Human Capital Solutions, Inc.

May Prosperity at Work E-Tip

intern — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:24:31 +0000

Economics & Job Creation:

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) April Employment Situation

US Headed For Economic Recovery

Energy & Power Generation:

Natural Gas Drilling Provides Jobs

Life Sciences:

Healthcare Industry Expected Create 4M Jobs by 2020

What If Heart Attacks Were Predictable?

Multi-National Lean Manufacturing:

More Manufacturing Jobs Return to US

Technology:

Samsung Takes Over Nokia in Handset Sales

HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

Please visit our Candidates page and click on Search Career Opportunities to see our currently open positions.

The Employment Situation – April 2012

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 115,000 in April, and the unemployment

rate was little changed at 8.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services,

retail trade, and health care, but declined in transportation and warehousing.

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons (12.5 million) and the unemployment

rate (8.1 percent) changed little in April. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men

(7.5 percent), adult women (7.4 percent), teenagers (24.9 percent), whites

(7.4 percent), and Hispanics (10.3 percent) showed little or no change in

April, while the rate for blacks (13.0 percent) declined over the month.

The jobless rate for Asians was 5.2 percent in April (not seasonally

adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over)

was little changed at 5.1 million in April. These individuals made up 41.3

percent of the unemployed. Over the year, the number of long-term unemployed

has fallen by 759,000. (See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate declined in April to 63.6 percent,

while the employment-population ratio, at 58.4 percent, changed little.

(See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes

referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged in

April at 7.9 million. These individuals were working part time because their

hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

(See table A-8.)

In April, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,

essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally

adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were

available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.

They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in

the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 968,000 discouraged workers in April,

about the same as a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.)

Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they

believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.4 million persons

marginally attached to the labor force in April had not searched for work

in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance

or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 115,000 in April. This increase

followed a gain of 154,000 in March and gains averaging 252,000 per month

for December to February. In April, employment rose in professional and

business services, retail trade, and health care. Transportation and

warehousing lost jobs over the month. (See table B-1.)

Employment in professional and business services increased by 62,000 in

April. Since a recent low point in September 2009, employment in this

industry has grown by 1.5 million. In April, employment in temporary help

services edged up by 21,000. Employment grew in architectural and

engineering services (+7,000) and in computer systems design and related

services (+7,000).

Retail trade employment rose by 29,000 over the month. General merchandise

stores added 21,000 jobs in April but has shown no definitive trend in recent

months. Employment in building material and garden supply stores continued to

trend up; the industry has added 19,000 jobs since December.

Health care continued to add jobs (+19,000) in April. Within the industry,

employment in ambulatory health care services, which includes home health care

and offices of physicians, rose by 15,000.

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking

places continued to trend up (+20,000) in April. Since February 2010, food

services and drinking places has added 576,000 jobs.

Manufacturing employment continued to trend up (+16,000) in April, with

job growth in fabricated metal products (+6,000) and machinery (+5,000).

Since its most recent employment low in January 2010, manufacturing has

added 489,000 jobs, largely in durable goods manufacturing.

Transportation and warehousing lost 17,000 jobs in April, with employment

declines in transit and ground passenger transportation (-11,000) and in

couriers and messengers (-7,000).

Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, construction,

wholesale trade, information, financial activities, and government changed

little in April.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged

at 34.5 hours in April. The manufacturing workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to

40.8 hours, and factory overtime rose by 0.1 hour to 3.4 hours. The average

workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls

was unchanged at 33.8 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls

rose by 1 cent to $23.38. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have

increased by 1.8 percent. In April, average hourly earnings of private-sector

production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 3 cents to $19.72.

(See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from

+240,000 to +259,000, and the change for March was revised from +120,000 to

+154,000.

http://bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Increased Commercial Sales, Decreased Unemployment Rates, Reduced Debt Burdens – US Headed Towards Economic Recovery

This week’s report that retail sales increased substantially is an affirmative indication of growing optimism amongst consumers. America seems to be headed towards an economic recovery that, inspite of the European debt crisis, is showing increasing momentum.

