In the modern day era, recruitment agencies are the employers’ external human resources partner, providing a variety of services to businesses. These include matching employee qualifications to employer’s requirements, supplying other businesses with temporary workers, and providing other human resources services to clients.

The advent of the dot-com and the boom in technology made the recruitment industry one of the most thriving businesses in the 1990s, placing approximately three million workers in the workforce. Coupled with the government efforts to provide more employment and the growing market for professionals on short-term basis, staffing services more than doubled between the years 1994 and 2000.

The slowing down of the US economy and the terrorist attacks in the early part of year 2000, however, affected the recruitment industry. With the economic crunch, more companies adopted streamlining measures which resulted to layoffs and downsizing. As such, employment agencies have an excessive inventory of potential employees with not enough or no business clients at all.

The construction industry continued to exhibit the highest numerical and percentage decline with 83,000 job losses, down by 9.3%. The manufacturing, trade, transportation and utilities, information, financial sector and other activities followed suit, posting a total of 178,500 job losses.

Despite the lack of economic stability, California workers are confident in their ability to find a new job. The workers’ optimism stemmed from the increasing demand in the areas of business and professional service as well as trade and hospitality, which showed positive growth in employment.

These sectors contributed a total of 102,600 job gains. Educational and health services showed the highest numerical gains, adding 47,000 jobs, a 2.8% increase. In terms of percentage increase, natural resources and mining posted a 3.5% increment, adding 900 jobs.

The state is sensitive to the effect of economic slowdown. To ease the displaced workers’ burden, the state, through its Employment Development Department (EDD), ensures that workers who are struggling to find jobs benefited from the extended unemployment insurance (UI) authorized by the Congress and by President Bush. The extended unemployment insurance benefits program will remain in force until March 2009.

Why Education in Finance is Important

Building a career in the financial world in New York is a lucrative job. To have a successful career in this field, one must fully understand the ins and outs of financial business. One must be properly educated and trained to perform the following duties fully:

• Recommendation of financial options. This involves giving advice on retirement and estate planning, tax issues, college funding and general investment options.

• Analysis of financial and investment portfolio. This often revolves around helping companies or their clients make investment decisions.

• Analysis of statistical data and preparation of reports and presentations. These documents assist the management in making investment decisions and measure the financial risks associated with such decisions.

• Preparation of complete and accurate documentary requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Qualifications Standard

To land a job in the financial world, one must have a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Business or Finance, and an extensive experience in forecasting and analysis. Likewise, one must be computer-savvy, possess analytical and problem-solving skills as well as good communication skills. Self-confidence, maturity, and the ability to work independently are also important.

The slack in the construction industry recorded an estimated 22,000 job displacements while the cut-down in the manufacturing sector is approximately 35,000. Other sectors were not spared either. With the problems in the housing and credit market, the financial sector’s share in unemployment is at 15,517. The retail business, on the other hand, is at 17,000. The service sector, which accounts approximately 80% of the non-government jobs, registered 30,000 job losses.

Another sign of weakening US labor market is the decrease in the average weekly hour work, which dropped 0.1 hour to only 33.6 hours. This development, coupled with wage stagnation and soaring prices of fuel and basic commodities, have a hard impact on workers. Since their income is barely enough to augment expenses, many were forced to take part-time jobs.

To alleviate the repercussion of losses in the private sector, the government is doing its share by creating more job opportunities. So far, government employers have created an approximately 25,000 jobs.

The Unites States of America is facing great economic turmoil. The burst of the real estate bubble, the increase in debt, the weakening value of the dollar, the loss of good jobs, and worse, the double-fold increase in oil prices resulted in the rise in prices of almost everything. With this scenario, many Americans worry about the security of their current jobs. But most of all, they worry more about the future – finding no job at all.

Employment/Unemployment Statistics

Employment was greatly affected by the economic downturn. According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Labor Department as of July 2008, unemployment rate increased by 5.7%. Employment in construction, manufacturing and several service providers are in continuous decline.

The recorded job cuts for July showed an increase of 26% from the previous month and a skyrocketing 141% increment from the same month last year.

According to sources, the transport sector, with approximately 17,312 jobs cut, was the hardest hit due to fuel cost increase and lagging ticket sales. The financial service industry came second with 15,517 job losses.

The situation is not all that bad. In other sectors, such as the mining and health care, the employment rate is steadily increasing.

Seasonal Fluctuations in Employment

The unemployment rate usually peaks in January and February when the weather is cold in many parts of the country. The work in agriculture, construction and other seasonal industries is at standstill.

However, during summer, employment and unemployment both increase when students join the labor force in search for summer jobs.

Role of Recruitment Agencies

As the rate of new job creation sharply falls, more jobseekers are turning to recruitment agencies for job placements. Recruitment agencies play a vital role in helping jobseekers find employment. They provide job information and qualification standards, salary scale, as well as assessment of skills and experience to match qualifications against job opportunities.

To curve the negative impact of increasing unemployment, the government is offering more job opportunities throughout its various departments. It is estimated the about 83,000 jobs are to be filled within the next two years.