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I'm a Minnesota Girl, living in the south. I tell my friends I try not to talk and think like a Yankee, but sometimes I slip up!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Some Job Relief


In July, my group hired 11 people, on a base of 480 people in Tampa. 8 of these were new jobs. We did fill 5 of the positions with people who had worked for us before, people who had been laid off by another sector of our company. Still and all, it feels good.


Dropping the political out of all of it, there really are some good things happening with jobs due to stimulus funds. Here's a small update (source, Monster):


STIMULUS JOBS.... JULY, 2009


So where are stimulus jobs being created today? Let’s look at a few examples across industries and around the country.


Healthcare:

Clinics Hire in Indiana

Stimulus-funded hiring in community health has begun in Indiana. Neighborhood Health Clinics, a nonprofit community health provider in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been allocated $340,000 in ARRA money. “We’ve received stimulus funding to hire an additional physician, two nurses and a billing specialist,” says Mary Haupert, president. The physician begins work in June; the clinic is in the process of making the other three hires. The process of transferring the clinic’s ARRA money to its payroll account is simple, Haupert says: “We have a grant amount and can access it online.” What happens when the stimulus funding runs out in April 2011? “We feel the physician will have acquired enough patients to generate the revenue to pay for the salaries of the staff hired via ARRA,” Haupert says. Meanwhile, the clinic is applying for a second round of ARRA funding -- $675,000 to help expand the physical plant, which will mean construction jobs and more healthcare employment opportunities.


Government Contracting:

Putting Training Funds to Work

Recovery Act funding is already creating good jobs with government contractors nationwide. With ARRA money, Department of Energy contractor Washington River Protection Solutions has hired dozens of health physics technicians who will protect the safety of workers cleaning up radioactive waste from nuclear weapons production at Washington state’s Hanford nuclear reservation. “We’re getting $326 million of Recovery Act money over two-and-a-half years,” says John Britton, a Washington River spokesman. “We’ve hired 30 health physics technicians. They will get 20 weeks of classroom training and six weeks on the job. We hope they’ll stay for their entire career.” The project -- the largest environmental cleanup in history -- is expected to last until 2035. The technician jobs are unusually well-paying considering they require only a high school diploma and some aptitude for math and science. Trainees begin at $20 per hour; senior technicians may earn $35 an hour. ARRA money is also flowing through state and local governments to those entering the workforce for the first time, sometimes to fund temporary jobs. For example, Indiana is hiring 2,000 young adults from low-income households for the summer to improve the state’s parks and trails.


Construction:

Shovels Dig into New England

Those thoroughly hyped “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects are finally putting construction boots on the ground. Pike Industries has won contracts for 10 stimulus projects in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, says spokesman Erik Taylor. “As a result, Pike has gone from a position of considering significant layoffs to hiring feverishly,” he says. “Sixty-five people have been hired and 70 more hires are in process.” Pike is hiring mostly equipment operators and laborers, but also knowledge workers such as construction project managers and administrative assistants. “The economy has been basically garbage, so I’m excited about this job,” says Jason Fullerton, recently hired by Pike to operate an excavator on an Interstate 89 resurfacing project in New Hampshire. “I’m hoping that when the stimulus work is done, the economy will have come back a bit [creating further opportunities].” What’s the future of stimulus spending under ARRA? “We’ll see a lot more money in the next six months -- much more than has already hit,” says the EPI’s Pollack.

3 comments:

Marion said...

I'm glad the job situation is looking up in Tampa.

But it's my understanding that the unemployment rate would really be17.5% had it been calculated as it was many years ago according to this web site:

http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/a-visual-guide-to-the-financial-crisis-unemployment-rates/

But otherwiswe, the overall unemployment rate currently is reported at 7.2 percent, a 15-year high according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This does not sound good to me. I'm no politico, but all that I read, even at the Department of Labor Statistics, sounds ominous, stimulus or no stimulus. What worries me is how my children's children are going to be carrying this stimulus albatross around their necks, tax-wise, long after I'm dead and gone.....Mostly, I try not to think about it! Blessings!

Pam said...

Good to know someone is finding a new job. No such luck for my daughter. :(

Pretty bleak around here.

Sam has to go into Day Treatment next week and her Cobra will only cover so much. Evidently her former company had lousy coverage. This is going to cost her an arm and a leg.

If we can get Sam straightened out before school starts somethings got to give on the job front for her.

quid said...

I hope with the back to school season and then the holidays, that Trish'll find a new job, Pam!

quid