Job Market

laurae@herald-mail.com Alicia Jones earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology three years ago, but she hasn't been able to put it to use. Double-digit unemployment where she was living in Ankara, Turkey, was mostly to blame. Now that she has moved to Washington County, August's 3.7 percent unemployment rate is rather encouraging. "I kind of laughed when we got here and my folks said unemployment is really bad," said Jones' husband, Randy Jones, who is retired from the U.S. Air Force.

wandaw@herald-mail.com For seven weeks, 15-year-old Shawayna Morel was out of bed by 7 a.m. and at her first summer job by 8. Her workday ended at 4 p.m. She found adjusting to a work schedule wasn't easy. "Some mornings, I was really tired and I didn't feel like going in," she said. The solution: Shawayna ended her late summer nights and starting going to bed early. She said she realized it was worth the sacrifice after she received her first paycheck. "It felt good," she said.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- First-time claims for jobless benefits increased more than expected last week, a sign employers are reluctant to hire and the job market remains weak. And while consumer spending jumped by the most in nearly eight years in August due partly to the government's Cash for Clunkers program, economists worry whether that rebound can be sustained with U.S. households facing rising unemployment, tight credit conditions and other obstacles. The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 551,000 from 534,000 in the previous week.

The improved job market is leading to an exodus of middle managers at twice the rate of senior executives, according to a survey of managerial turnover. Just over a third of the companies, 34 percent, had implemented new or revised retention programs while 31 percent have done the same for senior-level management. The survey involved 168 companies and was conducted by Boston-based ClearRock, an executive coaching and outplacement group.

The demand for rental apartments is growing, a fact that is sparking renewed interest in building multifamily housing structures. A recent study by the National Association of Home Builders indicates that a particularly healthy market is emerging for apartments and other multifamily developments, one in which demand more clearly aligns with supply. The study reveals a positive outlook for the economy in general and for job growth in particular. . "The improving job market is driving a rebound in apartment rentals," said David Wilson, NAHB president.

daniels@herald-mail.com HALFWAY - For more than a decade, Smithsburg resident Dwight Daudet worked as a salesman and field technician for a telecommunications firm outside Washington County. As he walked among the booths Thursday at Valley Mall, he found himself thrust into the role of job applicant. "I got laid off in February from a job I had for 15 years, and I'm just trying to get back in the job market," Daudet said. "I'm finding that, after being out of it for 15 years, it's a new experience.

Dear Coach: I believe the salary question has killed my last three job opportunities. I tried to avoid answering but finally had to. Even though I said I was open to negotiation, I didn't get two jobs because I earned too much. I lost another one because I earned too little. I hate to answer the question, but no matter what I do, I can't win for losing. Carol Kleiman: I agree. It's not an even playing field. Your honest answer to what I consider a dishonest question didn't get you the job anyway.

The unemployment rate in Washington County climbed slightly from August to September, driven by reductions in the civilian labor force and the number of employed workers, according to unemployment data released Thursday by the Maryland Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation. The county's jobless rate increased from 4.2 percent to 4.3 percent in September, as the county's labor force lost 452 workers to rest at 68,557. The number of employed workers fell 464 to 65,632, but the number of unemployed workers, at 2,925, increased by a dozen.

The following are local businesses that have been certified to provide job training through the Western Maryland Consortium's job-training program. The list is effective through June 30. Award Beauty School Hagerstown Empire Beauty School Chambersburg, Pa. Hagerstown Community College Hagerstown Learning Exchange Centre Mercersburg, Pa. Advanced Technical Services Hagerstown Tech Assist Inc. Frederick, Md. Valley College of Technology Martinsburg, W.Va.

By John Colson In his June 26 reply to my May 1 article on jobs in Washington County, I was flattered to see that Thomas Firey accepted the bulk of my research even though he used it to make an argument that reaches a doubtful conclusion. My May 1 article makes it clear that I discussed local, regional (using Fredrick County) and statewide data. I am flattered to find so much of what I wrote was incorporated into his piece. Firey, not surprisingly, finds the federal government to be the cause of our problems here in Washington County: "The main reason that regional housing prices are outpacing income is the D.C. area's white-hot job market, fueled by the Bush administration's rapid expansion of the federal government.

