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One Atlanta school district will eliminate some staff positions - but actually add more teachers - in order to accommodate its upcoming budget. Click here to see Atlanta education job listings.

Gwinnett County Public Schools has proposed a $2 billion budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which will help the district meet the needs of more students and school construction. Although there has been a reduction in local funding, the budget is a 5.4 percent increase. The general fund will decrease by 1.1 percent, or $14.5 million, according to an article by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Because of the new budget, class sizes are expected to increase, but some staff positions will be eliminated and other cost-saving measures will have to be taken. Overall, 330 positions will be eliminated, but those teachers will be moved to other openings. An additional 225 school administrative and support jobs also will be added.

“It does not require us to lay off any teachers,” Rick Cost, Gwinnett County Schools’ chief financial officer, said in the article. “It has required us to move teachers around to different spots. We will actually end up hiring some folks despite the reductions.”

Other school districts in the metro Atlanta area have had to lay off some staff and consider shutting down or merging schools because of budget shortfalls. Marietta City Schools recently cut 19 full-time teachers, 21 part-time teachers and 23 parapros.

Labels: Atlanta education jobs

Although the economy may be slowing down, Perth jobs in engineering construction seem unaffected.

According to economists, these positions will remain strong due to the fact that the state government has set aside a significant amount of money to be spent on the city's infrastructure.

Recent figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the amount of engineering construction done throughout the country from January to March equaled $13.8 billion, which is a seasonally adjusted increase of 7.2 percent from the previous quarter.

Michael Workman, senior economist with Commonwealth Bank, said that the thriving mining sector can explain the jump in this field.

"Geographically it is mainly in Western Australia and Queensland," he explained.

Peter Jones, chief economist with Master Builders Australia, predicts that the amount of engineering work that will be completed before the end of the 2007-2008 fiscal year will total over $60 billion.

He went on to say that, "the outlook should stay bright as state governments up their spending on infrastructure and industry attempts to work though the massive pipeline of resources-related work yet to be done."

At the end of March the amount of planned engineering work that had yet to be done amounted to $51.6 billion. This figure is up by $20 billion from the previous year. Extra spending in the industry translates to extra jobs in Perth and elsewhere in Australia.

Other sectors that are reaping the benefits of government spending include construction and material processing, both of which Workman says will continue to generate new positions.

"It is likely to mean that jobs and wages growth in those sectors stays firm even though the more interest-rate-sensitive parts of the economy slow," he said. "So any rise in the national unemployment rate through the second half of 2008 may be relatively mild."

Nationally,Pe the amount of private-sector engineering work completed by March equaled $8.9 billion, which is an 8.2 percent increase from the previous quarter. During the same time the amount of public sector work increased by 5.4 percent and totaled $4.9 billion.

Labels: Perth jobs

City Line Distributors, New England's number one independent full-service food distributor, recently announced its implementation of nowHIRE.com's Elite Business Edition applicant tracking system.

This move has allowed City Line to fully automate its hiring and onboarding process. The company, which was founded in 1930, processes about 2,500 employment applications each year. The company estimates that it will save thousands of dollars annually with the addition of the new software.

Before teaming up with nowHIRE, City Line used a paper-based application process. This allowed each applicant to provide different information, making the hiring process inconsistent. Storage of the applications and resumes also created a space problem. The new software allows potential employees to complete applications online or at a kiosk in the company's lobby.

Read more »

Labels: Applicant tracking system

During February, Illinois construction jobs saw the biggest over-the-year decrease compared to other declining industries.

Illinois' construction industry employed 235,200 workers during February, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 235,500 workers during January and a 10.9 percent decrease from last year.

