Thoughts on your local Economy

[s13dan]

This is a very divearse group of ppl on this forum, so i was wondering what everyones thoughts were on their local economy. Are you (or you business) doing good, bad or whatever. Personally, my balls hurt. I cant find a better job, or the one i have been trained to do. Im having trouble selling cars, and never have before. I am more broke than i ever have been before. I see more people looking for jobs than ever before in my town. The help wanted section is the smallest i have ever seen it in my life time, week after week. Whats it like in your area?

[stiizy]

It's kinda slow depending on what you do here but I'm an accountant there's always work......

Only Medical and Construction seem to be laying off...

[HyperTek]

i cant find a decent job, i wouldnt mind goin back to school but feel i cant afford it. i worry about gettin jacked for my car if i go to school because the economy failed others to where they got to steal cars.

but i think its getting better. gas prices went down some.

[ronmcdon]

I live in the Los Angeles area. Live in Beverly Hills/West LA. Work in Downtown LA. Amazingly it is pretty good here. The company I work for is has been doing great this year, and will be for the next. I even got a raise earlier this year, thankfully although it doesn't really keep up with the increasing cost of gas and food. we do basic plus-size lingerie. I'd imagine ppl still need to buy under-wear even if they have less disposable income. I think some industries will be hit harder than others.

People seem to be spending $$$ just the same. many restaurants are crowded on weekdays. clubs are still packed. traffic is still heavy on the weekends. honestly, i see little difference on the surface of things. I also see a lot more tourists from europe and asia, probably b/c of the weaker dollar.

I have been having difficulty getting a second pt time job, but thats about it. but then again, that could be attributed to other factors, like me having longer hair and looking like a bum these days. maybe my resume writing and/or interview technique being not as good as the past.

all in all though, things don't seem too awful where i'm at, thank goodness.

[GSXRJJordan]

I'm a district manager (and sometimes project manager) for a marketing company that is nationwide, but most of the cool shit is right here in socal. We hit a huge slowdown last year due to the recession and some bad calls by the higher-ups (investing huge amounts of money to win contracts that didnt even pay that much, just to say we could) -

Then I got laid off in February, no benefits, no expenses, no severance package. I've been salaried with med/dental/401k/bonuses/etc for years. Anyway, I got my ass in gear and got licensed to sell health/life/disability/long term care insurance, which is a recession-proof market, and got hooked up with a company that sells group insurance to small business owners (who generally get RAPED for insurance for their families and employees). Then my first company got back on their feet, and hired me back as full time/salaried/benefits/etc, and I'm lookin at a regional manager spot before too long.

So yeah, stuff happens, but there's always another route to the dollars. Sometimes this can be school, but you have to realize the payout for more school (especially if you already have your first degree), can take a while and maybe never happen. If you have the credit and can get loans to float you, by all means, hit up your local Cal State/etc and get that BA/BS. It'll help you more than you know.

[mikeyyy]

It's kinda slow depending on what you do here but I'm an accountant there's always work......

Only Medical and Construction seem to be laying off...

thats surprising how you say medical is getting laid off.

Im from Houston, TX and there is ALWAYS a need for anyone going into the medical field. I guess because all the hospitals and medical programs are excellent down here. I think everything has slowed down recently, due to gas prices

[stiizy]

^^ Yeah they said alot of medical and construction jobs are laying off over here maybe since like April

[-=RS13=-]

I love the Economy where I am. Over 500 billion in projects in the next 10 years with another 300 Billion in the works. Stuff is booming up here. The worst paying job i found for part time while i go back to school is 15 bucks an hour and that's boring retail.

Move to Alberta if you want work, It's non stop up here. All in part to High Oil prices tho

[axiomatik]

Here in Cedar Rapids there's been a slight hit to the economy due to the flooding. Some people got laid off when the business they worked for was flooded and has been closed for the past two months. Construction is booming, though, due to the reconstruction efforts.

I work for a packaging equipment OEM, economic cycles don't affect us much, because people will always need to buy food. My wife is in academia, which is pretty much recession-proof.

[HyperTek]

my pops lives in kansas, wichita. and he works b in aviation, for some small jet company but he says these type of companys are hiring alot wouldnt be hard to get into.

my friend moved from socal to houstan texas and he loves it, got a auto mechanic job fast (he was havin trouble out here didnt go to any trade schools for mechanics, jus worked at prior shops) and he claims housing and whatnot is cheaper.

but i love cali though, just feels like there is more things to do out here

[iHeartTheTouge]

last year, the dealership i work at was selling between 10 and 20 cars a day in the summer. this month, we've sold less than 10. its been like that for several months now. we also have no parts, not many people are coming in for service, the big guys are starting to jump ship. the owner owes Chrysler over $1,000,000! my job wont last much longer...

