Category: Research

By: Tyler Durden With both ISM Manufacturing and Services employment indices collapsing, endless headlines of layoffs, Challenger-Grey noting Q1 as the worst since 2009, and NFIB small business hiring weak, it is no surprise that initial jobless claims is finally waking up. For the 3rd week in a row – the longest streak since July 2015. The last 3 weeks have seen a 9.1% surge in jobless claims – the biggest such rise since April 2014. And finally, as Challenger-Grey notes, Through the first quarter of 2016, employers announced 184,920 job cuts, up 31.8 percent from the 140,241 cuts tracked the first three months of 2015. The first quarter saw 75.9 percent more job cuts than in the final quarter of 2015, when 105,079 job cuts were recorded. US companies announced the most 1Q layoffs since 2009 as oil-related cuts continue to inflate numbers, according to data from Challenger Gray. Citing John Challenger, MarketTalk adds that announcements “have increased significantly” in retail and computers, adding, “While it may be too early to sound the alarm bells, the upward trend outside of the energy sector is somewhat worrisome.” Overall announced layoffs by Challenger Gray’s count have been 185K this quarter, versus 140K a year earlier. It’s the worst start to a year since 2009, when in the wake of the financial crisis companies announced plans that 1Q to cut 562K jobs....

By: PETER ECONOMY Seventy-one percent of Millennials are disengaged at their jobs. That’s a big problem. IMAGE: Getty Images An interesting phenomenon has developed in the generation born between the late ’70s and the mid-’90s, a group we now call Millennials. According to the Gallup Organization, Millennials are the least engaged generation at work–with only 28.9 percent of U.S. Millennials engaged in their jobs. That means 71 percent are not. For some reason, Millennials are unhappy in their jobs, and for our organizations to prosper now and in the future, we need to do something about it–and soon. Millennials live seemingly perfect lives, emphasized by the highlight reels of every post on Facebook, every photo on Instagram, every short video on Snapchat. Yet, as more and more people boast their constant happiness, the increasing cases of anxiety and clinical depression show something totally different. But before we can find a solution to all this unhappiness, we must first get to the root of why so many Millennials feel so dissatisfied. The reason, as it turns out, has largely to do with the idea that one’s personal happiness is based on the individual’s reality versus his or her expectations. The concept is quite simple: If someone’s expectations are lower than what occurs in reality, that person will be happy with the outcome. If someone expects more than what actually happens, however, then he or she...

By: Tyler Durden While the BLS’ JOLTs report usually gets a B-grade in terms of importance due to its one-month delayed look back (we just got the  January report which is one month behind the most recent payrolls number) it serves an important function due to its breakdown of various labor components such a job openings, new hires, separations, quits and terminations, all of which make up Janet Yellen’s “labor dashboard.” In fact, according to Yellen herself, the JOLTs data is as important, if not more so, than the BLS report. Which may explain why yesterday the Fed surprised as dovishly as it did. As a reminder, the key number most look for in the monthly JOLTs report is the number of Job Openings: for January the BLS reported a print of 5,541K, which modestly beat the expected 5,500K consensus number. However, it wasn’t the January number that was the problem, but last month’s print, which was then reported at 5,607 and in the latest series was revised to 5,281, a downward revision of 326K. What will be concerning to Yellen – who certainly had these numbers in advance – is that as the chart below shows, this was the biggest downward revision to job openings in series history. Additionally if one adds the December and November revisions together, the result of -474K is the biggest two-month cut to openings...

To get a job at Google or another big-name company, show them you can do the work. By: Shana Lebowitz No one wants to be that guy — the one who applies for a job at a high-profile company and then pesters the hiring manager every day to see if their resume has been reviewed yet. But it’s so hard to sit with the anxiety and the frustration that comes with not hearing back, especially when you know you’d be an awesome fit for the role. Fortunately, there’s a better strategy for getting yourself noticed and upping your chances of landing the job. It takes equal parts gumption and effort, but if you really want the gig, then it’s probably worth it. The trick? Show the company you can do the work that would be required of you if you got the job. The technique comes from BJ Fogg, a psychologist and the director of the Persuasion Technology Lab at Stanford. In a 2013 interview with Ramit Sethi, author of “I Will Teach You to Be Rich,” Sethi shared an idea he learned from Fogg: [A] lot of people back at that time wanted to work at Google; a lot of people still do. And there was somebody in [your] lab who said like, “It’s really hard to get hired.” And you said, “Listen. Find the one person who does what you want...