Kansas City CFOs Report On First-Quarter Hiring Outlook
KANSAS CITY (PRNewswire), December 9, 2007 - Four percent of chief financial officers (CFOs) in the Kansas City area expect to add accounting and finance staff during the first quarter of 2008 and 7 percent anticipate reductions in personnel, according to the most recent Robert Half International Financial Hiring Index. The majority of respondents, 87 percent, anticipate no change in hiring.
The local results reflect a two-quarter rolling average based on interviews with 200 CFOs from a stratified random sample of companies in the Kansas City area with 20 or more employees; 1,400 CFOs were queried for the national data.
The surveys were conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half International, the world's largest staffing services firm specializing in accounting and finance. Robert Half has been tracking financial hiring activity in the United States since 1992.
"Although the hiring forecast in the Kansas City area is more conservative, the hiring environment nationally remains steady, particularly for professionals such as staff accountants, internal auditors and financial analysts," said Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International.
Robert Half International was founded in 1948 and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its financial staffing divisions include Accountemps(R), Robert Half(R) Finance & Accounting and Robert Half(R) Management Resources, for temporary, full-time and senior-level project professionals, respectively.
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New Unemployment Numbers Show Increase Among Teens
KANSAS CITY (PRNewswire), December 9, 2007 - While nearly 100,000 new jobs were created in November and overall unemployment remained constant at 4.7%, the Employment Policies Institute notes that there was a marked increase in unemployment among teenagers. The news was particularly bleak for African American teens. Their unemployment rate rose to 29.5%, over 6 times higher than the national rate.
When compared to this time last year, the trend is unmistakable. The unemployment rates for teens and white teens are at a 12 month high. The rate for African American teens has risen nearly two percentage points since this time last year.
This bleak employment outlook for vulnerable members of the workforce comes on the heels of a federal minimum wage hike. Decades of economic research show that mandated wage hikes eliminate entry-level jobs, putting particular pressure on young minorities and the least educated. A Cornell University study found that black young adults typically bear almost 4 times the employment loss of their non-black counterparts after a minimum wage increase. Specifically, they found that a 10% increase in the minimum wage will result in an 8.5% decrease in employment for black young adults and teenagers.
"Unemployment is a big problem for these vulnerable members of the workforce, yet many legislators continue to support mandated wages that exacerbate the problem," said Dr. Jill Jenkins, Chief Economist for the Employment Policies Institute. "It is important to promote policies that create entry level employment so teens can learn the skills necessary to advance in the workforce.
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Thirty Percent of Workers Holiday Shop Online at Work
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