One proven yardstick of measuring the financial health of householders is the level of their debt and their disposable income. Debt would entail their ability to repay their mortgages, credit card payments and insurance premiums. Debt, or financial obligations, consumed 14 percent of the disposable income in 2007. However, now there is a turnaround, and from a high of 14 percent, it has come down to just 10.9 percent of disposable income, which is the lowest since 1994.

This means that the common man has never had it better as far as fulfilling his financial obligations, like mortgages, credit card payments, rent and insurance premiums are concerned.

The Commerce Department has said that,”mortgage interest payments, in dollars, are lower than at any time since 2005.” How was this achieved? Debt levels have fallen. Household owe $600 billion less than what they owed in 2008 and lowered interest rates, means that clearing the debt will cost less, as accumulated interest will be less.

The debt levels have not come down only because people cleared their debts. McKinsey Global Institute estimates, that about two-thirds of the reduction has come from “cancellation of debt, through write offs and foreclosures.”

Even though many foreclosures are still pending, which could delay the deleveraging process, the economic progress is an indication that it is a process that is promising and achievable and that will considerably cut consumer debt in the country.

However, reality has to be faced by the lenders and act realistically not philosophically. Banks must understand that the loans they have given are not going to come back fully and must act accordingly. Securitizations, to whom many of the mortgage loans had been sold, must not conceal information on how some of the loans are performing. This will only delay the recovery process.

The McKinsey report has suggest six methods to adopt, that could assess and help hasten the deleveraging process. An unwavering, resolute banking system must surface and entrench itself; there has to be a realistic and reliable plan for long-term financial sustainability; structural reforms have to be made to make the financial system more competitive; the thrust on exports has to be stronger and private investment must be encouraged and last, but not the least, the housing market needs to be brought on a firm and sounder footing.

Susan Lund, the director of research for the McKinsey institute, says that of the six areas that need looking into, the US will find it difficult to stabilize the housing market and hard to formulate a credible fiscal plan.

Mortgage crisis, an unstable Walls street, increasing gas prices all continue to pull down the US economy, but increased retail sales and decreased unemployment rates, and more than anything else, reduced debts are indications of hope and promise, that good days are back again.

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2012/04/increased-commercial-sales-decreased-unemployment-rates-reduced-debt-burdens-us-headed-towards-economic-recovery/

Revoking Ban On Natural Gas Drilling, Opens Job Opportunities

Hundreds of job-seekers queued up on the floor of Broome Community College’s Ice Center at the inaugural New York Natural Gas Career & Education Expo on Wednesday for New York’s first job fair in the shale gas-drilling industry. Employers were anticipating that the state would lift a four-year old ban on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.

People had started coming well before the scheduled commencement time of 3 pm. The estimated 2,300 crowd included job seekers and exhibitors. Visitors ranged from business representatives and senior executives from the oil and gas industries to scientists.

Steve Hertz, an event organizer said, “I’m optimistic in saying the industry will be working in New York state fairly soon under some very well-thought-out regulations and oversight.”

Broome County Executive Debra Preston recognized the debate, and even though some towns were enacting bans against it, she was optimistic the state Department of Environmental Conservation would complete its review and permit some shale drilling to begin this year.

Buoyed up by the prospects of the re-opening the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, has received many applications. Amongst them, one of the leading operators in the natural gas business, Chesapeake Energy, the second largest natural gas producer in the country, who has applied for 47 permits.

Prior to reopening natural gas drilling and revoking the ban, the New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation is reviewing thousands of comments to proposed regulations and projected environmental impacts.

“It’s really going to help all the businesses in the region, from hotels and restaurants to places like Lowes, Home Depot, and clothing stores,” she said at the job fair.

The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research released a report last year that estimated New York could add up to 18,000 new jobs by 2015 if the state permits gas companies to drill in the Marcellus Shale. However, opponents have doubted the veracity of the report.

