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Mike Segar / Reuters
Job seekers wait to meet with employers at a career fair Wednesday in New York City.
One of the defining features of the current economic downturn is that when people lose their job, they tend to remain unemployed for a loooong time. Of the nation's 12 million unemployed workers, 40 percent have been unemployed more than six months, and the average duration of unemployment is nine months.
Many workers inevitably struggle with the question of whether to strategically pursue jobs within their chosen field or just grab any job they can get.
Obviously, if bills are piling up and you need to get food on the table, you happily take any available job. But what if you have some savings set aside and can afford to ride out your job search for a while?
There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules in that case, experts said.
“There is no one right answer. You need to do what’s best for you,” said David Palileo, a recruiter for Synapse Product Development.
Cathi Hight, president of the Boulder Area Human Resource Association in Colorado, echoed Palileo’s comments, noting that both long employment gaps and unusual, interim jobs are increasingly common these days. “HR people are a little less judgmental, because a lot of people are out of work – a lot of HR people are out of work. They get it.”
Whether you take any job you can find or hold out for something in line with your long-term career goals may depend on what industry you’re in. “Think about what industry you’re in – what’s the future for that industry? If you’re in a declining industry, you’re going to need to find some resources to switch industries, switch careers,” said Josh Warborg, district president at Robert Half International, a staffing firm. “However, if you’re in an industry like IT or health care, you may be better off staying in your field and hunting down an opportunity there.”
However, Joe Bonura, author of the e-book “Throw the Rabbit and Get That Job In 30 Days or Less!,” advises job seekers to take any job they can get. He says it’s important to do something productive, even if it wasn’t what you were trained to do. “I would clean toilets in between [jobs] so I could keep my pride and keep earning money,” Bonura said. “While I’m cleaning toilets, I’d be thinking, ‘What am I going to do this afternoon so I can get the job I really want to do?’ And there’s no shame in that. There’s no shame in any labor. The big thing to do is maintain your self-esteem.”
Whether you hold out for the job you really want or take any job you can get, experts recommend addressing that choice in your resume and cover letter.
For those who take any job they can find, Hight recommends noting it as an “interim” position. Tell prospective employers that you had to make careful decisions during this difficult economic time. She notes that it’s important to mention something positive about that interim job in your cover letter. “Don’t make it sound like complete drudgery. Tell them you learned something new on the job. Then, potential employers can say, ‘Wow, this person made a hard decision, but they’re making the most of it and learning something.’”
While Hight advises applicants to address their interim position in the cover letter, she says it’s important to talk about the job they are applying for as well. Many cover letters and resumes are scanned and filtered by computers before a human ever sees them, so it’s important to include the right keywords for a particular job in those documents; otherwise, Hight cautions, computer filters may dismiss a resume before a real person ever has the chance to lay eyes on it.
Palileo agrees that it’s important to address both gaps in employment and those interim jobs on your resume. If you took a job just to get through a tough spot, Palileo says, it’s important to put the right spin on it, both on your resume and in an interview. “How do you encapsulate that [job] into your story? Rather than say ‘barista,’ say that you’re a java addict who dove into the subculture of coffee houses.”
Dana Macario is a Seattle-area writer.
While the rest of the nation suffers with a jobless rate of around 8 percent, South Dakota's is about half that. And there's a range of jobs, from IT to banking to engineering.
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Leave a Comment:
It would be interesting to see how many people think that the government can somehow make the situation better by additional involvement in businesses.
There is a saying that seems to sum up this recession.
"Government shouldn't be in business and business shouldn't be in government."
I totally agree with your last sentence: "Government shouldn't be in business and business shouldn't be in government."
However, the sad reality is that Corporate America owns the government... From the local level right up through the President (and this includes all recent Presidents, not just Obama), Corporate America has bought them off via donations, etc.
GREEDY Corporate America will continue to offshore jobs and bring in H1B visa workers, while enjoying record-level profits and record-level senior executive compensation. And the Government will do little to nothing about it because GREEDY Corporate America has bought and paid for them.
If something doesn't change, the US will continue this downward spiral to third-world nation status... While the economies of India and China will continue to grow...
Lincoln's prophetic words have come true... "the government of the people, by the people, for the people" HAS perished from the earth...
May GOD BLESS AMERICA... because our Governement and GREEDY Corporate America won't stop until the country is in total ruins... Very sad...
