Job Market

With just weeks to go before graduation, law students are bracing for a job market that has seen cutbacks at Center City firms. Saddled with debt, some have seen job offers put on hold. Others are considering options such as public service jobs, or working in a coffee shop, or baby-sitting. In recent months, law firms in Philadelphia and across the country have been shedding lawyers and staff, leaving jobs in short supply. The District Attorney's Office rescinded 12 jobs in February due to budget cuts; Wolf Block partners recently voted to shut down the practice after 106 years; and Dechert, one of the city's largest firms, recently laid off 63 lawyers.

MODEST GOOD NEWS for college students: An annual survey predicts employers will increase hiring of new four-year college graduates about 5 percent in the coming year. Demand for graduates with associate's degrees is expected to increase more sharply - by about 30 percent compared with last year's survey - and MBA hiring appears headed for an unexpected decline. The 42nd annual survey out Thursday from Michigan State University's College Employment Research Institute collects responses on hiring plans from more than 2,000 U.S. employers.

Employment Update '90, scheduled for Wednesday, is designed to bring together employers, parents and school counselors to examine the role each plays in the current job market. "Each one must meet as equal partners and share information and resources to benefit each other," said Kathy Gana, chairwoman of the business and education partnership committee of the Lower Bucks County Chamber of Commerce, which is sponsoring the event at no cost to participants. At morning seminars, counselors and parents will examine employment opportunities and required job skills.

Kenyatta Washington realizes that being out in the work force is not all fun and games. That's something the 18-year-old junior from Martin Luther King High School said he learned from his work in the Hotel Restaurant Training Program. "It made me more aware of the real world," Washington said. The program is a partnership between Martin Luther King High School in East Germantown and the Adam's Mark Hotel, City Avenue and Monument Road. It aims to prepare students for a career in the hospitality industry.

I knew that getting my first job would be tough. I'd awakened at a snail's pace in my dorm room wearing American-flag boxers and a two-day beard. My alarm had stopped caring and gone silent. My roommate's snoring revved like a car engine at a red light. I sighed. The overriding nightmare haunting my six-hour sleep followed me into the shower and dressed me down as I struggled wearily into Dockers, a white shirt and tie. I had dreamt I was destitute, overcome by college debt, and living miserably in a shelter off the charity of others.

Maybe the landing won't be so soft after all. Fears that the economy is headed for something significantly bumpier grew yesterday, as the government declared that U.S. payrolls shrank last month by 101,000 jobs, and a major forecasting gauge detected tougher times ahead. Economists said the news made another recession appear more likely, this year, and also increased chances that the Federal Reserve would move to lower short-term interest rates, despite statements to the contrary by Fed officials.

Soon after she was laid off from her job as an executive secretary last year, Brenda Cowan realized that her 20 years' work experience didn't count for much when it came to competing in the computer-oriented office of the 1990s. She needed more training. But her unemployment checks were barely covering the basic expenses for her and her 16-year-old son, who live in Marlton. Coming up with the tuition to go back to school was out of the question. But when Cowan, 46, was referred to the Burlington County Job Training Program, she learned that she qualified for something that would allow her to choose a course of study, attend classes and help place her in a job when she finished.

WASHINGTON - A bleak jobs report suggests the recovery from the Great Recession will be longer and bumpier than many economists had envisioned. Most economists say job growth should strengthen later this year as gasoline prices drop further and the economy recovers from the effects of natural disasters in the U.S. and abroad. But the recovery is starting to weaken 17 months before the 2012 election, which could hurt President Obama's re-election prospects. The unemployment rate in May inched up to 9.1 percent from 9 percent, the Labor Department said yesterday; when Obama took office, it was 7.8 percent.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. job market showed resilience in three reports Thursday, suggesting it may able to withstand a federal budget battle that threatens more economic uncertainty in the coming months. A survey showed private hiring increased in December, while layoffs declined and applications for unemployment benefits stayed near a four-year low. The data led some economists to raise their forecasts for December job growth. "The job market held firm in December despite the intensifying fiscal cliff negotiations," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

At the end of October, 111 industrial workers at the Struthers-Dunn Inc. plant in Mantua Township lost their jobs. The company makes electromagnetic relays for commercial, industrial and military applications. The layoffs of light-industrial, assembly-line workers came when the company streamlined its manufacturing operation. About 40 of the laid-off employees re-entered the job market recently, equipped with a heightened knowledge of their aptitudes and interests, an awareness of the kinds of jobs available, and the job search skills necessary to instill confidence in prospective employers.