Analysts say that the recalling the ban now could have come a little late as the industry is already seeing retrenchment as supplies near capacity and prices fall to a 10-year low. Still, companies and workers in the state’s Southern Tier are profiting from the boom 20 miles south of Binghamton in Pennsylvania. Thousands of wells were drilled there since Marcellus Shale exploration began there about five years ago.

Hydraulic fracturing was banned in 2008 owing to concerns about it leading to contamination of New York City’s water supply. This form of drilling was not only economical but also allowed for high-volume drilling. The process releases the gas by fracturing the shale with an injection of water mixed with chemicals and sand.

There were claims of groundwater pollution in Texas, Wyoming and Pennsylvania, attributed to the drilling practice. However, investigations by EPA, haven’t found authoritative proof that natural gas drilling contaminated water supplies.

However, the industry has both proponents and opponents. The proponents say that resumption of drilling will mean more jobs, increased local tax revenues, economic development and cheap homegrown energy. However, critics point to the health effects, a serene environment ravaged by machinery and other industry infrastructure and above all, an unsure economy.

A study by Penn State Extension and Penn College reported that each Marcellus gas well would create 12 full-time jobs for at least 20 years. But there were negatives as well, in the form of the effect it would have on existing businesses, environmental damage and its resultant costs.

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2012/04/revoking-ban-on-natural-gas-drilling-opens-job-opportunities/

Healthcare to Add 4.2M Jobs by 2020

Healthcare jobs will grow twice as fast as the general economy, with an additional 4.2 million jobs by 2020, according to a study by Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany. Nearly one in nine U.S. jobs will be in the healthcare sector by 2020, the report states.

“Health sector jobs and health occupations have continued to grow, even in a weak economy, and will remain a major source of jobs for years to come.” Center for Health Workforce Studies Director Jean Moore said in a research announcement Friday.

While jobs across industries fell 2 percent between 2000 and 2010, healthcare employment grew by more than a quarter throughout the same period, even during the economic downturn.

“One of the things I wasn’t expecting was how much growth there was even during the recession,” Moore told Kaiser Health News. “I would have expected some tempering of the growth.”

The study, which analyzes the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected data, predicts healthcare employment will soar at hospitals, as well as at other outside settings, such as schools and insurance companies.

Hospitals will see gains, rising from 5.7 million jobs in 2010 to 6.6 million in 2020, according to the report, a growth rate of 17 percent, as baby boomers age and require more inpatient care, Kaiser Health News reported. Researchers found that about 63 percent of the healthcare jobs will be concentrated in ambulatory care, such as health practitioners’ offices, home health and other non-institutional settings.

Projected healthcare jobs by setting in 2020
Hospitals	36%
Health practitioners’ offices	29%
Nursing homes	16%
Home health care	11%
Other ambulatory care	8%

The job titles that will see the biggest boom over the decade are registered nurses, home health aides and personal care aides, adding more than 2 million jobs and another 700,000 job openings due to vacancies from attrition by 2020, according to the press release.

“With an aging health care professional workforce, we will not only see new job growth but also openings in existing positions as workers retire or leave for other job opportunities,” principal report author Robert Martiniano said in the announcement.

The report indicates the healthcare industry will need nearly 7.5 million health workers nationally to fill new jobs and to replace workers who leave their positions.

If Only Heart Attacks Were Predictable

By: Ron Winslow

Tens of millions of Americans over age 40 have diseased arteries that may put them at significant risk of a heart attack. James Muller, a Boston cardiologist, is on a quest to develop a way to predict who among them is actually likely to have one.

Dr. Muller and a company he founded, Infraredx Inc., have developed a tool that analyzes deposits of cholesterol called plaques that accumulate in the coronary arteries and are the telltale signature of the disease that causes heart attacks. Using a combination of ultrasound and infrared spectroscopy, the device takes as many as 30,000 readings of an artery’s chemistry in two minutes.