Agree. Government is currently owned by Wall Street and Global Multinationals. Watch "inside job" and get informed. America is owned by the plutocrats, and all Main Street could do is...? What? What is main street doing to fight for ourselves? Putting up some tents? Really?
Right now, we're good at calling each other names. Odumbo. RMoney. Eddie Munster. Just plain disrespect and dishonor and lack of civility. We're acting like children and it's working for the plutocrats who love the fact that we are inanely staying occupied with such trivialities, sowing disrespect and discord.
I find it so interesting how few people see the worst Congress in ages get away with negligence. They are a shameful group, especially the GOP, for not acting responsibly to our people, to our country. I think they are negligent, and the American people are letting them get away with this.
But the true guilty ones are the people of this country who don't use their vote and get involved to get rid of the cancer inside our government. If I see Mitch McConnell, Shumer, or any other lifer congressman keep his job after doing little to support the American people other than be political and obstructionist, i'm going to just lose it. Why are we as American's so unwilling to unify and fight for the rights of the people, not the plutocrats. yes, it's tough to fight the billions of dollars of influence that the plutocrats can buy.
But our vote can change the make up of congress, and in doing so, put people in office who reflect our values. not millionaires and billionaires. PEOPLE, educated, hard working, who want to do their civic duty to put America on a course correction.
I refused to be Red. I refuse to be blue. I'm not a color. I'm a person with a diverse view.
I wish people would stop the name calling, the hate, and stop watching Honey Boo Boo. Get involved before it's too late.
vinca
But dude, Gordon Gekko and John Stossel BOTH say greed is good! I mean, only The Bible says greed is bad, and who uses that as a moral compass anymore???
funny - you want to blame a faceless government
I think you should look in the mirror - you vote don't you - aren't your problems then reflected back on you by your choice of the candidate
The electoral system is broke. Voting does not fix that problem. When will any of you understand that. Here are just some of the ways this is true: unlimited campaign periods, fundraisers courting the wealthy, PACs, special-interests groups, lobbyist organizations, corporations as 'people', unreasonably large campaign contributions / donations, soft money, pork-barrel projects, no-bid governmental contracts, political quid-pro-quo agreements, third party dealings, secret meetings, news paper endorsements, management threats, union pressures, etc. Shall I go on or are you simply going to ignore all of those realities that have destroyed our democratic-republic electoral system and pull a ballot. Or shall I say bailout the candidate of your 'choice' who is facing moral bankruptcy.
Unfortunately, most Americans "can't see the forest, for the trees"... They get caught up in the "blame game" that is perpetuated by both political parties...
The Democrats blame Bush and all the other Republicans... They are evil... They favor the "rich and big business"...
The Republicans blame Obama and all the othe Democrats... All they want to do is raise taxes and spend your money...
So, while most Americans are caught up in this Democrat vs. Republican ideology, GREEDY Corporate America is paying off ALL policitians and America continues to spiral down towards third-world nation status...
The fight to be in control of the White House and Congress is not about what's best for America... It's about which politicians will be getting a bigger piece of the Corporate Money...
Most American simply can't see what's happening... Sadly, I think we have gone too far and it's too late to turn things around... Our once great country will have to totally crash and burn, before we can (like a phoenix) rise from the ashes...
Every great empire (Roman, Greek, Egyptian, etc.) has failed... And we're next...
vinca===You need to grow up there sonny, your living in a make believe world.
Go change your Depends, grandpa.
And oddly it takes most people 99 weeks to find a new job.
Me it takes 99 minutes.
Auto 101 - But then some of us don't really want to get into prostitution.
if you want to be that is your choice. As for me I can go and get 4-6 real job offers today. It is one of the nice job perks of an Auto Technician. Have fun with the recession I wont be participating in it. just like the last one.
Auto 101 - Should've realized what you did from your handle. Yep, good profession to be in. I often wish I would've gotten into a skilled/technological trade if I could do it all over again...
that's true, auto mechanics have us by the balls and they know it.....
Apparently they're a little smug too.
And it is fun to but them in a pair of pliers.
IT is part of the business.
Citation? Yeah, didn't think so. Next!
Since some ads put out by HR people will say "if unemployed, don't bother to apply," I would say just take any job you can find, then keep on looking. Trouble is, when an unemployed person shows up to apply for just any job, the HR person can tell during the conversation if they are only going to be temporary by the way they articulate. It's a tough, unreasonable situation we are in.
