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CNN Live Today
Labor Day Job Outlook
Aired September 01, 2003 - 10:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. jobs picture this Labor Day depends on how you look at it. More job cuts are expected after the holiday but, overall, the trend is turning more hopeful.
Rick Cobb is a labor and workforce analyst and the vice president of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, the outplacement consulting firm. He joins us now this morning from Chicago.
Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate your time today, as I lose my earpiece. Let me just ask you about the comments from Elaine Chao, what about a recovery? What are your thoughts on that?
RICK COBB, WORKFORCE ANALYST: Well, we track the announced layoff data and that is trending down. That's a leading indicator and so what that means is if we continue on this course we're looking at coming out of our current economic conditions by end of the year beginning of next year.
COLLINS: Let's go ahead and take a look at some of the future statistics, that is, as far as job cuts go. Tell us a little bit about this. We are looking at job cuts for, let's see, 80,858 job cuts September through December. I'm sorry, this was back in 1995 to 2002, another statistic, January through August, 64,914 job cuts. Are these numbers particularly high in your mind?
COBB: Well, what we've got is the last seven years we've looked at announced layoff data and the last four months of the year typically where companies make their most significant numbers of cuts.
So, after Labor Day is a time when companies start to look forward to what's going to happen next year and make adjustments based on what they've been able to do this year. So, this is sort of a tentative time for companies in terms of job cuts.
COLLINS: Let's talk about some good news if we could. Where are the jobs? What sort of industries can people go out if they are looking for a new job, have already lost their job, and find work now?
COBB: Sure. It's somewhat counterintuitive. Some of the best places to look for work are places where they've already made the cuts. As companies cut back on the poor performers and some of the areas where they have -- they can replace it with technology they actually staff up with additional people. So, even though you might think it's not the place to go actually technology is a good place to be, telecommunications, computers, a lot of those areas are actually growing at the same time they're cutting.
COLLINS: We've got a few more here to look at, transportation, industrial goods, automotive industry, retail, electronics, government, non-profit, financial and consumer goods, so good to point out that these are actually some of the areas that have seen some cuts. I got to ask you about advice. Some people have been a little down in the dumps. What can they do?
COBB: The variables that you can control, if you're talking about if you're actually out of work, are who you see, so you want to try to see as many decision makers as you can. You want to try to avoid the filter systems. Typically, that's someone in human resources who doesn't have the authority to hire but has the authority to tell you you can't come in.
You want to increase the number of people that you see, so you want to make sure that everyone out there know that you're out in the market looking. You can't go to ground. There's about five million people they say who pretty much just checked out of the job market. Those people need to get back in the market now before the economy turns around.
Those are the critical things to do and if you are working and you're concerned about a cut then it's important for you to be visible. There's a tendency for us to sort of avoid trouble and say, well, it looks like we might go through another reduction. I have to disappear.
It's actually the opposite. You have to be visible. You have to make sure that your boss knows that you're there, that you're making a contribution like we are today. We're working on Labor Day.
COLLINS: Right, yes. Actually, is that what you mean by when you say saving your job? I mean there are a lot of things that you can do to save your job, work harder, is that one of them?
COBB: Well, it seems simplistic but the idea is that if you're working harder and nobody sees it then no one knows that you're really doing it. One of the things that you want to do is you want to be likable to the degree that you can.
You want to be visible, which means that you mirror your boss' hours. If you're coming in early and your boss doesn't come in early then it looks like you're leaving early because your schedules aren't the same.
You also want to try and take on work without actually having it be assigned to you so you look for ways to add value and to show your worth to the organizations.
COLLINS: All right, Rick Cobb, we appreciate you being with us this morning so very much.
COBB: Thanks.
COLLINS: Hope you have a good Labor Day, the rest of it anyway.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 1, 2003 - 10:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. jobs picture this Labor Day depends on how you look at it. More job cuts are expected after the holiday but, overall, the trend is turning more hopeful.
Rick Cobb is a labor and workforce analyst and the vice president of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, the outplacement consulting firm. He joins us now this morning from Chicago.
Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate your time today, as I lose my earpiece. Let me just ask you about the comments from Elaine Chao, what about a recovery? What are your thoughts on that?
RICK COBB, WORKFORCE ANALYST: Well, we track the announced layoff data and that is trending down. That's a leading indicator and so what that means is if we continue on this course we're looking at coming out of our current economic conditions by end of the year beginning of next year.
COLLINS: Let's go ahead and take a look at some of the future statistics, that is, as far as job cuts go. Tell us a little bit about this. We are looking at job cuts for, let's see, 80,858 job cuts September through December. I'm sorry, this was back in 1995 to 2002, another statistic, January through August, 64,914 job cuts. Are these numbers particularly high in your mind?
COBB: Well, what we've got is the last seven years we've looked at announced layoff data and the last four months of the year typically where companies make their most significant numbers of cuts.
So, after Labor Day is a time when companies start to look forward to what's going to happen next year and make adjustments based on what they've been able to do this year. So, this is sort of a tentative time for companies in terms of job cuts.
COLLINS: Let's talk about some good news if we could. Where are the jobs? What sort of industries can people go out if they are looking for a new job, have already lost their job, and find work now?
COBB: Sure. It's somewhat counterintuitive. Some of the best places to look for work are places where they've already made the cuts. As companies cut back on the poor performers and some of the areas where they have -- they can replace it with technology they actually staff up with additional people. So, even though you might think it's not the place to go actually technology is a good place to be, telecommunications, computers, a lot of those areas are actually growing at the same time they're cutting.
COLLINS: We've got a few more here to look at, transportation, industrial goods, automotive industry, retail, electronics, government, non-profit, financial and consumer goods, so good to point out that these are actually some of the areas that have seen some cuts. I got to ask you about advice. Some people have been a little down in the dumps. What can they do?
COBB: The variables that you can control, if you're talking about if you're actually out of work, are who you see, so you want to try to see as many decision makers as you can. You want to try to avoid the filter systems. Typically, that's someone in human resources who doesn't have the authority to hire but has the authority to tell you you can't come in.
You want to increase the number of people that you see, so you want to make sure that everyone out there know that you're out in the market looking. You can't go to ground. There's about five million people they say who pretty much just checked out of the job market. Those people need to get back in the market now before the economy turns around.
Those are the critical things to do and if you are working and you're concerned about a cut then it's important for you to be visible. There's a tendency for us to sort of avoid trouble and say, well, it looks like we might go through another reduction. I have to disappear.
It's actually the opposite. You have to be visible. You have to make sure that your boss knows that you're there, that you're making a contribution like we are today. We're working on Labor Day.
COLLINS: Right, yes. Actually, is that what you mean by when you say saving your job? I mean there are a lot of things that you can do to save your job, work harder, is that one of them?
COBB: Well, it seems simplistic but the idea is that if you're working harder and nobody sees it then no one knows that you're really doing it. One of the things that you want to do is you want to be likable to the degree that you can.
You want to be visible, which means that you mirror your boss' hours. If you're coming in early and your boss doesn't come in early then it looks like you're leaving early because your schedules aren't the same.
You also want to try and take on work without actually having it be assigned to you so you look for ways to add value and to show your worth to the organizations.
COLLINS: All right, Rick Cobb, we appreciate you being with us this morning so very much.
COBB: Thanks.
COLLINS: Hope you have a good Labor Day, the rest of it anyway.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
