2002-05-01

2002-05-02

2002-05-02 13:06
_USA Today_/_Reuters_
Lay-off Plans Rose 10% in April

2002-05-02
_M$NBC_/_Reuters_
Lay-off announcements up
"THE OUT-PLACEMENT FIRM [Challenger, Gray and Christmas] said in a monthly report that job cuts announced in April totaled 112,649 or 10% more than the 102,315 layoffs announced in March.   While the April figure represents a 32% decline from the same month in 2001, total job cut announcements so far this year remain perilously close to the record pace of layoffs seen last year, Challenger said."

2002-05-03

2002-05-03
William New _National Journal_
industry executives target services, e-commerce in WTO round

2002-05-03
"The US high-tech industry has much to gain in the current round of free-trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization judging by the submissions filed with US negotiators this week.   In comments by the May 1 deadline at the Office of the US Trade Representative, industry targeted the negotiations on services, e-commerce, intellectual property protection and customs procedures...   Many industry groups sought to emphasize the growing importance of information technology services.   They argued that one objective of US negotiators should be to obtain commitments for full and equal access to markets for computer and related IT services in countries that have not already made full commitments.   Another objective -- summarized in the submissions by ITI, ITAA and BSA, among others -- would be to ensure that IT services, including those delivered electronically, continue to be covered by the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) commitments on computer and related services.   ITI's submission is identical to that of the collective group of tech firms on the services negotiations.   All IT services -- such as consulting, out-sourcing, Web hosting, computer maintenance and repair, IT training, and services related to software, data-processing, data-bases and security -- should be covered by the GATS, they argued.   Other goals include getting countries to remove barriers to the movement of business personnel who provide IT services, open government procurement process and open markets for IT services necessary to create the infrastructure for e-commerce and electronically delivered services."

2002-05-04

2002-05-04 14:40PST (17:40EST) (22:40GMT)
_OnLineAthens_
Don Nelson: America owes much to small businesses
"SBA statistics report that there are 25M small businesses representing 99% of US employers and employing nearly 60% of the American work force.   Those small ventures generate more than 51% of the nation's gross domestic product, and they create most of the new jobs in this country.   US Census Bureau figures indicate that small firms create about three-quarters to two-thirds of America's net new jobs depending on the year studied, but because companies often change size classes over time, the private sector employment numbers for small businesses stays between 50 and 60%.   Of the 108.1M private sector nonfarm workers in 1998, firms with fewer than 500 employees employed 55.1M and firms with fewer than 100 employees employed 39.7M, according to the Census Bureau...   NFIB's Small Business Optimism Index jumped more than 3 points to 103.7, the highest reading since 1997."
 

2002-05-05

2002-05-05
Lee Scheier _Chicago Tribune_
Call it a day, America: Some think it's time we quit working so hard and start playing a little more
"The average American worker is spending a startling 12.5 weeks more a year on the job than the average German worker and 6.5 weeks more than the average British laborer."
 

2002-05-06

2002-05-06
John Fonte _Free Republic_
Ideological War in the Western World

2002-05-06
Tinabeth Burton _ITAA_
Job Projections
"U.S. companies shed over 500K IT workers in the past year...   The size of the IT workforce dropped from 10.4M to 9.9M, with tech workers at IT companies substantially more likely to receive a pink slip than their counterparts working in non-IT companies.   At the same time, the study found estimated demand for IT workers in the next 12 months to be increased substantially over 2001.   Hiring managers told ITAA that they would seek to fill 1.1M jobs in the next year...   IT firms reduced their ranks of IT workers by 15% compared to only 4% for non-IT workers...   Hiring managers estimate that they will attempt to fill 1.1M positions in the next 12 months, up 27% over the level measured last year."

2002-05-07

2002-05-07 05:23PDT (08:23EDT) (12:23GMT)
Brian Sullivan _ComputerWorld_/_CNN_
EPIC takes aim at legislation affecting privacy
"A privacy watch-dog group is raising objections to a law that governs how financial institutions can use personal information, and to a bill in the U.S. House that calls for a national driver's license using biometric markers such as iris scans.   The Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed objections to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act with the U.S. Treasury Department and also said it opposes legislation calling for a national driver's license...   The act, passed by Congress a year ago, forces consumers to essentially ask financial institutions not to use their personal data through an opt-out clause, Condon said.   EPIC joined the Privacy Clearing House, U.S. PIRG and Consumers Union in filing objections to the law as part of a one-year review required by the law.   The groups want to see the law changed to opt in, which means financial institutions wouldn't be able to use personal information unless consumers permitted it...   In the meantime, EPIC has joined the fight against a bill filed by two Virginia congressmen, U.S. Reps. Jim Moran, a Democrat, and Tom Davis, a Republican.   The bill calls for the creation of a uniform driver's license for all 50 states and the District of Columbia that would contain a biometric marker, such as a retinal scan or a finger-print, encoded in a chip."
Privacy links