The result, Dr. Muller says, indicates whether the plaque is “hot” and poised to burst and potentially cause a heart attack or whether it amounts to a stable plaque that is unlikely to cause trouble.

If the test proves effective in detecting and stopping heart attacks before they occur, it could be an important advance in the battle against the world’s leading killer. While doctors know plenty about what makes people susceptible to heart disease, they aren’t very good at identifying in advance the one million Americans who suffer a heart attack each year.

But bringing Dr. Muller’s idea to fruition has been an arduous journey. Technical hurdles plus evolving scientific debate over whether detecting such “vulnerable” plaques would make much difference have slowed progress and blunted investor interest.

Dr. Muller says 14 years and $125 million have been put into the effort so far. Lately the news has been good, but it could still take several more years to determine whether the device has a role in heart-attack prevention across a broad population.

“It’s been a very long road, much longer than I thought,” says Dr. Muller, whose eclectic career includes co-founding an organization of U.S. and Russian doctors called the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.

Defusing the Bomb

After a decade of research in which he revealed how factors such as anger, stress, physical exertion and sexual activity serve as “triggers” for heart attacks, Dr. Muller coined the term “vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque” in a journal article in 1989. It describes certain fatty deposits harbored in coronary-artery walls that in response to such triggers and other forces are prone to rupture. When they do, they expose their “lipid core” contents to the bloodstream, potentially provoking a clot that can cause a heart attack.

If such plaques could be identified and defused with treatment before they burst, many heart attacks could be prevented, Dr. Muller reasons.

The idea has attracted other approaches, ranging from genetic testing to implantable devices that might detect an impending heart attack, though none have yet proved effective.

The Infraredx device grew out of a conversation Dr. Muller had with a spectroscopy expert in the late 1990s, who told him it would be “a piece of cake” to find lipid-core plaques with the technology. They launched the company in 1998 with an initial investment of $600,000. At first, “every time we tried something it worked,” Dr. Muller recalls. In tests on diseased aortas obtained from autopsies, the device effectively picked out plaques that were loaded with cholesterol versus more fibrotic deposits that were stable.

But to analyze plaque, the device has to be deployed on the end of a catheter inserted into an artery in the groin and snaked into the coronary arteries. Making it small enough to travel inside blood vessels and fast enough to quickly get readings proved daunting. In 2003, after spending several million dollars more on the project, the company was within days of closing before a couple of investors rescued it.

Finally, in 2008, the Food and Drug Administration cleared the device for finding lipid-core plaques in the coronary arteries.

Cardiologists and hospitals were unimpressed. “They said, ‘Yes, you can find these plaques, but so what?’ ” Dr. Muller says. ” ‘What’s the clinical benefit of finding them?’ It was an appropriate question, and we didn’t have the data.”

Prospects Brighten

So the next critical task for the company is proving in clinical trials that plaques identified by the device are associated with heart-attack risk, and that “treating” them reduces risk.

Success isn’t assured. Just last month, researchers led by Armin Arbab-Zadeh of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore published a comprehensive review of the biology of heart attacks in the journal Circulation, which said that vulnerable plaques often rupture without causing a heart attack and that a “perfect storm” of other conditions is required before one occurs.

That complicates efforts to predict which patients are vulnerable to heart attacks, the researchers said, adding: “Intervening exclusively on single, potentially vulnerable plaques is unlikely to reduce the incidence of acute coronary events.”

Dr. Muller takes issue with some details in the report, and other research convinces him he is on the right track.

Even if the trials succeed, another concern is that because the device is threaded into the heart, it carries its own risk for complications as an invasive procedure. It isn’t desirable to cause a heart attack in the name of trying to prevent one.

To avoid that issue, Dr. Muller envisions the technology as part of a strategy in which people would first be identified as at risk through a genetic test and a noninvasive imaging test such as a CT scan before being referred for the spectroscopy analysis.

Despite these challenges, the device’s prospects have recently brightened, Dr. Muller says. Last year, researchers published a study suggesting the device could help prevent small heart attacks that occasionally occur in about 10% of procedures when stents are deployed to prop open diseased coronary arteries.

