WICHITA — The latest survey of job openings from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows there were 2.5 million jobs open at the end of December. At the same time, there were 15.3 million people looking for work.
That’s six job seekers for every opening.
Here’s an important piece that deserves the kind of bipartisan read that the issue itself is getting before Congress.
It’s a well-thought-out and detailed look at how Americans must turn Wall Street back from its current state as a high-stakes casino.
Some interesting words from Bart Chilton, one of the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission members, about soon-to-come regulations on the amount of commodities a single investor can control.
“I don’t want commodity markets to become a private jungle gym for speculators,” Chilton said.
A noble goal, subject to a public comment session that doubtlessly will feature untold weeping and wailing from those at various levels of the jungle gym, including the usual suspects at the top.
Industry research firm IBISWorld listed the 10 best and worst performing industries in the aughts by revenue growth, and projects the 10 best and worst for the teens. My only caveat is that if they had done this in 2000, they wouldn’t even have had the VOIP industry listed. Who knows what new industry will spring up and grow wildly?
The text below the charts is their’s. Fascinating stuff.
Winners in the past decade (2000-2009)
|
Rank |
Best Performing |
Growth |
|
1 |
Voice Over Internet Protocol Providers (VoIP) |
See Note |
|
2 |
Search Engines |
1655.9% |
|
3 |
eCommerce & Online Auctions |
468.9% |
|
4 |
Online Dating & Matchmaking |
248.8% |
|
5 |
Tank & Armored Vehicle Manufacturing |
244.7% |
|
6 |
Petrochemical Manufacturing |
221.2% |
|
7 |
Mining Support |
186.7% |
|
8 |
Wireless Telecommunications Carriers |
183.4% |
|
9 |
Biotechnology |
182.1% |
|
10 |
Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters |
146.5% |
Note: VoIP is a new industry that only began to earn revenue in 2002. In the short period to 2009, revenue growth accumulated to an astronomical 179035.8%.
Winners in the coming decade
|
Rank |
Best Performing |
Growth |
|
1 |
Voice Over Internet Protocol Providers (VoIP) |
149.6% |
|
2 |
Retirement & Pension Plans |
133.7% |
|
3 |
Biotechnology |
127.6% |
|
4 |
eCommerce & Online Auctions |
124.7% |
|
5 |
Environmental Consulting |
120.3% |
|
6 |
Video Games |
112.9% |
|
7 |
Trusts & Estates |
105.7% |
|
8 |
Search Engines |
100.9% |
|
9 |
Recycling Facilities |
80.9% |
|
10 |
Land Development |
72.7% |
While the technology and innovation industries that have thrived in the past 10 years are generally expected to continue their run through 2019, the winners of the next ten years will also share the stage with a recovery in financial services and increasing social concerns (e.g. environment).
Losers in past decade
|
Rank |
Worst Performing |
Growth |
|
1 |
Men’s & Boys’ Apparel Manufacturing |
-89.1% |
|
2 |
Clothing Accessories Manufacturing |
-76.2% |
|
3 |
Money Market & Other Banking |
-73.3% |
|
4 |
Broad Woven Fabric Mills |
-72.7% |
|
5 |
Women’s & Girls’ Apparel Manufacturing |
-71.4% |
|
6 |
Apparel Knitting Mills |
-70.9% |
|
7 |
Leather Tanning & Finishing |
-70.0% |
|
8 |
Manufactured Home Dealers |
-67.4% |
|
9 |
Circuit Board & Electronic Component Manufacturing |
-63.9% |
|
10 |
Recordable Media Manufacturing |
-63.7% |
Industries that have not performed well are primarily in the slow decline stage of their life cycle and continue to grapple with competitive pressures ranging from overseas supply sources to product substitution threats originating from other industry sectors.