[s13dan]

I love the Economy where I am. Over 500 billion in projects in the next 10 years with another 300 Billion in the works. Stuff is booming up here. The worst paying job i found for part time while i go back to school is 15 bucks an hour and that's boring retail.

Move to Alberta if you want work, It's non stop up here. All in part to High Oil prices tho

Funny you say that, i am seriously considering it and have for a while now. i cant find work for more tha $7.50hr here(remebering can-US dollar difference).The thing is i have a degree in auto collision. BUT i dont have a lisence, ill get it back in about a week and i hope my luck will change. Im willing to try out our freindly neighbor to the north.

[WanganRunner]

The economy in DC never really stops, we're about the most recession-proof major metro area in the nation thanks to the presence of the Federal Government.

Housing prices sort of...lulled, but they never really dropped materially, at least not in my neighborhood. They just sort of stood still for awhile and now we're starting to see a little appreciation again.

The financial sector (my field) in DC isn't really hiring much right now, but there are still jobs out there. Private Equity and Investment Banking got hit pretty hard, as both the big boys (Carlyle, Friedman Billings Ramsey) and the little guys (American Capital, MCG, Capitalsource) aren't really hiring anyone but back office right now.

People still spend money like whoa here, no shortage of Continental GTC's, new M3's, Mugen Si's, new S63 AMG's, and other "toy cars" across the price spectrum popping up with new plates (i.e. in whatever price spectrum they're in, people still seem to be able to afford the cool shit rather than just the basic shit, which shows continued demand for goods with high "elasticity"). My neighbor just got a Hyundai Genesis sedan, that shit is baller, I want one.

I work in real estate private equity and the bonus pool will probably be a little thin this year, but we're still making decent returns, my job isn't in any danger or anything.

The lawyers and lobbyists still obviously have jobs, they never have slow periods. We don't really have any manufacturing presence to speak of, so it's not like whole sections of the DC economy can really be outsourced, so it's pretty relaxed here.

[Future240]

Our local economy is supported by the school, with out it, it would die.

[mRclARK1]

I love the Economy where I am. Over 500 billion in projects in the next 10 years with another 300 Billion in the works. Stuff is booming up here. The worst paying job i found for part time while i go back to school is 15 bucks an hour and that's boring retail.

Move to Alberta if you want work, It's non stop up here. All in part to High Oil prices tho

You should mention the very high cost of living however. Housing is VERY HIGH in Alberta. Definitely higher than anywhere in the US, with the avg. house price in Alberta being roughly $350,000. Also, taxes (Even factoring in the PST free climate in Alberta) in Canada are much higher than the US. In the end you'd likely come out ahead living and working in a place like Alberta from anywhere in the US, but I don't know if it would be enough, or last long enough, to justify the move and the immigration process.

The economy in Canada is still quite strong compared to the US, but it HAS been slowing down lately, and the price of housing is starting to reflect it. I know last month housing prices dropped across most markets. Banks and consumers here just aren't in the same credit crunch that's hit the US economy.

Alberta and all of Western Canada is definitely not a bad place to be economically speaking right now, it's a very good place, but everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I know lots of people who moved to places like Calgary, and ended up spending all their higher wages on rent or mortgage payments for the next X years and didn't really come out to much ahead. I know that the boom in Calgary for example has started to slow a bit. I know just the other day a large condo project was put on hold (even though they were 3/4 sold) due to the financial backers not wanting to pay the high construction costs for fear of a down turn in the housing markets.

Oil is a booming business in Alberta, and could be more so in places like Sask, if they got their head out of their asses and allowed it to be developed. The work won't be non-stop however, especially with more areas and markets allowing development to ease oil prices (IE: if offshore drilling along the US coast ever happens)

No shortage of jobs here, I could have any I wanted right now (been thinking about a new one actually), but most are mindless labor etc. Like I said, housing here has leveled off somewhat. I know a few people who paid top dollar for houses, thinking it was going to keep going up and saw their houses lose value the last couple months. Not a big hit, but a loss none the less. Commercial space is being built pretty steadily, but most buildings near completion still have "For Lease" signs on them.

[VROOOM]

I work for a ready mix concrete company and we are doing bad, 2 layoffs so far this year. but its slowly getting better.