2002-05-07
_IDG_/_Bio-IT World_
Larry Ellison's Prescription for the Drug Industry
"Oracle Corp. Chairman & CEO Larry Ellison reiterated his plea for a national repository of medical records..."
Privacy links

2002-05-08

2002-05-08
_Seattle Community Technology Program_
2000-2001 Information Technology Indicators for a Healthy Community
"In 1999, prior to the economic slowdown of the past couple years, the IT industryís rate of employment growth was 3 times that of total employment growth in King County.   The number of IT professionals employed by companies located in King County also enjoyed incredible growth and those professionals are benefiting from significantly higher salaries than the average employee.   The growth rate in IT-specific jobs between 1998 and 2000 was more than 5 times the overall job growth rate for King County.   On average in King County, IT professionals' hourly wages are almost 50% higher than that of the average worker.   The number of high school students in Washington identifying Computer and Information Sciences as their main academic interest has more than doubled in the last decade.   However it still represents only a small percentage (6%) of high school students.   Despite growth in the number of students pursuing information science degrees, Washington colleges and universities are still not graduating enough students in this area to meet projected local work-force needs.   One solution to meeting IT work-force needs is employing foreign workers through the H-1B visa program.   In 2000, Seattle jobs made up almost half of the 15K openings certified in Washington State for H-1B visa workers."

2002-05-09

2002-05-10

2002-05-11

2002-05-11
Steve Miller _Washington DC Times_ pg A1
families of 11 dead illegal aliens to sue US government
(cited in Michelle Malkin 2002 _Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, And Other Foreign Menaces To Our Shores_)
cited in 2002 June: American Renaissance (pdf)

2002-05-12

2002-05-13

2002-05-13
Jeff Moad _eWeek_
Why "IT" Pros Can't Get Jobs
"I couldn't escape the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right.   OT1H, the ITAA said 2001 was an unnatural disaster in the 'IT' labor market.   Recession-spooked employers cut 528,496 USA 'IT' jobs...   [Talent shortage propaganda alert:] Of the aggregate 1.1M 'IT' jobs expected to open over the next 12 months, the report said, 578,711 will go unfilled."
NBER says recession that troughed in 2001 April ended 2001 November.   The stock market crashed 2000-03-10.   The STEM job markets were already diving by 2000 September, and general job markets in mid-2001.   STEM product sales were tanking all through 2001 and 2002.   Job markets still had not fully recovered by the end of 2016.

2002-05-13
Don Tennant _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
interview with ManPOWER CEO Jeff Joerres
"Jeff Joerres is chairman and CEO of Milwaukee-based Manpower Inc., an $11.8G [body shop] that counts among its clients 98 of the Fortune 100."

2002-05-14

2002-05-14
_CBS.MarketWatch.com_ Includes graph & lists of companies & numbers of people dumped
Pay-rolls drop by 1.8M in 22 months

2002-05-14
_Staffing Industry Analysts_
Staffing Industry Report vol 13 #12 pg 14 (pdf pg 27)
(citing ITAA 2002 "Bouncing Back: Jobs, Skills & the Continuing Demand for IT Workers")
"According to the latest study by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), the U.S. IT work force shrunk for the first time in a decade in 2001 to 9.9M, with U.S. companies laying off more than 500K IT workers...   hiring managers are looking to fill in about 1.1M IT positions in the next 12 months.   This number is up 27% from 2001.   Also, of this total, about 600K positions will go unfilled due to the lack of qualified workers, the report added."

2002-05-14
Staffing Industry Analysts
_Staffing Industry Report_ vol 13 #9 pg 3 (pdf pg 4)
graphs pdf pg 10=vol 13 #9 pg 9, pdf pg 25=vol 13 #12 pg 12; see also pdf pg 29
"Kelly Services Inc. CEO Terence Adderley received a $30K salary increase in 2001, bringing his salary to $830K.   President & COO Carl Camden received a $55K salary increase, raising him to $655K."

2002-05-15

2002-05-15
Daniel Pipes
constructing a counterfeit history of Jerusalem

2002-05-16

2002-05-16
Oliver Libaw _abc News_
Champagne & Big Macs: Dot-Com Veterans Plot Their Comeback‚ At McDonald's
"The party was pure dot-com boom -- venture capitalists, programmers, & entrepreneurs sipping champagne from an open bar -- but this time it was held under under the golden arches of a midtown Manhattan McDonald's."

