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CNN Live Saturday
Unemployment Numbers Still High For August
Aired September 20, 2003 - 14:41 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 economic recovery has often been called a jobless recovery. But that's because the recession officially ended months and months ago. But workers continue to face unemployment in large numbers.
Some recent examples for you. Federal Express, International Paper, RJR, Nabisco, Hewlett-Packard and PeopleSoft cutting nearly 12,000 positions.
John Challenger is the chief executive officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a firm that studies workplace trends. He joins us this afternoon from Chicago. Thanks so much for being here, Mr. Challenger, we appreciate it.
JOHN CHALLENGER, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS: Nice to be here, Heidi.
COLLINS: As we have just mentioned, several large companies announcing job cuts recently. But is this something usually expected, Labor Day layoffs that we've talked about before?
CHALLENGER: We do often see layoffs right after Labor Day. Many companies late summer put those off. Not everybody's in place to make those decisions. So there often is a surge as we come into September.
COLLINS: So what is the job market really like, in your eyes, right now?
CHALLENGER: The job market is not strong. We have unemployment at 6.1 percent. It's been staying there for some time. We have another 4.8 million people who aren't looking for jobs. They'd like one, but they are not counted as unemployed because they didn't look in the last month.
If you add those people in, that would raise unemployment to 9.1 percent. It's tough out there right now.
COLLINS: Possibly some good news, though, Mr. Challenger. A survey from Manpower Incorporated says that they expect an upswing in hiring in the fourth quarter of this year. Do you agree with that?
CHALLENGER: Well, we keep looking for that upsurge in hiring. We certainly have an economy that looks poised to start turning around. Many economists are predicting four-plus, maybe 5 percent growth in the fourth quarter. If that kind of growth happens, employers can't hold out forever. They're going to have to start creating jobs. We've seen seven consecutive months during this period of what seems to be recovery with no job. In fact, negative job creation. Maybe it's about ready to start happening.
COLLINS: So how long does it take, then, if the economy is in recovery, or should it soon be in recovery, as we say? Should the job market then also be in recovery?
CHALLENGER: In the last recession, it took 14 months of jobless expansion before the economy started to create jobs. We're almost now into two years of no recovery in the jobs market. We're really in a period not of jobless recovery but of jobless expansion.
Companies today have taken all of that technology they put in place in Y2K and they keep adding to the productivity of workers. Those numbers keep exploding, and that's causing many companies to put off their hiring plans.
COLLINS: So what about some options for those people who are kind of caught in this unemployment cycle? Should they be looking for part-time work now?
CHALLENGER: That's one way to get a foot in the door, certainly. You can start working part time. It's like an extended interview.
You can show the company what you really can do, and then often go into your boss and ask, can you convert to full time, look at what you can do. There's more you could do. That's certainly a positive way to show the company.
COLLINS: And I would imagine networking can't help too -- can't hurt too much, that is, either?
CHALLENGER: You don't want to sit behind a computer looking for a job. That just doesn't work. Join organizations. Get involved in your local community and your industry associations, charity organizations. Get out and see your alumni network.
You have to do this in person. You can't do it by sending out e- mails, thousands it of electronics resumes.
COLLINS: Got it. John Challenger, chief executive officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, thanks so much.
CHALLENGER: Thanks, Heidi.
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 20, 2003 - 14:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The economic recovery has often been called a jobless recovery. But that's because the recession officially ended months and months ago. But workers continue to face unemployment in large numbers.
Some recent examples for you. Federal Express, International Paper, RJR, Nabisco, Hewlett-Packard and PeopleSoft cutting nearly 12,000 positions.
John Challenger is the chief executive officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a firm that studies workplace trends. He joins us this afternoon from Chicago. Thanks so much for being here, Mr. Challenger, we appreciate it.
JOHN CHALLENGER, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS: Nice to be here, Heidi.
COLLINS: As we have just mentioned, several large companies announcing job cuts recently. But is this something usually expected, Labor Day layoffs that we've talked about before?
CHALLENGER: We do often see layoffs right after Labor Day. Many companies late summer put those off. Not everybody's in place to make those decisions. So there often is a surge as we come into September.
COLLINS: So what is the job market really like, in your eyes, right now?
CHALLENGER: The job market is not strong. We have unemployment at 6.1 percent. It's been staying there for some time. We have another 4.8 million people who aren't looking for jobs. They'd like one, but they are not counted as unemployed because they didn't look in the last month.
If you add those people in, that would raise unemployment to 9.1 percent. It's tough out there right now.
COLLINS: Possibly some good news, though, Mr. Challenger. A survey from Manpower Incorporated says that they expect an upswing in hiring in the fourth quarter of this year. Do you agree with that?
CHALLENGER: Well, we keep looking for that upsurge in hiring. We certainly have an economy that looks poised to start turning around. Many economists are predicting four-plus, maybe 5 percent growth in the fourth quarter. If that kind of growth happens, employers can't hold out forever. They're going to have to start creating jobs. We've seen seven consecutive months during this period of what seems to be recovery with no job. In fact, negative job creation. Maybe it's about ready to start happening.
COLLINS: So how long does it take, then, if the economy is in recovery, or should it soon be in recovery, as we say? Should the job market then also be in recovery?
CHALLENGER: In the last recession, it took 14 months of jobless expansion before the economy started to create jobs. We're almost now into two years of no recovery in the jobs market. We're really in a period not of jobless recovery but of jobless expansion.
Companies today have taken all of that technology they put in place in Y2K and they keep adding to the productivity of workers. Those numbers keep exploding, and that's causing many companies to put off their hiring plans.
COLLINS: So what about some options for those people who are kind of caught in this unemployment cycle? Should they be looking for part-time work now?
CHALLENGER: That's one way to get a foot in the door, certainly. You can start working part time. It's like an extended interview.
You can show the company what you really can do, and then often go into your boss and ask, can you convert to full time, look at what you can do. There's more you could do. That's certainly a positive way to show the company.
COLLINS: And I would imagine networking can't help too -- can't hurt too much, that is, either?
CHALLENGER: You don't want to sit behind a computer looking for a job. That just doesn't work. Join organizations. Get involved in your local community and your industry associations, charity organizations. Get out and see your alumni network.
You have to do this in person. You can't do it by sending out e- mails, thousands it of electronics resumes.
COLLINS: Got it. John Challenger, chief executive officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, thanks so much.
CHALLENGER: Thanks, Heidi.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
