Tim McMahon, Editor of UnemploymentData.com

My grandfather lived through the Hyperinflation in Weimar, Germany--to say he was an original “gold bug” would be an understatement. I began reading his “hard money” newsletters at the age of 16 and the dividends from gold stocks helped put me through college. I began publishing the Financial Trend Forecaster paper newsletter in 1995 upon the death of James Moore editor of Your Window into the Future and the creator of the Moore Inflation Predictor©. FTF specializes in trends in the stock market, gold, inflation and bonds. In January of 2003, I began publishing InflationData.com to specialize in all forms of information about the nature of Inflation. In 2009, we added Elliott Wave University to help teach you the principles of Elliott Wave analysis. In January 2013, we began publishing OptioMoney. Connect with Tim on Google+.

10 Careers Off the Beaten Path

November 3, 2016 by Tim McMahon

Law, medicine and engineering are traditional professions promoted because they are known to provide good salaries and stable employment. People have been led to believe that if you get into any of these fields you are guaranteed to get rich. This is the reason many children are encouraged to get education in these fields.

While many people enjoy these lines of work, not everyone is cut out to make it in these industries. There are various reasons why might not want to pursue a traditional career.

The question is, if these careers don’t suit you does that mean you are out of luck? No! You can still find a high paying job even if you didn’t end up becoming a doctor, lawyer or engineer.

These days, there are several other jobs that are outside these fields but are also popular [Read more…] about 10 Careers Off the Beaten Path

September Unemployment Numbers

October 7, 2016 by Tim McMahon

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Unemployment numbers for the month of September on Friday, October 7^th. The Seasonally Adjusted U-3 Unemployment rate was 5.0% after being 4.9% for three months in a row. The unadjusted U-3 Unemployment rate was 4.8% and Gallup’s equivalent unadjusted rate was 5.3% for a 0.5% difference.

The unadjusted U-6 Unemployment rate which includes “discouraged workers”, “marginally attached workers” and Part time workers who want to work full-time was 9.3% in September down from 9.7% in August while Gallup’s equivalent which they call the “Underemployment rate” was 12.8% down from
13.1% in August. The civilian non-institutional population increased another 237,000 this month bringing it to 254,091,000.

According to the BLS Commissioner’s report for this month:

“Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in September, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment gains occurred in professional and business services and in health care…The unemployment rate, at 5.0 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 7.9 million, changed little in September. Both measures have shown little movement, on net, since August of last year… Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Hispanics increased to 6.4 percent in September, while the rates for adult men (4.7 percent), adult women (4.4 percent), teenagers (15.8 percent), Whites (4.4 percent), Blacks (8.3 percent), and Asians (3.9 percent) showed little or no change. The number of persons unemployed less than 5 weeks increased by 284,000 to 2.6 million in September. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 2.0 million and accounted for 24.9 percent of the unemployed.”

See Current Unemployment Rate Chart for full commentary.

The number of Unadjusted jobs reported for September was 144.943 million up from August’s 144.424 million but still below June’s 145.215 million. Employment is slightly above November 2015’s previous peak of 144.122 million.

According to the BLS, in November 2007 there were 139,443,000 people employed, the unadjusted unemployment rate was 4.5% and the civilian non-institutional population was approximately 232 million. In September of 2016, there were 144,943,000 employed for a net increase of 5.433 million jobs with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.8%.

But now there are 254.091 million civilians (not in jail, the military or institutions). So the population has increased by over 22 million. Since almost half of the population is looking for jobs (Gallup says the payroll to population rate has fallen to 45.7%) we would need over 10 million (22 x 0.457) more jobs just to be at the same employment level we were in 2007. But employment only increased by 5.4 million. So we are about 5 million jobs short. But somehow the unemployment rate is roughly the same??? See Current Employment Data for more info. [Read more…] about September Unemployment Numbers

August Unemployment Numbers- 4.9%

September 2, 2016 by Tim McMahon

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Unemployment numbers for the month of August on Friday September 2^nd. The commonly quoted Seasonally Adjusted U-3 Unemployment rate was 4.9% for the third month in a row. The unadjusted U-3 Unemployment rate was 5.0% and Gallup’s equivalent was 5.4% for a “mere” 0.4% difference.