2002-05-17

2002-05-17 10:02PDT (13:02EDT) (17:02GMT)
_CNN_/_Money_/_Reuters_
Consumer sentiment rises
"The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index rose to 96.0 in May from 93.0 in April, according to a Reuters report.   Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected the index to remain at 93.0 in May.   In the Michigan survey, which is available only to paying subscribers, consumers' view of the current state of the economy surged to 103.2 from 99.2 in April, while the index of consumer expectations rose to 91.3 from 89.1 in April, according to Reuters."

2002-05-18

2002-05-18
Jane Hadley _Seattle Post-Intelligencer_
Customers find service put on hold: Filing complaints is difficult, getting action is even tougher
"it's an increasingly common complaint these days, says Sean Beary, who is in charge of the state Attorney General's consumer complaint bureau in Seattle.   'We're starting to see more complaints involving the ability for larger organizations to resolve problems and deliver customer service.', Beary said.   Consumers encounter voice mail jungles, are put on endless hold, find it hard to get to the right department, are given inaccurate information or are told to call back, but can never talk to the same person they spoke to earlier...   Consumers also are complaining about the lack of accountability as one company or employee blames another...   He was told he could not speak to a supervisor.   Frustrated, he asked for a phone number and address for corporate headquarters.   The number turned out to be non-existent...   Beth Sheresh, a Snohomish County network consultant, has done technical support for many years and laments the declining quality of customer service, but sees one possible explanation.   'I think we're seeing that if you're selling a consumer item cheaply, you don't have the built-in cost to pay for the support.', Sheresh said.   'When computers cost $3K, then your local computer store could afford to actually do some support.   Now that they're $300, it's not like you can actually afford to pay people to take care of your customers.' Jeremy Puma, who worked as a high-level customer service representative at Amazon.com for two years beginning in 1999 March, agrees that 'bottom line' considerations influence the way customer service is provided...   Everybody in Puma's initial training class at Amazon was paid $12 to $15 an hour, he said.   The goal was 'to make the customer as happy as possible, no matter what, essentially'.   But about a year later, in order to pay less, Amazon 'lowered the hiring bar', Puma said, no longer requiring its service employees to have a college degree.   The company also began moving its customer service departments to ND, WV and India, where the cost of living -- and the wages -- were lower...   After the hiring bar was lowered, according to Puma, the number of times he had to correct customer service reps' mistakes 'just exploded', he said.   'It went from one a week to about 20 a week almost over-night.'"

2002-05-19

2002-05-20

2002-05-21

2002-05-22

2002-05-22
Paul Copan _Every Student_
Jesus, religions, and just war

2002-05-23

2002-05-24

2002-05-25

2002-05-26

2002-05-27

2002-05-27
Jeff Moad _eWeek_
Jobless Pros Rip "Skills Gap" Claims
"Too many instant IT experts...   Impossible skills demands.   Feeling not only burned but also now in the supply-and-demand driver's seat, many employers are requiring almost ridiculously specific experience levels & skill sets when posting job openings.   And they're unwilling to accept anything short of the perfect candidate."

2002-05-28

2002-05-29

2002-05-30

2002-05-30
_ACLU NC_
Protecting Privacy
"Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, perhaps the most visible player in this market, recently expounded on his plans for a powerful national data-base that can cross reference data from disparate sources in the New York Times Magazine.   'I do think this data-base will exist, & I think Oracle will run it.', he said.   'And we're going to track everything.'   Ellison dismissed concerns about privacy & an omniscient government with a simple but chilling phrase: 'privacy is gone'."

2002-05-31

2002-05-31 13:01PDT (16:01EDT) (21:01GMT)
_IDG_/_InfoWorld_
On the Money: Record lay-offs & salary cuts (graphs)

2002-05-31
_Business Week_
Consumer Sentiment Rises
"The University of Michigan reported a rise in consumer sentiment to 96.9 in May from 93.0 in April & 96.0 in early May.   The consensus had expected the number to hold at its early May 96.0.   Both expectations & current conditions indicators improved.   Current conditions jumped to 103.5 from 99.2 in April, while expectations components rose to 92.7 from 89.1."

2002-05-31
_Dice_
Dice Report: 31,245 job ads

2002 Spring
George M.C. Fisher & William A. Wulf _Issues in Science and Technology_ vol18 #3
a make-over for engineering education
"...It has been said that the 'half-life' of engineering knowledge–the time in which half of what an engineer knows becomes obsolete–is in the range of 2 to 8 years.   This means that lifelong learning is essential to staying current throughout an engineering career, which may span some 40 years.   Yet the notion, at least as a formalized institution, has not been part of the engineering culture.   This has to change, as merely taking training in the latest technology is not good enough.   The fundamentals you learned in college are still fundamental, but they aren't the only ones in this rapidly changing profession..."

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