[24Ochick<3]

over here (san bernardino county) sucks ass! i went to chiropractic college and graduated as a certified chiro assist./massage thry/physical thrpst and i was making 15.75 an hour.. but since the worker's comp. law passed, chiro isnt doin good, so we got laid off... then i started working for a dental office, doin their billing, and we got laid off there; 65% of dental offices closed down in cali. gas price suck, fast food prices are expensive now (a freakin value meal is like 6 dollars now!!!) so i stay with subway or king taco :keke: lol, good paying work is hard to find right now... but this is a normal cycle in history... this happens every 7-11 years... but its a motha to get the econ. back on track. :-/

[SexPanda]

I live on an army post. The entire area, within 50 miles from here, would die if we went away.

But as far as the "economy" goes, if there really is one, I dont see a difference really. You still see privates rolling around with caddy's on 28's because they got their enlistment bonus and blew it on a truck with chrome rims, you still see people buying all sorts of pointless shit, you still see people driving clean ass trucks lifted 4 feet in the air. A clean truck like that is a gay truck. Dirty, ok, clean, no go.

And I make 11 bucks an hour doing jack shit... Literally. I dont do anything. I sit in the back and smoke cigarettes. I occasionally give people tools.

[-=RS13=-]

Funny you say that, i am seriously considering it and have for a while now. i cant find work for more tha $7.50hr here(remebering can-US dollar difference).The thing is i have a degree in auto collision. BUT i dont have a lisence, ill get it back in about a week and i hope my luck will change. Im willing to try out our freindly neighbor to the north.



Just remember to move west of Manitoba. I know lots of autobody shops are looking for good work. I am pretty sure with a good resume you should be able to land a job pretty quick. I would look into it a bit before you decide tho.

mRclARK1,

You do make a good point, on 40,000 dollars you will pay about 7500 in tax. It goes up alot more with the more money you make. Cost of living is not cheap but it's not to high.

HOWEVER, we do have free health care that is quite comprehensive and almost no user fee's or small taxes. Yes we do pay more in tax but in the end i feel we don't get that bad of a deal. In the end it all works out.

Downtown 2 bedroom apartment's are in the 1100 to 1400 dollar per month range. Houses are about 350,000 new for a starter home. You can find a good deal every so often.

As a student working in a summer job, i took home about 1000 per week after tax, I will get most of the tax back come tax time too, about 3400. And when i drive to work and see at least 14 help wanted signs you can almost dictate your wage, hours and workplace.

[98s14inaz]

Everything has slowed down a bit except things people "can't" or "refuse" to live with out. I sell cell phones and my store is still doing $17k+ a month...including activations/upgrades. People still want toys and a $200 toy is pretty hard to pass up...it's not like your trying to come up with a $1000 to buy a tv.

Housing on the other hand out here has leveled off. It is a buyers' market right now. I won't be able to sell my house for quite some time even though I got a great deal and a great fixed interest rate. I'll just wait it out.

[Gnnr]

There was a special report at the beginning of this year in the Miami Herald. It basically said what I've thought all along:

In these parts, a recession is like a cold front: ''We usually get the tail end of it, and even then, it only lasts a short period,''

For the most part we fair pretty well in bad times. Our economy gets a boost from international tourists whose money goes further now against the dollar. The worst sector here right now is probably real estate. Buyers market for sure. Really, a lot of this recession is mental. But most local business people around here have a positive outlook.

You can read one part of this coverage here,

South Florida's economic outlook (http://www.bus.ucf.edu/hitec/Pages/Media/2008%20News/January/MiamiHerald%20Jan_14_2008.html)

[kdashy]

fast food prices are expensive now (a freakin value meal is like 6 dollars now!!!) so i stay with subway or king taco :keke: lol

Dollar Menu man! I haven't needed to eat from there (or other foods for a dollar) since high school but I still do from time to time just cause its so cheap.

I work freelance for a company that content quality control for dvds and bluray discs. It slowed down early this year but now its been pretty busy for months and months now. Maybe people have been staying at home and watching tv instead of going on trips. :hsdance:

[lucky7]

i think we here in michigan have the worst economy in the nation. thanks to the "Big 3" (chrysler, GM, Ford). ignoring the europeans and japanese for so long came to bite them in the ass. apparently they were building competative cars all along. who would have thought....

uncle had to sell his business. mom and dads is still kicking, thanks to the type of business it is. our home value has dropped significantly over the past 6 years. lake property for sale, wont sell anytime soon. but on the upside. parents bought a house upnorth for my sister to live in while away at school on the cheap. take approximately $1.2 million in property 6 years ago. i'd say worth roughly $800k in todays market. possibly less.. you do the math.. i can say that shit aint good. thats for sure.
but dwelling on the now, does you nothing. banking on the future is where its at. it cant last forever. and it wont.