The study found that such heart attacks occurred in 50% of cases when the stent was implanted directly over a cholesterol-rich plaque, compared with 4% involving stable plaque.

By knowing in advance if they were stenting a hot plaque, doctors could recommend other options such as bypass surgery or drug treatment, Dr. Muller says.

Some are skeptical. Kirk Garratt, cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, says heart attacks are too rare among stent patients to justify the added cost of a routine spectroscopy test.

But Dr. Muller says interest in the idea is growing. Revenue in the first quarter broke all records, and the company is scrambling to meet demand from more than a half-dozen countries. “The reason we built the company is not the reason we’re being used,” he says. “But we’re getting traction.”

He likens realizing the broader goal to climbing Mount Everest. “We’re currently at base camp,” he says.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303299604577325381519522676.html

The Return Of Factory Jobs Herald Brighter Times Ahead

Master Lock a company that has been manufacturing locks since 1921 has brought back 100 jobs from China over the last 18 months, prompting President Obama, who used the repatriated jobs as a story that heralded a recovery, to say “We have a huge opportunity, at this moment, to bring manufacturing back, but we have to seize it.”

A worker Mr.Bink, who has been working at the factory for 33 years, is optimistic that “more will follow”. “They are making a lot of capital investment; buying a lot of new equipment,” he said. “That will create more jobs.”

Across the country, manufacturing factories have added 400,000 jobs in the last two years. About one fifth of the jobs lost during the recession were regained. Jobs that one felt were lost forever, are being brought back into the country by companies that include the likes of Otis and General Electric.

Hopeful that this promise of a new awakening for factory jobs , could give a boost to his re-election chances this November, the President has proposed tax-breaks and incentives to provide the catalyst boost to the movement and usher in a ‘new golden age for factory jobs.’

US lost a lot of jobs to China but there seems to be a reversal of the trend. Rising Costs in China, workers salaries, which earlier were a pittance compared to US standards, are rising at a double digit pace, increasing cost of freight and the currency gain against the dollar, is making it more and more impracticable for companies to get their goods produced in China and more attractive to manufacture them here at home.

Thirty years ago China manufactured very little of anything, but after joining World Trade Organization in 2001, China gained nearly 40 million factory jobs. US was not the only country to lose jobs, it was a phenomena across the world. According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, “Germany lost more than a fifth of its factory jobs from 1991 to 2007, about the same share as the United States. Japan — the manufacturing behemoth of the 1980s — lost a third.”

Those companies across the world, that shed jobs, invested in labor-saving technology owing to which efficiency increased and more goods were manufactured. Today the Master Lock Company is producing more products, than it did 15 years ago, that too with a lesser number of workers.

However, to call this a revolution in manufacturing is stretching it a bit too far. It is on an incline, but those jobs that are gone are gone for good. Gone because the employer started producing the goods in China, or gone because machines have reduced the need for human labor.

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2012/04/the-return-of-factory-jobs-herald-brighter-times-ahead/

Samsung Ends Nokia’s 14 – Year Run as Biggest Handset Maker

By: Jun Yang

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) overtook Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) as the world’s biggest vendor of mobile phones for the first time, ending the Finnish company’s 14-year run as the global leader, according to an industry study.

Samsung shipped 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter, 36 percent more than a year earlier, compared with 82.7 million for second-ranked Nokia, researcher Strategy Analytics said in a statement today. Demand for Galaxy smartphones helped Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung post first-quarter net income today of 5.05 trillion won ($4.5 billion), beating analysts’ estimates.

Nokia had been the biggest mobile-phone maker by shipments since 1998, when the Espoo, Finland-based company took over the spot from Motorola Inc. (MMI) Nokia reported a 1.34 billion-euro ($1.8 billion) first-quarter operating loss after handset sales slumped. Both smartphones and low-end handsets declined as Nokia’s aging portfolio was outpaced by handsets running Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android. Its handset shipments in China fell 62 percent.