Losers in The Coming Decade
|
Rank |
Worst Performing |
Growth |
|
1 |
Wired Telecommunications Carriers |
-52.0% |
|
2 |
Tank & Armored Vehicle Manufacturing |
-51.9% |
|
3 |
Vacuum, Fan & Small Household Appliance Manufacturing |
-34.4% |
|
4 |
DVD, Game & Video Rental |
-32.8% |
|
5 |
Photofinishing |
-31.5% |
|
6 |
Lighting & Bulb Manufacturing |
-26.8% |
|
7 |
Telecommunications Resellers |
-26.4% |
|
8 |
Laminated Plastics Manufacturing |
-25.3% |
|
9 |
Synthetic Fiber Manufacturing |
-24.6% |
|
10 |
Wire & Spring Manufacturing |
-24.5% |
Over a 10 years, the industries that outperform or underperform their peers are those that either benefit from competitive strategic advantages or worse, suffering from significant disadvantages. While the performance of the economic recovery will dominate near-term industry performance measures, innovative products, competitive costs and improving efficiency will continue to separate the winners from the losers in the upcoming decade (2009-2019).
A year after Citizens Bank of Kansas acquired the Medicine Lodge, Pratt and Isabel branches of SolutionsBank, customers in those towns got a surprise.
They received a letter from Fayetteville, Ark.-based Arvest Bank about its acquisition of SolutionsBank’s six Kansas City area branches, after the Kansas bank commissioner closed SolutionsBank on Dec. 11.
The letter was apparently sent to all former SolutionsBank customers, including the ones picked up a year earlier in CBOK’s branch acquisition.
“We are happy to be with Citizens Bank of Kansas, and our customers should disregard the letter from Arvest Bank,” said Steve Bryan, market president for CBOK, in a press release this week.
Ah, the joys of unfettered American capitalism, courtesy of the Associated Press.
Nothing in the AP account about penalties for late payment, however. Possibly a crowbar to your kneecaps?
The fastest growing job category in US over next 10 years? Consulting in management, scientific and technical areas. It is expected to add nearly 1 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Other fast growing categories: doctor office workers, computer system designers, retail clerks, employment services, local government workers, home health workers, elderly care workers, nursing home workers, restaurant workers.
It’s mostly outsourced business services and health care, with retail and restaurant workers thrown in.
Now, check out the fastest shrinking jobs, in order: farmers and ranchers, down about 80,000 or 8 percent; followed by sewing machine operators, order clerks, postal service sorters, file clerks, shipping clerks, telemarketers, office and administrative support work, first line supervisors in factories, hand packers in shipping. And below that are typical production type jobs such as machinists, assemblers, inspectors.
Is the Wichita economy closer to the fastest growing or the fastest disappearing?
An interesting read from the Web on the subject of commodities speculation.
Coming, of course, a day before oil ended its nine-day slide despite no discernible decrease in supply or increase in demand.
WICHITA – For those who try to peer into the future to see how Wichita will do in 2010, here’s a piece of very good news: air travel was up an annualized 26.3 percent in the third quarter, particularly from business travelers, after increasing 10.7 percent in the second quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
That means the market for new passenger jets will start growing again soon, which contributes mightily to job security for people at Spirit (along with long-awaited production of the 787). The company hasn’t laid off anybody — which has kept a disaster becoming a calamity for Wichita — even though air traffic fell through most of 2008.
The recession will continue scaring Americans into saving, at least through 2010, and perhaps for much longer, according to a new survey by market research Mintel Compremedia. And the role of the 24/7 media made even those who weren’t directly affected feel it more acutely. Those who can benefit from this new anxiety are:
“Consumers’ newfound financial conservatism presents many opportunities for financial services companies. As people look to save money and reduce debt next year, companies can benefit by gathering assets and building relationships with customers. Banks could also position themselves as advisors poised to help people build wealth and security in the new economy.”
Banks! Financial service companies! Arghhh. These are the guys who got us into this (or missed the signs and took us down with them).
Steve Harris, CEO of Galichia Heart Hospital, is in Argentina for an international cardiology meeting. Argentina, of course, is a beef-exporting country. So imagine his surprise when he picked up a copy of the Buenos Aires Herald and saw this ad for a local restaurant, bragging about serving “Kansas Beef . . . The Best Beef.”
In case you’re looking for some real estate optimism, stop reading.
If not, Forbes posts a sobering look into the future of commercial real estate.
One word: Bleak.