The state's construction industry has seen an over-the-year jobs decrease every month for the last six months, by 4.5 percent during September 2008, by 5.5 percent during October 2008, by 7.7 percent during November 2008, by 11.7 percent during December 2008, by 11.5 percent during January and by 10.9 percent during February.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year jobs decrease during February include:

• manufacturing by 7.8 percent
• trade transportation and utilities by 3.2 percent
• information by 4 percent
• financial activities by 3.2 percent
• professional and business services by 6.8 percent
• leisure and hospitality by 3.6 percent
• other services by 1.1 percent
• government by .1 percent

The only industries that saw an over-the-year jobs increase during February were mining and logging and education and health services. The mining and logging industry employed 10,200 workers, down from 10,300 workers during January, but a 3 percent increase from last year. The education and health services industry employed 804,200 workers, up from 803,500 workers during January and a 1.6 percent increase from last year.

Illinois' unemployment rate increased from 7.8 percent to 8.6 percent during February. The state had a total non-farm employment of 5,782,700 workers, down from 5,819,900 workers during January and a 3.4 percent decrease from last year.

Labels: Illinois construction jobs

With the current state of the economy, any news about an employer hiring a large number of people is something to pay attention to. According to a recent press release, Sallie Mae, which handles student loans, will be creating approximately 2,000 jobs over the next 18 months.

These jobs will come about as a result of Sallie Mae transferring their overseas operations back into America. Many positions have been outsourced from a number of companies across the country in an attempt to save money on the cost of labor. Some analysts believe that Sallie Mae is retransferring the positions as part of an effort to garner good will from President Obama's administration.

Currently there is a budget proposal that may take away business from Sallie Mae. If the budget for 2010 is approved, the loans handled by the company, which is formally known as SLM Corp., would be transferred to a program run by the Department of Education.

Sallie Mae announced on April 6th that hiring for the new jobs would take place over the next 18 months, ending in October of 2010. The positions will be at the company's call centers and its information technology and operations support facilities, which are located across the country.

"The current economic environment has caused our communities to struggle with job losses," said Sallie Mae's chief executive Albert Lord in a recent statement. "They need jobs, and we will put 2,000 of them into U.S. facilities as soon as we possibly can."

It has already been determined that a large number of these positions will be going to one Pennsylvania county. Approximately 600 of these jobs are scheduled to go to the company's facilities in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

"This is great news for northeastern Pennsylvania," said Pennsylvania State Senator Bob Casey in a recent press conference, according to the Associated Press. "With the U.S. unemployment rate at 8.5 percent, it is about time we have some 'in-sourcing'. I hope that more companies that sent jobs overseas will follow Sallie Mae's example and bring jobs back to the United States."

At this time, it is not known where exactly what overseas operations the positions will be pulled from or how exactly these areas will be effected by their loss.

Over the next 18 months, Sallie Mae expects to receive a large number of applications for the new positions. With so many across the country trying to find work, these new jobs will attract a lot of attention. Because of this, those hoping to apply for one of the positions should begin following where they will be going and looking into the application process.

Labels: Jobs

Several teaching jobs in New York that were expected to be cut may now be safe due to the new budget.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced that the thousands of teaching jobs he threatened to cut should be safe under the new state budget that has been approved in Albany, according to an article by Newsday.

The state plans to increase aid to public schools by about $1.1 billion and get rid of the governor's proposed $700 million education cut. When Bloomberg presented a preliminary budget plan in January, he warned that 14,000 teachers could lose their jobs because of a decrease in state funding.

The education industry is one of the few that are often considered to be recession-proof, meaning those industries continue to add jobs despite a deteriorating economy and job losses in other industries.

The New York-White Plains-Wayne area's education and health services industry employed 983,100 workers during February, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down up from 972,700 workers during January and a 1.7 percent increase from last year.

The area's unemployment rate increased from 7.3 percent to 8.3 percent during February. The area had a total non-farm employment of 5,123,800 workers during February, down from 5,131,600 workers during January and a 2.1 percent decrease from last year.

Statewide, New York state's education and health services industry employed 1,647,400 workers during February, up from 1,647,200 workers during January and a 1.7 percent increase from last year.

The state overall saw its unemployment rate increase from 7 percent to 7.8 percent during February. New York state had a total non-farm employment of 8,671,600 workers, down from 8,699,400 workers during January and a 1.5 percent decrease from last year.

Labels: Jobs