Free Republic

That really sounds like something out of The Onion, doesn’t it? I mean, a headline like that one has to be satire. And yet it’s a very real story brought to us by The Daily Caller this week. Their title, while a bit more direct, has the same impact. “Shortage Of Foreign Labor Forces Maine Businesses To Hire Local Workers.” The location is Bar Harbor, Maine, and yes, my friends… the struggle is real. Businesses in Bar Harbor, Maine are turning to locals to make up for a shortage of foreign guest workers that normally fill summer jobs in the...

FORT WORTH — Lockheed Martin will be interviewing at least 2,000 people for jobs next week — with some people being offered employment “on the spot” — as part of the buildup of F-35 production at its Fort Worth plant. Lockheed already has cleared about 1,900 applicants who pre-registered through social media for interviews, but anyone who thinks they may be qualified for one of the jobs, especially in manufacturing, can come to the Sheraton Fort Worth Downtown Hotel on Tuesday. The event opens at 7 a.m. “We’re really ramping up the activity to do this hiring. This is new...

The U.S. job market roared back to life in June, with a better-than-expected 222,000 new positions created in June while the unemployment rate held at 4.4 percent, according to a government report Friday. Economists surveyed by Reuters had been expecting nonfarm payrolls growth of 179,000 and the unemployment rate to be 4.3 percent. […] The jump in payrolls came following a disappointing May that saw an increase of just 152,000. However, even that number was revised up from an initially reported 138,000, and April was revised upward as well, from 174,000 to 207,000. Employment gains have averaged 180,000 per month...

All of these financial factors are especially important if you are thinking of moving to another state, or finding a way to jump-start your career. Are things likely to be tougher or easier if you relocate? To help you look before you leap, MoneyRates.com has assembled a list of the best and worst states to make a living. This list is based on the following factors: Cost of Living Workplace safety State tax burdens Median wages Unemployment rates Based on a combination of the above five factors, these are the best and worst states to make a living in 2017:...

The unemployment rate for all Americans declined to 4.3 percent in May, a 16-year low, according to numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.The number of unemployed individuals declined by 233,000 in May and the percentage of 4.3 percent has not been this low since May 2001, 16 years ago.This measure, however, does not account for those individuals who have dropped out of the labor force—it simply measures the percent of those who did not have a job but actively sought one over the month.In April, there were 608,000 more Americans who dropped out of the labor force. The...

Workers at McLane drive forklifts and load hefty boxes into trucks. The grocery supplier, which runs a warehouse in Colorado, needs people who will stay alert — but prospective hires keep failing drug screens. “Some weeks this year, 90 percent of applicants would test positive for something,” ruling them out for the job, said Laura Stephens, a human resources manager for the company in Denver. The state’s unemployment rate is already low — 3 percent, compared to 4.7 percent for the entire nation. Failed drug tests, which are rising locally and nationally, further drain the pool of eligible job candidates....

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — Berkeley County leaders want everyone who wants to work at the upcoming Volvo plant to have their best chance. They're launching a program with Trident Technical College to provide training to county residents that will teach them everything they need to know to snag a manufacturing job. While the training doesn't guarantee a job at Volvo, it does give participants a leg up over someone who is just coming in off the street. "This pilot program shows that Berkeley County leaders are keeping our promises and connecting Berkeley County citizens with jobs," said Berkeley County...

If you are looking for a job and love Hoagiefest, good news - your neighborhood Wawa is hiring. Wawa announced on Thursday plans to hire more than 5,000 new employees during the next three months for its 750 stores. The company is looking to fill customer-service and management level positions. "We are excited to launch our spring hiring campaign to recruit new Wawa associates. As a company, part of fulfilling lives means adding jobs for new associates, while also providing advancement opportunities for the more than 30,000 Wawa associates who are part of our team," Dave Filano, Manager of Talent...

As President Donald Trump touts job creation for Americans as a top priority, his son's Virginia winery is seeking permission to hire foreign workers to cultivate its grapes.

Wages up. 3000,000 people ENTERED the workforce. Highest labor participation rate in a year.