That's where companies shoot themselves in the foot: They hire the wrong people to do the hiring. There are many qualified people who send in resumes but they hire imbeciles who dismiss them because they're on colored paper they dislike, or use improper judgement as "he wasn't very attractive" or some other cockeyed reasoning. It's sad that so many otherwise qualified people fall victim to these fools and the idiots who hired them.
You are correct ProFreedom....
But also many corporations want to hire someone who is capable of doing the job on day one with no training at all, and that is also the problem. No one is going to be able to know everything that is required of them on their first day of work.
We have known since the time of Tesla, that energy can be extracted for free from the fabric of space that surrounds us. And most of us realize that since then these kinds of technological advances have been confined to the covert military complex or totally suppressed – because to release this to the world would totally change the paradigm, and take power away from the elite rich who thrive off of coal, gas, oil, terrorism, etc.
As Tesla was once told “We can’t work with this because we can’t put a meter on it.”
So why am I mentioning this in this particular discussion?
Because if this was released and the general public were to enjoy the benefits of this technology – IT WOULD ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR PEOPLE TO HAVE TO MAKE A LIVING. It would eliminate the concept of MONEY. Let alone the fact that poverty, cancer, and pollution would be eradicated.
What if every unemployed person in the US were to get together and collectively march on Washington DC and demand this technology?
The Unemployment / Underemployment situation is HORRIFIC, "BUT" one also MUST REMEMBER that the REASON it is HORRIFIC is the REPUBLICAN INCOMPETENCE that brought us the FINANCIAL COLLAPSE, the REPUBLICAN GREAT RECESSION of 2008!
If anyone thinks that returning our control of our government to the same Republicans that caused the HORRIFIC RECESSION is FEASIBLE or INTELIGENT, I suggest they get MENTAL HELP ASAP!
The Obama Administration saved our FINANCIAL EXISTENCE from a HORRIFIC FINANCIAL DISASTER, all of the effects of that disaster CAN NOT BE OVERCOME IN 3.5 YEARS, it will require more realisticaly ten years.
The Obama Administration nearly performed a financial miracle, they will get us out of this Republican Financial Disaster and return our Economy to an Economy for 100% of our Citizens. Many of us are struggling desperately but our day will come with the Obama Administration Leadership!
I thought looking for a job was fun over a bit fast but over all a lot of fun.
Auto 101 - We get it, you've got a job. Congrats, now move on.
It's HORRIFIC that anyone could be so allergic to reality.
Why?
Thanks for the laugh; these comments were getting too dry.
Wow, what an ignorant statement. It's not Republican or Democrat that brought the recession. It is the Congress that passed the laws. For example, (there are more) in 1998 the banks were deregulated with the support of Pres. Clinton (Dem) and Dems in the Congress and the PACs. Some brave senators warned that eliminating these 1937 bank regulations would create a depression just like in 1929. But no one listened. Furthermore, Dodd/Frank came up with the plan to create wealth for the poor class by allowing them to buy homes even though they could not pay for it and told banks that the US Treasury would back them up if there were mortgage defaults. Banks said no problem, if the US Govt is going to back you up how can you fail? Well, (to make a long story short) real estate bubble burst, financial crisis hit, and the banks/wall street got bailed out, and the middle class got screwed since we pay for it. No wonder the middle class is shrinking. Obama know this now, he is for the middle class since somebody has to pay for his programs.....
ConcernedUSA5031,
How wrong you are! The horrible decline began with the Democrat takeover of Congress and the Senate after the 2006 elections. To the extent Bush went along with the opposition, he bears some responsibility. The Democrats have held the balance of power since the beginning of 2007 (the Republicans only have Congress at present). It is Obama and the Democrats that deserve more of the blame. Regardless, the only hope now is to get rid of Obama and as many Democrats as possible. Another Obama term will be disastrous!
Dems and Repubs are both to blame for the economic mess. Kool-aid from either camp is just as deadly. Whether the GOP pays for uneccessary wars on borrowed credit or the Dems spend on social programs, the net effect is the same--we accrue more mountains of debt. There are a lot of parallels between what W and Obama have done. Both were in favor of bailing out Wall St. and GM just for starters. I do agree that we need to remove Obama. More of the same is the wrong course of action.
You cannot count.. The money spent on Bush Wars.. or the Million Dead Civilians! ROBERT HALF IS THE PROBLEM!
