Despite what you've heard, American manufacturing is alive and well. Micheline Maynard, senior editor of Changing Gears and former NYT's senior business correspondent, breaks down the basics.
As I’ve said before, this year’s big jobs story is (to me) the talent gap or skills mismatch between what employers need and want, and what the current workforce offers. It’s disheartening to think that many of today’s 14 million or so unemployed workers, and the many more who claim to be underemployed, simply have [...]
David Schaper of NPR takes listeners back to Elkhart, Ind., where unemployment hit 20 percent after the recession cut demand for RVs – the city’s bread-and-butter industry. He finds that investments to make electric vehicles in Elkhart didn’t produce the expected jobs. For example, one company anticipated 400 jobs two years ago, but now only [...]
Corporate damage control is always an interesting story, and we’ve had a front-row seat lately to some whoppers that are going to be book chapters – or books – for future business students. First you have damage caused by missteps from within, as in the case of BP and the oil spill, Netflix and Qwikster, [...]
That famous Detroit-centric “Halftime in America” ad during the Super Bowl a few weeks ago subtly touted the auto industry’s turnaround, and other sources are starting to echo the cry as we head toward another monthly sales report. And according to this Associated Press story from Monday, “Detroit automakers race to keep up with sales,” [...]
I didn’t know my obsession with keeping at least 12 rolls of toilet paper in stock was helping the “rebirth” of paper mills. But Jennifer Levitz of The Wall Street Journal found a once defunct paper mill in New Hampshire is back in business because of increasing demand for toilet and tissue paper. She starts [...]
As I’ve said before in this blog, it seems to me the biggest jobs market story afoot this year is the “talent gap”or mismatch between what millions of unemployed workers can offer and what employers really want. Bridging this gap one way or the other seems the only solution to the plight of the 99-weekers and [...]
With the release today of the White House budget proposal for 2013, expect a repeat of last year’s fiscal feuding – fueled by election-year steroids – as Congress dukes it out over President Obama’s reported $1.3 trillion spending plan. A number of news reports over the past few days have suggested proposed cut s- to [...]
Rather overshadowed by news of the impending mega-billion Facebook IPO was an actual public offering earlier this week by casino operator Caesars Entertainment. The gambling company’s small offering — less than 2 percent of iits shares went public — was snatched up and tradrs drove the initial price up by 70 percent the first day [...]
Bankrupt American Airlines on Wednesday revealed a tough restructuring plan that would scrap the pension plan, reduce health care benefits and, as several of my mobile news smartphone apps trumpted, , lay off some 13,000 employees. That’s a blow to a stumbling jobs market and a hit to consumer and worker confidence, though investors probably love [...]