The broader U-6 Unemployment rate (also unadjusted) which includes “discouraged workers”, “marginally attached workers” and Part time workers who want to work full-time was 9.7% in August while Gallup’s equivalent which they call the “Underemployment rate” was 3.4% higher at 13.1%. The civilian non-institutional population increased another 234,000 this month bringing it to 253,854,000.

According to the BLS Commissioner’s report for this month:

“Nonfarm payroll employment increased by [seasonally adjusted~ editor] 151,000 in August, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent. Employment continued to trend up in several service-providing industries. Incorporating revisions for June and July, which reduced nonfarm payroll employment by 1,000 on net, monthly job gains have averaged 232,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months prior to August, employment growth averaged 204,000 per month. Employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in August (+34,000). Over the year, the industry has added 312,000 jobs… Mining employment continued on a downward trend in August (-4,000). Although job losses have moderated in the last 3 months, employment in mining has fallen by 223,000 since a peak in September 2014.”

In other words, the vast majority of the jobs [Read more…] about August Unemployment Numbers- 4.9%

MSN Picks Up Our Theme of “The Real Unemployment Rate”

August 5, 2016 by Tim McMahon

The Bureau of Labor Statistics published the July Employment/Unemployment numbers on August 5^th .

The seasonally adjusted U-3 (the commonly quoted unemployment rate) was unchanged at 4.9%.
BLS’ Unadjusted U-3 was also unchanged at 5.1%.
BLS’ Unadjusted U-6 increased 0.2% to 10.1%
Gallup’s unadjusted U-3 fell from 5.4% to join the BLS’ 5.1%.
Gallup’s U-6 fell from 13.4% to 12.7% to remain 2.6% higher than the BLS’ U-6.

Meanwhile, MSN’s CNBC decided to enter the fray and help “clarify” the confusing employment situation with an article entitled “Now that you know the official jobs number, here’s the real unemployment rate”. Unfortunately, this article may do more to confuse than to clarify.

In the article author Nicholas Wells delves into the possibility that the U-3 is not as important as the U-6… which [Read more…] about MSN Picks Up Our Theme of “The Real Unemployment Rate”

Employment and Unemployment Rates Jump in June???

July 8, 2016 by Tim McMahon

On Friday July 8th, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their newest unemployment data for June 2016. According to the BLS, the current “Seasonally Adjusted” Unemployment Rate is 4.9% up from 4.7% for May. The current “Unadjusted” rate is 5.1% up from 4.5% in May.

In an interesting twist, although total non-farm payroll employment increased by 287,000 in June, the unemployment rate also rose to 4.9 percent from 4.7%. [Read more…] about Employment and Unemployment Rates Jump in June???

Business Process Outsourcing (Infographic)

June 25, 2016 by Tim McMahon

What is Business Process Outsourcing?

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the external contracting of services such as data management, accounting and creative design with a service provider. In contrast, manufacturing outsourcing involves businesses arranging for production of goods through a contract manufacturer.

This straightforward distinction can be more important than it might seem at first glance — while only companies engaged in producing goods will periodically use manufacturing outsourcing, all organizations in the private, public and government sectors can benefit from outsourcing various services to an external provider. For example, businesses of all sizes have functions like payroll and human resources that often require expert help from outside the organization.

Outsourcing is becoming more common as companies [Read more…] about Business Process Outsourcing (Infographic)

6 Great Jobs for Left-Brained People

June 6, 2016 by Tim McMahon

The left brain-right brain theory began with the work of 1981 Nobel Prize winner Roger W. Sperry. Generally speaking, the left side of the brain tends to control many aspects of language, logic, learning and information processing. People who are left brain dominant tend to be more analytical in their thinking and typically perform well academically.

When a person is Right Brain Dominant, they are thought of as dreamers, artists, and musicians since the right side of the brain tends to handle spatial information and visual comprehension. People characterized as being right-brained prefer visual instructions with examples, can memorize music more easily, are more spontaneous and tend to solve problems more intuitively.