It is not Bush wars or anyones except it is America's war. The president executes the law which the Congress passes. In 2000 our policy as written by Paul Wolfowitz etal, that the 21st century will be Americas century by using our military to build nations similar to our Manifest Destiny in 19th century in our continent. Hence, Afghanistan and Iraq are on the list; I don't know which other ones may be on it. So this is not one party or one president issue, it is USA issue. We the voters have to take charge and vote accordingly.
"One of the defining features of the current economic downturn is that when people lose their job, they tend to remain unemployed for a loooong time."
I would reword that to say that people without appropriate skills for today's workforce remain unemployed for a long time. In other advanced nations, they recognized a long time ago that if they retrained such people at government expense, it reduced their time drawing government benefits and increased the amount of income taxes they paid: a win-win for everyone. Why we don't do that is beyond me. We used to be the land of opportunity. Now if you're a bright teen from an average family you have to be in Europe or Asia to easily afford college.
Why is the Government supposed to Train Workers FOR Corporations whose CEOs and Boards just steal money from Share holders??? Isnt it enough that these corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes, as local governments compete enslaving their local workers they are supposed to represent. And the states determine these corporate lords can kill workers for any reason they choose.
Which software should I train on? It changes every year. This is stupid!
I lost my job a while back and though I had some money set aside to tide me through I was not in a comfortable position.
But I did not take just any job nor just any salary; if you do that the HR Reps will know that you will accept a much lower salary despite the position. It is much better to get a job that pays at least the same as what you were making before, this keeps your salary history viable.
When I did finally get a new job (after like 3 months); it was at a higher position and higher pay than the job I was laid off from.
Someone gave me a tip when it comes to computers searching for keywords before an actaul HR person gets to view your resume.
They said type all the "key words" at the bottom of your resume, then change the color of that type to white, so it cannot be seen be the naked eye. Even though a person cannot see that print, the computer will be able to scan those keywords & will then forward it to the HR department.
I'm not sure exactly how effective that is, but it's worth a shot.
That sounds clever.
Unlike anything you post.
Vote Obama another 4 years and you will see what unemployeement can be. So many of the job producers will tighten their belts, let a few employees go and wait until the next election comes around.
And I'm one of them. My only hope is this guy that hasn't a clue is gone and a real executive occupys the Whitehouse.
When your taxes go up to fund jobs you refuse to create, don't blame anyone but yourself.
"He says it’s important to do something productive, even if it wasn’t what you were trained to do. I would clean toilets in between [jobs] so I could keep my pride and keep earning money, Bonura said."
///////////////////////////
This is absurd and offensive. Hasn't it occurred to people like Bonura that some of us, at least, are quite capable of "productive" activities outside the workplace. What we love to do, and what defines us, unfortunately won't pay the bills, which is what ordinary jobs are for. This is an unfortunate fact of life.
Does he think the unemployed have nothing better to do than to sit around all day and rot, watch TV, take dope, etc.? A person who lacks the resources to keep himself meaningfully occupied when out of work is no person at all. Given the current working environment in the United States, only a degenerate would allow himself to be defined by what goes on there.
To him I say, Get a life!
Um, it sounds like he's trying to. "Meaningfully occupied" - what does that mean? Your being judgmental is what's absurd and offensive.
Auto mechanics are the biggest con men on the planet. Readers Digest did a survey of them with a mechanically restored older car from which they removed a spark plug wire to create a "miss" in the engine. 57% of the shops they brought it to tried to sell MUCH more repair work. A whore's business truly!
Nope they are small timers.
And how many places did they go to and how many techs did they have work on the car?
The funny thing about Technicians you have three types.
1. You have the "all out" or "partial" crooks they will cost you.
2. the most common is the techs that are honest but are learning and don't know much (C and D Level) They are often mistaken for crooks because they don't fix the vehicle right the first time.
3. Then you have another less common one. They know what they are doing and they They do the job the best they can (lets face it some cars should just die) and they pay the price for the knowledge they have.
the first one gets a lot of customer pay work because he is not the most knowledgeable on the newer cars and he can pump put work. Every shop has 1-3 of them.
The seconds ones are for a warm body they want to work to the next step but most of them will drop out in 5 years.
The last ones make the most per hour but they gets less hours because they get the "crappy jobs" that require a skilled hand at diagnosing. He doesn't see many cars but he also only gets 1 to 3 "true" comebacks a year.