“Last year Samsung became No. 1 in Europe while Nokia retained the No. 1 position in most emerging markets,” Tom Kang, a Seoul-based research analyst at Strategy Analytics, said in a phone interview today. “In the first quarter, we expect Samsung took a lot of market share from Nokia in Asia. China and India were the two biggest markets where Samsung gained.”

Nokia Stock Drops

Nokia dropped as much as 2.5 percent to 2.69 euros, the lowest price in more than 15 years based on closing prices, and was trading down 0.6 percent as of 11:31 a.m. in Helsinki. Samsung gained 2.5 percent to a record 1,374,000 won at the close in Seoul.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is the world’s third-biggest maker of mobile- phones after shipments rose 89 percent to 35.1 million last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.

“Samsung will probably still be No. 1 in the second quarter, but the full year will be a close call because the third and fourth quarters are traditionally Nokia’s best,” Kang said.

Samsung also regained the lead from Apple as the world’s biggest vendor of smartphones in the first quarter. Smartphone shipments surged 41 percent in the quarter, the analysts said.

The South Korean electronics maker shipped 44.5 million smartphones in the first three months of the year, giving it about 31 percent of the market, Strategy Analytics said. Apple shipped 35.1 million units, accounting for about 24 percent of the market, it said. Nokia ranked third in the segment.

Windows Phone Sales

Nokia said this month that its new smartphone line using Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s Windows Phone platform sold more than 2 million units in the first quarter out of 11.9 million smartphones that Strategy Analytics said the Finnish company had shipped.

Samsung accounted for about 25 percent of the global handset market by shipments, while Nokia’s market share was almost 23 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. Apple’s market share was 9.5 percent, it said.

Global mobile-phone shipments rose 3.3 percent to 368 million last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-27/samsung-overtakes-nokia-as-world-s-biggest-phone-vendor.html

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April Prosperity at Work E-Tip

intern — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:58:22 +0000

HCS Corner: From the Desk of the CEO

Economics & Job Creation:

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) March Employment Situation

Increase in Consumer Spending

Cost of Vacancy for Managers

Energy & Power Generation:

Increase in “Green” Jobs

Life Sciences:

How “The Cloud” Could Cure Cancer

Multi-National Lean Manufacturing:

Manufacturing Jobs Show Growth

Technology:

IT Hiring Hits New Record

Facebook’s First Big Purchase

Please visit our Candidates page and click on Search Career Opportunities to see our currently open positions.

HCS Corner: From the Desk of the CEO

I hope you have enjoyed one of the warmest March’s on record and one of the best business performace quarters in many years! As our firm just celebrated our 9th birthday – April 1st, our performance in March was in the top 20% of all time. We continue to see strong growth in Healthcare (IVD, Molecular Diagnotics, Medical Device, Biotechnology with an emphasis across science and research, marketing, branding and product development). Also, we continue to see tremendous growth in Oil and Gas (Petro Chemical, Drilling and Exploration). It is also exciting to see more and more manufacturers realize the value proposition of producing their goods here in the good ole USA.

One new aspect of our future growth will be a new partnership with Candex (www.candex.com) as our firm was recently promoted to “Global Elite Supplier of Talent” to the Fortune 1000. Below is a brief overview of the Candex solution.

“Candex provides employers a fundamentally better way to manage their recruitment supply chain for permanent positions across the globe. Candex offers a technology solution that consolidates your organisation’s recruitment partners, and makes managing those relationships easy and cost effective. All recruitment transactions globally go through Candex under one contract, and through one vendor.”

“Candex clients enjoy a centrally organized preferred supplier list and standard terms of engagement across their company. They also receive real time and meaningful reporting around spending, supplier performance, and time to hire.”

“For recruitment needs where your preferred suppliers lack expertise or geographical coverage, Candex offers access to its Elite members, or to the thousands of suppliers that are on Candex from all over the world.”

