard, MIT, and UMass, puts higher education at the center of the state’s “innovation ecosystem,’’ said Michael Goodman, an economic analyst and chairman of the public policy department at UMass-Dartmouth. The key to survival, analysts and higher education leaders say, is for colleges to remain nimble. Moving forward, more schools will need to generate entrepreneurial ways to draw students, such as adding three-year baccalaureate degree programs and expanding online education to attract adult learners, they say....
Colleges also need to be prepared for more volatility in the financial markets and reassess the amount of risk they are comfortable undertaking while understanding their ability to draw cash for operating expenses. “The smart schools will learn to live a little bit leaner,’’ Savaria said.
What the hell are SCHOOLS doing GAMBLING with their money?
Also see: VenCap Vroom-Vroom
But help is on the way!
"Bay State economy slips while nation makes a gain" by Robert Gavin, Globe Staff | October 30, 2009
Didn't these liars say above we did better than others? Pfffft!
The Massachusetts economy continued to shrink during the third quarter of this year, the result of rising unemployment and weak consumer spending, even as the nation showed growth for the first time in 12 months. But the erosion of the state’s economy was dramatically slower than in the two previous quarters, according to a report released yesterday by the University of Massachusetts.
But, still, if, could be, may be, yet, AAAAARRRRGGGGHH!!!
The state’s economy has probably hit bottom and will resume growing in the current quarter, expanding weakly as the housing market continues to recover and worldwide demand for technology products picks up, UMass projected.
PFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTT!!!!
The report showed that the Bay State economy contracted in the third quarter at a 1.1 percent annual rate - meaning that’s how much the state’s production of goods and services would fall if the decline remained steady for a year. In the previous quarter it had contracted twice as fast; in the first quarter, it fell at four times that rate. The state’s performance was far weaker than the US economy, undermining what earlier had seemed to be a faster recovery in Massachusetts. The nation’s economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the US Commerce Department reported yesterday. However, it was lifted by one-time federal stimulus programs....
See: U.S. Government Lied About Economy
Commerce Department Lies About Economy
Government Continuously Lying About Economy
They said what?
Despite signs of improvement, economic conditions in the state remain mixed.
For example, Columbia Tech, a Worcester contract maker of technology products, has recalled at least 20 laid-off workers....
Yeah, we have SHED HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of jobs and the Globe's Gavin is crowing about HANDFULS!
But Capone Iron Corp. in Rowley, which makes steel products for commercial construction, is still waiting for business to pick up, said Mike Farley, a company spokesman. Contending with weak demand, low prices, and subsidized foreign competition, Capone has cut its workforce in half over the past year to about 35. “We’re optimistic that the economy is improving, but we’re not seeing it yet,’’ Farley said.
Maybe it is ALL a MIRAGE, 'murkn!
It appeared the state economy had begun a turnaround this summer as job losses steadily diminished and other indicators, such as a pickup in national and worldwide technology sales, suggested a rebound. But job losses, which had slipped to 700 statewide in August, accelerated to more than 9,000 in September, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.3 percent, the highest level since 1976. Rising joblessness, meanwhile, is cutting incomes and undermining consumer spending....
And WE GOT a TAX INCREASE on top of it!
Alan Clayton-Matthews, a Northeastern University economics professor who analyzed data for the UMass report, said the state, which entered the recession in March 2008, about three months after the downturn began nationally, now appears to be coming out later.
They are telling us we won't be back to normal until 2014!!!!
“The story could improve,’’ Clayton-Matthews said. “There are good things happening. The technology markets are up, and we could start seeing a pickup.’’
The government and experts say this thing is ROARING AHEAD, so WTF?!!!
Where is that help?
"Bay State’s low-income programs get boost" by Jenifer B. McKim, Globe Staff | October 31, 2009
Three Massachusetts organizations were awarded $230 million in tax credits aimed at creating jobs and development in low-income communities, the US Treasury Department said yesterday.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner detailed the local allotment as part of $5 billion worth of awards made through the New Markets Tax Credit program, an economic development effort launched in 2000 by Congress. Geithner was in Boston in May to unveil a first batch of tax credits - worth $1.5 billion - made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
In Chicago yesterday, Geithner released details about the latest round of funding, which includes $85 million for Boston Community Capital Inc., $55 million for MassDevelopment New Markets LLC, and $90 million for Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp. The organizations will sell the credits to private investors to help fund projects in areas such as renewable energy, education, health care, and retail in low-income communities....
Why does government always have to go through a corporate middleman?
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