US Is In the Weakest "Recovery" Ever

The current US job market is unlike anything economists have ever seen and it's scaring the crap out of people. At this point in an economic "recovery" employers are supposed to be adding jobs and hiring new people. That is simply not happening, at all. In fact, only 18,000 jobs were added in June, a fraction of the 300,000+ jobs needed to begin shrinking the US unemployment problem.

The really spooky thing is that economists don't really understand what's going on. Just a few months ago most experts believed the US economy would be heating up significantly by the second half of 2011. The opposite seems to be happening an nobody really knows why.

According the the current statistics, over 16% of Americans who want to work are either unemployed or under-employed (working part-time jobs for example). A big problem is that employers are still very reluctant to begin hiring in big numbers the way they did before the Great Recession that began in 2008. They prefer to make current employees work harder and longer. As a result, both worker productivity and US corporate profits are through the roof!

Many companies, including small business owners, don't want to begin hiring again until they're sure American consumers are going to be spending on products and services. Also, new technology and computer software is allowing managers to get more work out of fewer employees.

The fact that the politicians in Washington DC are playing "chicken" with the US debt ceiling definitely isn't helping the situation. The US economy would almost surely head back into a deep recession if the world believes there's even a chance America could default on its huge debts. Europe's debt problems and China's inflation-fighting programs are also causing employers to adopt a "wait and see" hiring strategy.

Learn some mo': Analysis: Flat jobs data signal weakest recovery in decades

Las Vegas: Worst Place to Find a Job

It's official: Las Vegas, Nevada is the worst place in the US to try to find a job, at least according to a new report from Forbes magazine. Even though the unemployment rate in Southern Nevada dropped to 14.1% from 15% in October things are still incredibly bleak in the City of Lights. According to Forbes and Juju.com, Las Vegas has the highest "Job Search Difficulty" score among all large American cities.

Apparently there are 9 out-of-work people for every job advertised in the Las Vegas Valley. That is really, really bad news for a city that's experiencing a very slow recovery from the Great Recession.

According to the report, the best cities for people looking for work are Washington D.C., San Jose, CA, Salt Lake City, Utah (a relatively close city to Vegas), Denver, Baltimore, Boston, and new tech-hub Austin, Texas.

Learn some mo': America's Worst Cities For Finding A Job

US Stimulus Benefits Nearly Over

The huge $787 billion US stimulus program that was launched in 2009 is peaking without providing the big jumpstarts needed in the job market and overall economy. The Obama administration's "Summer of Recovery" will see thousands of temporary jobs created due to large highway improvement, water, and home weatherization projects, not to mention those thousands of "census" jobs.

But after that, it's all downhill for the stimulus-based recovery. And unfortunately the US economy will almost definitely still be in serious trouble. Some global economic and financial experts say that the stimulus has provided very little if any significant long-term benefits.

The only hope for a real recovery is that private companies will see profit levels increase and will therefore begin to hire Americans in large numbers once again. Until then, the United States and the world as a whole will continue to sputter along with little real economic growth.

Learn some mo': Stimulus: The big bang is over

Obama: Plan Will Jump-Start Business Hiring

There's been some surprisingly good news about job losses in the US. And there will soon be even more, according to President Obama. He says that a new proposal he'll roll out next week will help to "jump-start" hiring across the country. The most important part of the plan is a set of new tax breaks for small businesses that hire new employees. The plan will also help states pay government employees, give people money to make their homes more energy efficient, and increase federal spending on infrastructure (roads and bridges) construction.

Let's hope this works... because America definitely needs more jobs!

Learn some mo': Obama: Jobs plan will 'jump-start' hiring

Tags: US jobs