DFW JobLog

Texans earning minimum wage increased in 2009, BLS says

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said today that, in 2009, 474,000 Texas workers earned at or below the prevailing Federal minimum wage.

 

That accounted for 8.5 percent of hourly-paid workers in Texas, the BLS estimated.

 

“The number of workers in this category rose by more than 200,000 over the year,” the BLS said.

 

“The number of Texans earning at or below the Federal minimum wage in 2009 was essentially equal to the 1998 level of 466,000; this number trended downward to a low of 173,000 in 2006,” the BLS said. “Increases in the Federal minimum wage in each of the last three years resulted in larger numbers of Texans paid at or below the Federal minimum.”

 

Nearly 11 percent of women who were paid at hourly rates had wages at or below the prevailing Federal minimum wage, compared with about 6 percent of men, the BLS said.

 

Texas had the largest number of minimum wage workers among all the states and accounted for 13.3 percent of the U.S. total in 2009.

 

- Scott Nishimura, jobs and workplace reporter, Star-Telegram

Dueling FBI, Fort Worth Housing Authority job fairs March 18

The FBI is having a job fair 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Dallas Marriott Las Colinas, 223 W. Las Colinas Blvd. in Irving. The agency's looking for special agents and other professionals.

Requirements for special agents: age 23-36, U.S. citizen, willingness to move anywhere in FBI jurisdiction, pass eyesight and hearing tests, valid drivers license, four-year college degree, and possess and "critical skill" in language, law, accounting or finance, computer science/information technology, or a field the FBI calls "diversified."

Professional jobs include intelligence analysis, IT, applied science, engineering and technology, linguistics, business management, FBI police, and investigative support and surveillance. The FBI also recently implemented the University Hire Plan aimed at college students.

Info: FBI's jobs site.

The Fort Worth Housing Authority is having a job fair 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the FWHA Administrative Building, 1201 E. 13th St., Fort Worth.

Participating employers include: Smith Personnel,  Tom Thumb,  Fort Worth Housing Authority, federal Bureau of Prisons,  Tarrant County Human Resources,  federal Educational Opportunity Center, AT&T,  Albertsons,  Labor Ready,  UPS,  FedEx Ground,  U.S. Customs,  JPS Health Network, Girling Health Care,  Prospect Airport Services,  University of Phoenix,  Results Staffing, and CGI.

- Scott Nishimura, jobs and workplace reporter, Star-Telegram 

  

Denbury Resources plans to offer transfers to most Encore employees

Denbury Resources plans to offer most Encore Acquisition Co. employees a transfer to Plano, and will eventually close Encore’s downtown Fort Worth headquarters, a Denbury spokeswoman said Tuesday.

 

Shareholders on Tuesday approved the $4.5 billion merger of the oil and gas companies announced in November.

 

Encore has approximately 400 employees, including 225 in Fort Worth.

 

“Most will be offered a transfer” to Denbury’s headquarters in Plano, and those will occur “over the next year or so,” Laurie Burkes, Denbury’s investor relations manager. Encore Chairman Jon Brumley had said in November, after the merger was announced, that he expected most Encore employees would be able to remain with Denbury.

 

Asked about Encore’s headquarters at the Carter Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., Burkes said Tuesday “we plan to eventually close that office.” Denbury and Encore had previously said the combined company’s headquarters would be in Plano.

 

Denbury has 830 employees, and Burkes said the company expects to have “plus or minus 1,200” after the acquisition.

 

- Scott Nishimura, jobs and workplace reporter, Star-Telegram

 

(Photo: Carter Burgess Plaza)

Texas gains half as many jobs in January as thought

Texas gained half as many jobs in January as reported last week, the Texas Workforce Commission said Tuesday, citing technical problems with the transfer of data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

The state actually gained 14,800 jobs in January, not the 30,300 reported on Friday, the Workforce Commission said.

 

The biggest difference between the revised numbers and the set announced last week was in professional and business services, which includes a large amount of temporary hiring. That segment added 4,200 jobs in January, not the 20,900 reported last week, the Workforce Commission said.

 

“It’s a whole different set of data than what they sent us on Friday,” Ann Hatchitt, a Workforce Commission spokeswoman, said.

 

The Texas jobless rate remained 8.2 percent in January, the same as for December. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2009 was 6.4 percent.

