Saturday, December 3, 2016

Unemployment report, job opportunities, the economy, and hiring slowing?


The Labor Department on Friday said the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in November, reaching its lowest level since August 2007. The closely watched U-6 rate—a broad measure of underemployment that includes part-time workers looking for full employment and people who say they would enter the job market if better opportunities were available—dropped to a nearly nine-year low of 9.3%.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/little-slack-but-not-much-heat-in-labor-market-1480694166

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...a broadly upbeat performance that could mask underlying soft spots in the labor market.

...those gains have been uneven across the nation and across business sectors, pushing swaths of people to the sidelines and by many measures leaving the economy short of prerecession norms.

...declining participation in the labor force is one of the nation’s more worrisome economic trends, highlighting crosscurrents that have lifted the prospects of many Americans while creating new challenges for others.

...Among traditionally blue-collar professions, construction has been perhaps the strongest with 155,000 new jobs in the last 12 months.

...“companies that have good benefits...attract some better people...”

...labor market getting tighter for service workers...

“It’s a solid report that has a couple of weak spots...”

A slowdown in hiring, meanwhile, wouldn’t be unexpected for a labor market nearing full employment...

Mr. Trump is set to take office amid the longest uninterrupted stretch of hiring on record. It also appears he will inherit one of the lowest jobless rates of any incoming administration since World War II. By comparison, the headline rate was 3.9% when George W. Bush was elected in 2000 and 6.8% when Barack Obama won office in 2008.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-nonfarm-payrolls-rose-178-000-in-november-unemployment-rate-4-6-1480685541


Friday, November 4, 2016

IF YOU HAVE NOT SUBMITTED YOUR BALLOT


“The suggested time to mail in your Vote-by-Mail ballot is Thursday, November 3rd”...according to the Pima County Recorder...

If you haven't submitted your ballot, you may need to consider needing to go to an "early voting site"...as I need to:

Locations For Emergency Voting
Downtown 240 N. Stone Ave.
Southside 6550 S. Country Club Rd.
Eastside 6920 E. Broadway Blvd.

Dates and Hours For Emergency Voting
Saturday, November 5, 2016 Hours: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Monday, November 7, 2016 Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m

"Voters who received a Vote-by-Mail ballot can drop off their voted ballot to any of our Pima County Emergency Voting sites or any Pima County Polling location before 7 p.m. on Election Day, November 8, 2016."

I was streaming Tucson News Now (on an app at 4 p.m.), and overheard mention it was "too late" to mail in my ballot...!!!???!!!???

THE ENVELOPE of my ballot does not state I have a deadline...

In the middle of the blue sheet included with my ballot is a statement, WHICH IS NOT OBVIOUS, suggesting the ballot be mailed "at least four (4) business days prior to election day".

Thanks to TNN, their statement helped me realize how much time I DON'T have to get some things done...


Sunday, January 31, 2016

Music sucks. (Or...is it me?)


Sometimes Google Play gives music for free.  Recently, I've been pondering about what I was given...what I deleted, what I kept...and what, if anything, it says about:
music that has been considered commercially successful...
my personal tastes (versus that of the "masses")...
choices made by artists, and music companies...
the music I have been exposed to, and prefer, causing me to be jaded...

I consider myself to be VERY eclectic.  I like things for the reasons I do, whatever those reasons are.

After downloading and listening to as much as I could tolerate, I deleted albums from:  Sia, Jason Derulo, and Cole Swindell.

I kept:
Brad Paisley ("Moonshine in the Trunk" album)...
Michael Jackson ("Thriller"...I don't love every song, but I do respect the album)...
Foo Fighters ("Saint Cecilia" EP)...
"The Very Best of Grateful Dead" (I like some of their songs)...
"Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits" (I like some)...
and Elvis Presley ("30 #1 Hits"...some of them are fair).

The Electric Light Orchestra are one of the few musical acts I admit to being a favorite of mine.  When I learned of the plans to release the latest album, I expected to pay for it.  After hearing it (courtesy of National Public Radio) before it was available for sale, I intended to purchase the "Bonus Track Version" of the album.  After it became available for sale...I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger.  Maybe it's because I don't have any disposable income.  It may be because there's only one song I (now) would consider purchasing...IF it were on sale at a discount.  After giving it much consideration, I know there are very few songs I would spend money for at all...

I could be a stingy person.  It could be me being very frugal.  It could be that the way things have been, and are...I don't feel the urgency and need to pay for the product.  I've been known to hover over a jukebox and review every offering before putting money into the machine...or, walking away.  It might be easier for me to put that money into an open instrument case of a street performer...