Left brained people are often considered smart, because modern education is generally geared toward their strengths such as memorizing information and logic. But this does not actually make them “smarter” it simply allows them to succeed academically easier than their right brained counterparts. They are however able to use their abilities to solve complex problems and these strengths make certain jobs perfect for the left-brained individual. Here are six, high-paying jobs, which would probably suit a left-brained person. [Read more…] about 6 Great Jobs for Left-Brained People

May’s “Terrible” Jobs Report

June 4, 2016 by Tim McMahon

On June 3^rd the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its “surprisingly weak” monthly Employment Report which the media is touting as “terrible”. According to the media “only 38,000 jobs were created” in the month of May. Although experts were predicting an increase two or three times as large.

This was the smallest gain since September 2010 partially fueled by the Verizon strike of 34,000 but even with that extra 34,000 payrolls would have increased by only 72,000. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said monthly gains of roughly 100,000 jobs are needed to keep up with growth in the work-age population.

However, like most Government statistics it is only half the story. First of all, the numbers quoted are

Six Careers for Natural Leaders

May 18, 2016 by Tim McMahon

When choosing a career, it is important that you consider both your interests and strengths. Certain careers are better suited toward people that are naturally strong leaders. If you take the time and consideration to choose carefully, you will be more likely to enjoy what you do and excel at it.

Nurse

We often think of the primary characteristic of a nurse to be compassion but although it may not be obvious at first glance, it is highly beneficial for nurses to also be good leaders, have strong personalities and excellent organizational skills. They often have to keep track of many patients and pay close attention to detail. They have to be effective communicators with patients, their families, doctors, and other supporting staff. And on occasion they need to be forceful in order to ensure the best care for their patients.

Teacher

Teachers are charged with [Read more…] about Six Careers for Natural Leaders

Becoming a Good Mentor

May 10, 2016 by Tim McMahon

Serving as a mentor in business can be rewarding and valuable for both you and the person to whom you are providing this service. Becoming a good mentor requires thinking about the qualities that have enabled you to be successful in business in the first place. If you are looking to lead others through the path you followed, research your own success and use these skills to offer good advice and become respected in your community.

Leadership

Skilled leaders draw followers and are often sought as mentors. They understand the need to show both confidence and compassion when making decisions. They are not above doing tasks themselves, but are also confident enough to delegate responsibility and not micromanage. Effective leaders understand the benefit of hiring team members who shore up their strengths and are not threatened by such individuals. Demonstrating this balance of strength and humility to mentees is incredibly valuable. If you are serious about strengthening these skills before offering advice, see if getting a master in leadership online or from a local course could help develop and hone these skills.

Accountability

As a mentor, it is important to demonstrate both a willingness to accept responsibility for your mistakes and the mistakes of your direct reports as well as an ability to develop solutions to avoid similar future occurrences. In addition, providing the necessary training and tools for your team members to do their jobs well is critically important.

Building Relationships

Developing a strong and trusting relationship with individuals being mentored as well as colleagues, superiors, and subordinates is significant in the business world. A successful leader and mentor will provide a safe and trusting environment in which to ask any questions comfortably and learn from the discussion. A strong mentor will truly listen with interest, empathy and concern for the individual and provide information and guidance based on experience. The mentor will display consistent patience.

Be Current

Be current with the latest industry trends, staff development concepts, tools, and technology. A true mentor wants to pass on their wisdom and knowledge, but recognizes the importance of consistently keeping their skill set refined and current.

Diversity is

It is not necessary to mentor someone who is of the same race, gender, socioeconomic background, or educational history. While it’s important for them to relate to each other, diversity actually provides greater perspective and insight. A mentor is like a parent, teacher, and trainer all rolled into one. Lines are blurred, and this should be a more intimate, deeper relationship. This is not contingent on a grade, a promotion, or a familial obligation. An individual being mentored should walk away from the experience feeling more business savvy, confident, and have an enhanced tool kit with which to navigate the business world.

Becoming a business mentor is a great opportunity. If you’ve been sought for advice before, use your current skills and hone the ones you lack to become a more permanent fixture in your industry and a respected mentor to others.