 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics and Workforce Commission also last week released an annual batch of revised data showing Texas lost 78,000 more jobs in 2009 than estimated earlier.

 

Here's an industry breakdown on what happened with Texas jobs in January.

 

- Scott Nishimura, jobs and workplace reporter, Star-Telegram 

Still Here: Rickey C. Cooper

All I can say is Wow!

Wow o Wow I am still surviving on unemployment with no JOB prospects in sight. 

What I can hope for is that a HR recruiter will pull my resume out of the thousands that they receive daily. 

This week I will change my strategy and contact more temporary agencies and see if they have been receiving requests from hiring companies.

March 28, 2010 will be two full years without employment and I am one person that have worked the past 24 years without slack history in my employment. I was hoping the first two months of 2010 would bring about employment for myself. 

But I continue to routinely search on-line jobs and exercise regularly in which I recently joined Life-Time Fitness to help me achieve my fitness goals.

I challenge each and everyone that read my blogs to stay healthy thru exercise and stay strong.

Regards,

Rickey C. Cooper, rccooper43@yahoo.com

Texas jobs by industry: 2009

Here's a look at where Texas lost and gained jobs in 2009, under revised seasonally-adjusted federal Bureau of Labor Statistics-Texas Workforce Commission stats released today:

Construction: 554,000 jobs, December 2009, down from 661,600 in December 2008

Mining and logging: 199,200, dowm from 234,000

Manufacturing: 812,500, down from 903,600

Trade, transportation and utilities: 2,043,800, down from 2,120,500

Retail trade: 1,136,100, down from 1,161,100

Information: 200,700, down from 213,500

Financial activities: 626,200, down from 641,400

Real estate and rental and leasing: 172,700, down from 182,400

Professional and business services: 1,223,200, down from 1,316,800

Education and health services: 1,361,200, up from 1,307,000

Leisure and hospitality: 1,001,600, down from 1,012,100

Other services: 356,000, down from 364,500

Government: 1,839,900, up from 1,798,100

For more information, visit the Texas Workforce Commission's labor market information site.

- Scott Nishimura, jobs and workplace reporter, Star-Telegram 

Texas loses 78,000 more jobs in 2009 than originally thought, data shows

Texas lost 78,000 more jobs in 2009 than shown in preliminary data, according to revised numbers released by the Texas Workforce Commission Friday.

Higher job losses for 2009 were expected in the annual revision, by the federal Bureau of  Labor Statistics and Texas Workforce Commission. From December 2008 to December 2009, Texas lost 354,200 jobs, compared with the 275,900 jobs shown in preliminary data.

 

- Scott Nishimura, jobs and workplace reporter, Star-Telegram

Texas adds 30,300 jobs in January

Texas non-agricultural payrolls added 30,300 jobs in January, and a total 38,000 jobs over the last four months, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday.

That compared to a U.S. loss of 295,000 for the same four months, the commission said.

"Texas employers have added jobs in three of the last four months across a wide variety of industries," Tom Pauken, the Workforce Commission chairman, said in a release. "Meanwhile, the nation as a whole lost jobs in January."

Texas gained jobs in six of the 11 major industry categories in January, the Workforce Commission said.

Professional and business services added 20,900 jobs; leisure and hospitality, 6,300; trade, transportation and utilities, 5,200; and education and health services, 3,000. Manufacturing added 1,800 jobs in January, its first monthly increase in 19 months.

"For the first time in more than a year, the manufacturing industry recorded job gains, which is encouraging," said Andres Alcantar, the TWC commissioner representing the public.

"Education and health services employment continued to increase in January, adding jobs in 11 of the past 12 months."

The Workforce Commission said Thursday that the state's unemployment rate stayed the same at 8.2 percent in January.

- Scott Nishimura, jobs and workplace reporter, Star-Telegram

Job scams abound

Here's Star-Telegram columnist Teresa McUsic's column from today's paper on the increasing number of scams that jobseekers are facing in today's market.

- Scott Nishimura, jobs and workplace reporter, Star-Telegram 

Trying to figure out the Texas job market?

Here's our story from today's paper on this week's new slate of Texas jobs data.

- Scott Nishimura, jobs and workplace reporter, Star-Telegram