It appears that the "animal spirits" unleashed by President Trump are not contained to the stock market: according to the BLS, one of the most notable observations to emerge from the February (and January) jobs reports is that the number of Americans no longer in the labor force plunged since December, declining by 736,000 in January (to a modest extent due to a data revision) and a further 176,000 in February to 94,190K. The combined two-month addition of 912,000 was the biggest drop in the "not in labor force" series on record. ... The 94,19 million people who are considered...

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to near a 44-year low last week, pointing to further tightening of the labor market even as economic growth appears to have remained moderate in the first quarter.

It was 1967. The local music store had an ink-blue Mosrite Ventures solid body electric guitar, and I wanted it badly. Cost: $500. My family was not poor, but neither could they drop five bills on one of four children. My first guitar was a $29.99 Stella acoustic from Sears. There was only one way to get the guitar of my dreams: a summer job. Complication: I had long hair, and even in the psychedelic sixties, few legitimate employers wanted that at their front counters or even their back rooms. All the head shop jobs were taken. We lived in...

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian announced after a meeting of airline chiefs with President Donald Trump that the carrier plans to hire 25,000 people over the next five years. Atlanta-based Delta has about 80,000 employees around the world, and hires regularly in some areas due to  turnover. The company did not specify in its statement whether the 25,000 figure includes replacement hiring due to attrition, what the hiring might be contingent on and how much of it would be organic growth of the airline. Bastian in a written statement released after the Thursday morning meeting of airline CEOs with...

The U.S. created 227,000 new jobs in January to mark the largest gain in four months, revealing an economy that still has plenty of vigor nearly eight years into a recovery that shows little sign of ending. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 197,000 increase in new nonfarm jobs. Retailers, construction firms, financial companies and restaurants led the way in hiring in January, the government said Friday. The unemployment rate rose a notch to 4.8% last month, mostly because more people were looking for work. Job openings are near record high and that’s drawing a larger share of Americans...

Safr, a ride-hailing company for women, is planning to open for business in Boston next month. By hiring only female drivers and picking up only female passengers, the new enterprise aims to serve women who don't feel comfortable getting alone into a car with a male stranger. Here's to Safr's success — may the company encounter only happy customers. More likely, it will encounter James J. Foster. Or someone just like him.

Starbucks says it plans to hire 10,000 refugees over five years in the 75 countries where it does business. Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz outlined the company’s plan in a memo sent to employees Sunday in response to President Trump’s executive order banning travel from seven Muslim majority countries. “We are living in an unprecedented time,” Schultz wrote in the memo, which listed several actions the company says it is taking to “reinforce our belief in our partners around the world.” The refugee hiring proposal, Schultz wrote, will begin with a focus on people who have served with U.S. troops...

Pizza Hut is about to go on a hiring spree. The pizza chain said Thursday it will hire 11,000 new pizza makers, delivery drivers and store managers. "While we don't have a set deadline, we know we are headed into one of our more busy times of the year and our restaurants across the country are working hard to hire team members that will deliver a quick and reliable pizza experience for pizza lovers nationwide," Kelly McCulloch, Pizza Hut's senior director of human resources, told CNBC. The company said the hiring is part a plan to expand the number of...

U.S. supermarket operator Kroger Co said on Monday it would fill 10,000 permanent positions in its supermarket divisions. Kroger, which had about 431,000 full- and part-time employees as of Jan. 30, 2016, also said its total active workforce grew by more than 12,000 in 2016. The world's No. 1 retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc said last week it would create about 10,000 jobs in the United States this year, as President Donald Trump puts pressure on companies to hire more U.S. workers.

If nothing else, we may be seeing what can happen when a little more competition gets introduced into government contracting. A few weeks ago, Donald Trump publicly complained about the price of the F-35, being produced by Lockheed Martin, calling it “out of control,” and suggested that he’d check in with Boeing on whether they could do any better. This wasn’t too long after Trump slammed Boeing for the cost of the new Air Force One fleet, and suggested that he’d cancel the program and look for someone else to build it.How did all that work out? Boeing and...