[Vision Garage]

We need to get out of the war! Thats for damn sure! And stop rebuilding what we destroy!

[s13dan]

Housing here sucks, very difficult to sell right now. Springfield(mo) WAS the one of the most rapidly growing cities in america, (by percentage not physical numbers) but not even close now. Wealth inequality... One thing i KNOW is true, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting more poor. Its a real problem facing america and it makes it difficult to tell when the economy is hurting. 5% of the population holds more than 50% of the wealth... So if the multi millionairs keep spending(and they will) it scews how the economy looks. I still see lots of brand new high end cars, and the houses that are selling are worth more than a million easy. -ma2cents

[lucky7]

so much resentment for successful, business minded people. i hear it all the time. "the rich are getting richer". how can you degrade someones success? not everything is as it should be. but i see no point in pointing fingers. its a combination of things that made things the way they are today. there is no one person responsible for everything bad in the world. despite what the finger pointing people say.

[GSXRJJordan]

so much resentment for successful, business minded people. i hear it all the time. "the rich are getting richer". how can you degrade someones success? not everything is as it should be. but i see no point in pointing fingers. its a combination of things that made things the way they are today. there is no one person responsible for everything bad in the world. despite what the finger pointing people say.

That's the view of those who understand money, and how to use it as a tool. Call them what you want, successful, Republican, bigots, etc. If you feel that the economy is kicking your ass, read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". Don't vote democratic and think they're going to fix everything with this Robin Hood, 'tax the rich cause they deserve it' attitude. You'll just push more business outside the US.

[sillyvia13]

We need to get out of the war! Thats for damn sure! And stop rebuilding what we destroy!

AMEN!!!!!
No shit...

Things in my area are getting slow...But I create my own work so it makes no matter...

A hustla can make it in any economy! :Ownedd:

[shishcabobers]

In my area there are a lot of foreclosures, just in my neighborhood I would drive by 4 before I got to the main road. The main road is like 4 blocks away....

[ESmorz]

You should mention the very high cost of living however. Housing is VERY HIGH in Alberta. Definitely higher than anywhere in the US, with the avg. house price in Alberta being roughly $350,000. A


You might want to re-think that statement.

350k would only get you a prison cell sized shit hole in my town.

[ronmcdon]

We need to get out of the war! Thats for damn sure! And stop rebuilding what we destroy!

yeah, that and stop getting into new wars. although it's not iraq or even iran i'm worried about now.

[lucky7]

ze russians. thats a scary thought, isnt it? "cold war: Pt. 2"
say whaaatt?? no dice.

[s13dan]

so much resentment for successful, business minded people. i hear it all the time. "the rich are getting richer". how can you degrade someones success? not everything is as it should be. but i see no point in pointing fingers. its a combination of things that made things the way they are today. there is no one person responsible for everything bad in the world. despite what the finger pointing people say.

Im saying it makes it difficult to see how the economy is doing for the majority, which is true. And it is a problem because the money is very uneqaully distributed, im geussing you make decent money and always have.I have busted my ass to educate myself and move up in my life and so far have failed, so maybe theres a lil animosity. Sorry, but im not talking about the ppl making 100K a year or even 300k a year. Thats a lot to me,but they prolly deserve it. Im talking about CEO's, some bankers and ppl in entertainment ect. That were born into Multi million or even billion dollar families.< They didnt do jack. And even worse are the ppl that own the central banks... But thats another discussion all together.So yea a lot of wealthy ppl deserve what they have, im talking about the ppl with more money than we can think of, that is a real fucked up deal.Most of them are not responsible for their own success, which is what we have the right to do as Americans. If you work hard and become a billionair, GOOD, but it will almost NEVER happen without being born into it.Hell do some research, i think is still a little fucked, how middle class dosnt truly exist anymore....

[Ineedparts]

I bartend and have noticed the tip percentage going down. Used to be always around 20%. Now I have been seeing more and more 10% tips, shit makes me sick.

[boro otaku]

Move here :)

I live in a city that seems to be doing quite well. Housing prices are up or steady, and (as long as you're not selling a dump) stuff moves fast. They are building new office towers, new industrial complexes and revitalizing the downtown.