Save for the fact that we get to do the riding. and the customer is the one left to clean up.
here is the average customer we get to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDnivh5Odfk
Gotta admit I did something like that ~ new found respect for people who work in convenience gas stations. However, it's interesting to see the paradoxical headlines regarding the economy: one, the long term unemployment with staggering numbers of people coping; two: economy is on the rise with the stock market growth. Either there is a serious disconnect or faulty reporting (these are not pre-election stats getting tossed around).
...
The only way to ensure full employment is to have the government create jobs as the president has been saying.
Worth noting that he is the only candidate pursuing this course.
.
Obama / Biden in 2012.
...
The only jobs the government creates are government jobs with salaries paid by the American taxpayer.
well -- military vets (22+ years recently retired) like me buy houses, cars, washing machines, dryers, TV's, computers and pay bills for gas, electric, groceries, cable, haircuts, give to charity, etc etc, so do teachers, park rangers, police, firefighter, dmv clerks, cia agents, and the list goes on and on...............
So, what has Obama/Biden done in 4 years to make the jobs situation better? Obama is the one in power; the most powerful man in the world. Yes, he helped the UAW with jobs by purchasing their votes, but what has he done for normal Americans?
The jobs picture is exactly where our govt wants it. Doesn't anyone understand what incentives are? All the incentives have been to offshore for years. It will continue unabated until the incentives change.
"Rather than say ‘barista,’ say that you’re a java addict who dove into the subculture of coffee houses.”
Just wow. It would still boil down to the fact that you were a 'barista'....Nothing you say would be able to change that. It cracks me up that this is necessary, EVER. I don't see why it is shameful to be direct and honest when applying for a job, but for some reason we are always told to "put a positive spin" on things. I can see projecting a positive attitude, but the example above is far more than just being positive. Taking a job as a 'barista' because you had to in order to stay positive shouldn't require some nonsense statement about being a java addict. I think one day I will experiment with applying for a job with complete or total honesty, just to see how well it is received.
"barista" is cool.. seems you could geta TV show with a cockatoo as a side kick.. LOL
Vote for the Mormon, do not vote for the Moron.
I took the first job that came along. It was not a good fit and I was let go after 90 days. Even though the employer offered to give me a good reference, this job cannot be listed on a resume. Anyone who lists a short term job like this will be seriously faulted. Either the company let you go because you didn't meet their expectations, or you quit the company without giving it enough time to work.
I now have to restart my job campaign from scratch and I have an additional 90 day gap to explain.
Well, case in point, my husband is looking for a job- he's an IT professional. He has a terrific job lead through a temp agency. He was there today filling out paperwork and the staff there was talking to a few people about a manufacturing job putting together seats for cars. It started out at $9/hr, BUT would be permanent w/in 90 days with frequent raises. W/in a year, you could be making $15/hr. PEOPLE WERE WALKING OUT THE DOOR!!!!! A lot of people just don't want to work, are extremely stupid and narrow-minded, and don't look at the big picture. I have NO sympathy. These idiots walked into that agency with nothing, were offered a chance, and walked out with nothing. Unreal. I told my husband they were probably Romney supporters. This happened in Central Ohio, BTW.
I've been reading much lately, and it seem many IT professionals are entering the trucking world. The IT world is saturated. Many won't be professional drivers because they don't understand it and feel like it would be demeaning. Starting as entry level making $34K-$38K per year and up to $65K per year within 5 years sounds pretty good to me.
As far as the people your husband encountered, who walked out, refusing a job, why would they be Romney supporters? Calm down!
More high paying jobs with entry level on-the-job-training ; sealiftcommand.com
Best wishes to your husband from a Romney supporter.
P.S. Free trucker training through WIA & VRAP
How do you know they were Romney supporters? Your comment shows your assumption....On the other hand, maybe the people were getting such a great unemployment benefits that getting this job was not worth it. If this is true, then we are in big trouble...I have been laid-off three times and I was fortunate to find jobs even at lower salaries to put food on the table...and I thought I was OK since I had a physics and engineering PhD, marketing, and program management experience but life rolls the dice in a funny way... How about a rule that if a job is offered commensurate with your background and you don't take it, then your benefits are gone! I am sure it has good and bad points also.
Much of today's long term joblessness is not in terms of 3 to 5 months, but rather in terms of 3 to 5 years.
6 months I can understand that. 12 months You need to start self examination.
18 months Their is something wrong with you.