Within 20 minutes of showing up at The Valley Mall for a job fair Friday, Hagerstown resident Wilma Ammons, 26, scored a future interview with an insurance company. “I'm very encouraged by what I've seen,” Ammons said. The Autumn Job Fair featured more than 30 vendors spread throughout the mall. Education, government, nonprofit and private sector opportunities filled the area along with interested people. Hagerstown resident Valerie Zehringer graduated from Kaplan University in March and was looking at opportunities.

School is back in session. It seems to happen earlier every year. Elementary, high school and college campuses are full of expectations. Many of last year's high school graduates are now enrolled in programs of higher education. America's four-year schools expect as many 15 million in attendance this year as with another 8 million or so in two-year post-graduate schools. But is college worth it? Have we been oversold on the idea that college is the path to a better future or are we simply turning out more candidates to join the Occupy Wall Street movement?

Dozens of jobseekers filtered into the Washington County One-Stop Job Center in downtown Hagerstown on Friday for a chance to find work from one of 14 prospective employers during a public job fair. Hagerstown resident Mary Conway said she lost her job as a day care provider about two years ago. She said she attended the event because she hasn't had any luck for the past several months trying to find employment on Internet job sites. “I need a job,” Conway said. “I've been unemployed for two years, and there is no more unemployment.” Conway and a number of other people who attended the job fair said employment is hard to find in today's sluggish economy.

Bullying is a serious problem in the workplace To the editor: We have all heard about bullying in our schools. The consequences that occur can range from the victims becoming so depressed that they require professional counseling to the victims resorting to violence to stop the abuse. When that bully grows up and enters the job market, you now have a bully in the workplace. The bully’s behavior is often misinterpreted as assertiveness or ambition. The results of workplace bullying and school bullying are the same.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- More than half of Washington County Public Schools' 2009 graduates said they planned to further their education through traditional channels, a move that higher education officials say will pay off in the long run. According to the 2009 Maryland Report Card on the state Department of Education's website at http://www.mdreportcard.org , 31.4 percent of the county's 2009 graduates said they planned to attend a four-year college, 19.4 planned to attend a two-year college and 1.7 planned to attend a specialized training school.

HAGERSTOWN -- Graduation normally is a happy occasion for college students, but with the current economy, finding jobs after college has become a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. "The current downturn in the economy can make it challenging for new grads to compete for entry-level jobs," said Bonnie Owens, coordinator of internship and job services for Hagerstown Community College. "While high unemployment and shrinking budgets have become the norm, and those who would normally be retiring are holding on to their jobs, it's ever more important that recent graduates bring their 'A' game to the job search.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- First-time claims for jobless benefits increased more than expected last week, a sign employers are reluctant to hire and the job market remains weak. And while consumer spending jumped by the most in nearly eight years in August due partly to the government's Cash for Clunkers program, economists worry whether that rebound can be sustained with U.S. households facing rising unemployment, tight credit conditions and other obstacles. The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 551,000 from 534,000 in the previous week.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- In May, Washington County's unemployment rate was more than 10 percent for the third time in four months, according to state figures released Friday. The county's May rate was 10.1 percent, according to the state Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation (DLLR). The rate was 10.0 percent in February and 10.5 percent in March, then dropped to 9.7 percent in April. In May 2008, the county's unemployment rate was 5.1 percent. Robin Ferree, deputy director of the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission, said the county has had notable jobs cuts and business closings this year, but he wasn't sure if anything major happened in May. DLLR said the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate last month was 7.2 percent, up four-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors are buying up stocks again, sending the Dow Jones industrials above the 8,000 mark for the first time in nearly two months. All the major indexes soared about 4 percent on Thursday as optimism grew following more signs that the economy is on the mend. Financial stocks led the rally, getting a big boost after the Financial Accounting Standards Board relaxed accounting rules forcing banks to value their assets at current prices. The change should help banks reduce losses.

View the slideshow. WASHINGTON COUNTY -- It's still very dark and cold at 5:45 a.m., but 30 people already are waiting at the Labor Ready Inc. office in Hagerstown's South End Shopping Center. "Several of them are people that are trying to keep their homes, contractors that are trying to keep their trucks. They'll do anything," branch manager Judy Arthur said quietly as she watched others arrive. "Before you even describe the job or how much it pays, or how long it is, they'll take it. They'll say, 'I'll do whatever you need me to do,'" Arthur said.