US Jobs Picture Even Worse Than It Looks

(NEWSER) - If the downturn has you considering a “recession-proof” job like teaching or medicine, think again, Greg Burns writes in the Chicago Tribune. The recession has affected all sectors, from layoffs and lower enrollment at educational institutions to dwindling state budgets choking civil servants. “It’s a question of degree,” one expert says. “I really don’t believe there is any such thing as recession-proof.” More»

Construction, manufacturing cuts disproportionately hit men

(NEWSER) - The gap between men's and women’s unemployment is at a 25-year high because job cuts have hit especially hard in male-dominated industries like construction and manufacturing, reports Reuters. Some 80% of the nearly 3 million workers who lost jobs between November 2007 and November 2008 were men. Women hold many health-care and government jobs, which have suffered less in the slump than the blue-collar sector. More»

Auto industry, real estate among worst fields

(NEWSER) - Want to keep your job this year? Steer clear of these professions, which a new study says will be hard-hit by the recession, Australia's News Network reports:

• Car salesperson
• Real estate agent
• Investment banker
• Prawn fisherman

Employment picture likely to remain grim for years, and predicting winning industries is a challenge

(NEWSER) - The job market is likely to be grim for years to come—economists expect that even if job creation returned to the brisk pace of the ‘90s, unemployment wouldn’t return to 5% until 2017. And for many of the unemployed, the numbers belie the real problem: The positions they're trained for may be gone forever. The real estate and finance industries, for example, will probably never support as many employees as they did before the recession. More»

Weak labor market expected to cause longer recession

(NEWSER) - So much for those so-called green shoots of recovery. Yesterday's worse-than-expected unemployment report has far more red flags of warning on the jobs front, writes Moira Herbst in BusinessWeek. Among them: the average work week shrank to 33 hours, the lowest on record; hourly earnings remained flat; long-term unemployment rose to an all-time high; and temp workers, an important harbinger, took a big hit. More»