Why don't you just walk up to someone who has been unemployed for a couple of years and tell them that to their face? Then see how many teeth you have left. That is, if can still count.
People take the truth to be hard. And yes I have said that to another Auto technician that had been unemployed for 20 months. I told him what was wrong with him was not his felony but the fact that he had 12 years of experience and no ASE's they are important for Asian and American Auto Techs(European could care less if you have a BS ASE certification). I told him to just get one and he would have a job the next day he did that. The electronic test was up so he got his results instantly he took it the next day and was hired at the ford dealer already applied twice to and was declined for having a "felony".
Remember they hire 3-4.5 million people every month for the past 6 years.
"The private sector is doing just fine"
Rex-1306908===I wonder where Obama got that idea. The guy never had a real job. How he got into the White House I will never know. An old McCain would have been better at least had some experience.
Yes you are right...neither did FDR nor JFK and they did OK.
When current corporate mentality only offers part-time jobs for employees to work slave wages with no benefits, they need to realize peanuts only attract monkeys!
wildwest===So you think the evil corporations that provide us with so many jobs are the ones to blame? Obama has claimed to save the auto industry they are large corporations. So what's the deal? Can the great Obama save one industry and throw the others out as he pleases? Better take a closer look at what is in the way>
Employers used the downturn of 2007 and 2008 to lay off as many older workers as possable. I now work at a place for $8.50 per hour with no bennifits, half the workers there are 55 to my age of 62. We work our butts off,if your not in shape, to bad. I used to make $15.76 and hour, and I had 5 weeks of vacation a year after 26 years of service to the company. I went to school after I got laid off, passed and made the deans list in 2010 and 2011, but I was 60 going on 61, nobody wanted me. I wrote to Congressman Petri of Wisconsin, my Congressman about age discrimination and never heard from him about it. I wrote to him about not having tax breaks for the rich because we are browwing 30 cents of every dollar we spend, he wants the tax breaks. I guess thats because he is one of the richest Congressmen in Wisconsin. Romney and Ryan want to do the same thing that Bush did while in office, we all know how that ended. No jobs, lost homes, no life. So vote for Romney if you want to relive 2007 and 2008. After a year and four months of looking for a job while living off my savings and then working for $7.25 and hour for six months and taking a job that pays $8.50 and hour I signed for Social Security, it starts in January, so does my small pension.
John-1503323===You mean to tell me that at your age you went back to school? Your at retirement age, so retire. I can't imagine wasting your time and money on school for what reason? What did you expect at 61? Common sense might have served you better. I'm sorry that someone mislead you into believing you could actually start a new job at the age of 61. I believe in a better education but it has it's limits.
You obviously went to the wrong type of school. Should have looked at truck driving schools; they are free for people laid off thru WIA. I was driving in my late 60's making $65K per year. There's a shortage of 200,000 drivers right now. Many new drivers are college grads who lost their job & retrained for what's available.
After reading article and some of the comments I believe we should shoot the experts. The children that are crying about no jobs need to get one and any job that they can. For the older folks things are not getting any better so hang in there. Don't vote for Obama he hasn't helped you yet and never will.
Shoot the experts, eh? That's what Stalin and Mao felt, too. Anyone who disagreed with them, no matter how right they were, got shot. Did you major in sociopathy? Your overly simplistic "analysis" betrays your complete lack of intellect, and telling people that don't have jobs to just go get one is like telling someone who can't walk to just jump up and run. What jobs? Where? You think Romney will solve these issues? BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Tell that to the 3-4.5 million people hired every month over the past 6 years.
There are thousands of jobs for STEM majors and companies can't find qualified people. Our college grads did not major in STEM studies and hence can't get jobs, so we have to fill it with H1B visas. But now many foreign grad students don't want to stay in the US and want to go back home since life at home is better than the one in the US. How things have changed!!
We have about two billion dollars in storm damage to repair here in Louisville Kentucky from spring storms, certainly enough to support a drop in the unemployment rate. The illegal employers are being enabled by the polititions who have given them a blank check to hire their illegal aliens exclusively. Our Unemployment is going up. Romney claims he will be the first deportation president since Dwight Eisenhower. For all his other sins this single act will restore jobs to the hardest hit population in America. Don't tell me that Americans won't work. I taught the workforce for thirty years and watched them get displaced by illegal employers. All that "Americans won't work" nonsense is political speak by the Chamber of Commerce, the enemy of working people.