Look employed while unemployed

Furloughed from her job with a technology firm, Stacy Avery said she could live without theater tickets and restaurant dinners. But she’s hanging on to her personal stylist.

No one wants to look unemployed.

“When I’m at an interview for a job or a consulting assignment, I really have to wow them,” said Avery, 37, of Minnetonka, who pays Corset wardrobe styling in Hopkins $1,200 a year to construct complete outfits for her. “People make very quick judgments about you.”First impressions count, perhaps now more than ever, with the unemployment rate at a 25-year high. Oddly, widespread job losses among professionals are bolstering or at least sustaining traffic for some plastic surgeons, cosmetic dentistry practices and others in the business of helping people look better. Whether it’s Botox, teeth whitening or a simple salon manicure, many out-of-work professionals say they can’t afford to let their appearances go.

Turning lemons into lemonaid?

Stephanie Aucoin lost her accounting job more than six months ago and has been spending 10 to 12 hours on the Internet looking for a new one.

Her friend of 16 years, Barbara Bourn, is employed in interior design sales for a Sarasota, Fla., company and has seen her commission-based income fall 60 percent because of the sagging economy.

Frustrated, the two sought to find a way to both market their talents and make an income.

The result? A wristband that almost 6 million Americans could legitimately wear.

It reads: “Laid off. Need a Job.” “I pushed her (Aucoin) to come up with something, because she’s very creative,” Bourn, 59, said. “So she came up with this idea.

Because we’re both hurting financially, we figure this was a way to help other people and ourselves at the same time.” The women ordered 500 of the wristbands from a manufacturer in Texas and did a marketing blitz by handing some of them out for free.

They sell them online for $3 apiece through a Web site Aucoin designed at http://www.laidoffneedajob.com.

Posting too much?

Cassie and I love Twitter, Facebook and not really Myspace so we decided we should share this article so we do not get blamed for you losing your job!

http://tinyurl.com/d6v2ym

Our morning drive got better

The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since late 1983, as a wide swath of employers eliminated 663,000 jobs. It’s fresh evidence of the toll the recession has inflicted on America’s workers, and economists say there’s no relief in sight.

If part-time and discouraged workers are factored in, the unemployment rate would have been 15.6 percent in March, the highest on records dating to 1994, according to Labor Department data released Friday.

The average work week in March dropped to 33.2 hours, a new record low.

Job losses were widespread last month. Construction companies cut 126,000 jobs. Factories axed 161,000. Retailers got rid of nearly 50,000. Professional and business services eliminated 133,000. Leisure and hospitality reduced employment by 40,000. Even the government cut jobs — 5,000 of them.

2 million jobs lost in 2009.

THE YEAR OF THE AX

To celebrate the ringing in of the Chinese New Year (the year of the Ox), we thought we’d take a little spin and tell you about all the companies that are giving their employees the Ax.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., which is buying rival drugmaker Wyeth in a $68 billion deal, and Sprint Nextel Corp., the country’s third-largest wireless provider, said they each will slash 8,000 jobs.

Home Depot Inc., the biggest home improvement retailer in the U.S., will get rid of 7,000 jobs, and General Motors Corp. said it will cut 2,000 jobs at plants in Michigan and Ohio because of slow sales.

Texas Instruments Inc., which makes chips for cell phones and other gadgets, will cut 3,400 jobs due to slumping demand. The Dallas-based company said Monday it will slash 12 percent of its work force _ 1,800 jobs through layoffs and another 1,600 through voluntary retirements and departures

Microsoft Corp. said it will slash up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months. Intel Corp. said it will cut up to 6,000 manufacturing jobs. And United Airlines parent UAL Corp. said it would get rid of 1,000 jobs, on top of 1,500 axed late last year.

Looking ahead, economists predicted a net loss of at least 2 million jobs _ possibly more _ this year even if President Barack Obama’s $825 billion package of increased government spending and tax cuts is enacted. Last year, the economy lost a net 2.6 million jobs, the most since 1945, though the labor force has grown significantly since then.

Gulp.

Special 9-11 Edition of The Block FM

Tomorrow marks the 7th anniversary of 11 September 2001. To honor those who lost their lives, who sacrificed their lives, who were injured, traumatized, or affected in any way by the attack on NY’s Twin Towers, Tim and I are having a special edition of our radio show airing on 92.5FM KYHY in Los Angeles tomorrow at 9am (PST). You can listen online at KYHY’s website or you can subscribe to our podcast at our awesome website.

Here are the topics we’ll be hitting tomorrow:

1. 9-11 Commemoration
2. How to be a patriot? – Register to vote and mark November 4, 2008 on your calendars
3. Celebs for Obama – Streisand to headline LA fundraiser – can she break her 0-3 streak?
4. Stan Simmons the sports guy speaks with us about USC v. Ohio St., Tom Brady’s injury, Aaron Rodgers, the rise of the Dodgers, and political wagering
5. Barack Obama’s new ad campaign and his awesome interview with Keith Olbermann (see below)
6. Hillary Clinton – no way, no how, no McCain, and no Palin (the only similarity between these two is an extra x chromosome)

6.1%

Yep, that’s the unemployment rate people. The U.S. has now shed 605,000 jobs since the beginning of the year, the Labor Department said Friday. And YET, McCain says the “fundamentals” of the U.S. economy were sound. Oh Johnny, you obviously didn’t get the memo that the fundamentals of this administration’s economic policies SUCK and have put our jobs, our homes, and our lives at risk.

Why are Americans ok with electing a candidate who has ADMITTED that he doesn’t know enough about the economy? Why are Americans ok with electing a candidate who relies on an economic adviser who says that the American people that are nervous about the economy are just “whiners”? THIS ISN’T OK WITH ME AND IT SHOULDN’T BE OK WITH YOU!

Here are some other interesting statistics from California – 7.5% employment rate in Los Angeles, 9% unemployment in Riverside, and we have the highest foreclosure rate too.

I’m struggling to make ends meet just like you are, but I dug deep in my pockets and went to Barack Obama’s website and gave $250.00. I figure if he is elected, I’ll more than make up the money because at least my job will be more secure, our nation will be more secure and our world will be more secure