The Employment Situation – March 2012

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000 in March, and the unemployment

rate was little changed at 8.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

reported today. Employment rose in manufacturing, food services and drinking

places, and health care, but was down in retail trade.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons (12.7 million) and the unemployment rate

(8.2 percent) were both little changed in March. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men

(7.6 percent), adult women (7.4 percent), teenagers (25.0 percent), whites

(7.3 percent), blacks (14.0 percent), and Hispanics (10.3 percent) showed

little or no change in March. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.2 percent,

not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2,and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over)

was essentially unchanged at 5.3 million in March. These individuals

accounted for 42.5 percent of the unemployed. Since April 2010, the number

of long-term unemployed has fallen by 1.4 million. (See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate (63.8 percent) and the

employment-population ratio (58.5 percent) were little changed in March.

(See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes

referred to as involuntary part-time workers) fell from 8.1 to 7.7 million

over the month. These individuals were working part time because their

hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time

job. (See table A-8.)

In March, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor

force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not

seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force,

wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime

in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they

had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

(See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 865,000 discouraged workers

in March, about the same as a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally

adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for

work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining

1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in March had

not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such

as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000 in March. In the prior

3 months, payroll employment had risen by an average of 246,000 per month.

Private-sector employment grew by 121,000 in March, including gains in

manufacturing, food services and drinking places, and health care. Retail

trade lost jobs over the month. Government employment was essentially

unchanged. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment rose by 37,000 in March, with gains in motor

vehicles and parts (+12,000), machinery (+7,000), fabricated metals

(+5,000), and paper manufacturing (+3,000). Factory employment has risen

by 470,000 since a recent low point in January 2010.

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking

places rose by 37,000 in March and has risen by 563,000 since a recent

low point in February 2010.

In March, health care employment continued to grow (+26,000). Within the

industry, offices of physicians and hospitals each added 8,000 jobs over the

month.

Employment in financial activities was up by 15,000 in March, with most of

the gain occurring in credit intermediation (+11,000).

Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up

in March (+31,000). Employment in the industry has grown by 1.4 million

since a recent low point in September 2009. In March, services to buildings

and dwellings added 23,000 jobs. Employment in temporary help services

was about unchanged over the month after increasing by 55,000 in February.

Retail trade employment fell by 34,000 in March. A large job loss in general

merchandise stores (-32,000) and small losses in other retail industries

more than offset gains in health and personal care stores (+6,000) and in

building material and garden supply stores (+5,000).

Employment in the other major private-sector industries, including mining,

construction, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, and information,

changed little in March.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged

down by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours in March. The manufacturing workweek fell

by 0.3 hour to 40.7 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.4 hours.

The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private

nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.8 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm

payrolls rose by 5 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $23.39. Over the past 12 months,

average hourly earnings have increased by 2.1 percent. In March, average

hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees

rose by 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $19.68. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised from

+284,000 to +275,000, and the change for February was revised from +227,000

to +240,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Consumer Spending in U.S. Climbs 0.8%, More than Forecast

By: Timothy R. Homan

Consumer spending in the U.S. rose in February by the most in seven months, showing the biggest part of the economy is strengthening.

Purchases climbed 0.8 percent, the largest gain since July, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 0.6 percent increase. Incomes advanced less than projected, sending the saving rate to a more than two-year low.

Households may be poised to take a more active role in the expansion as the biggest payroll gains since 2006 underpin confidence. While wages are climbing, other forms of income like interest receipts are lagging behind, raising the risk that higher fuel costs will limit gains in consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

“Consumers are spending a little bit more aggressively,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed-income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia. “Consumers simply aren’t saving enough to sustain spending in the long run.”

Stock-index futures held earlier gains after the report, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will extend its biggest first-quarter advance since 1998. The contract on the S&P 500expiring in June rose 0.4 percent to 1,403.9 at 8:47 a.m. in New York. Projections for spending in the Bloomberg survey of 83 economists ranged from gains of 0.1 percent to 0.8 percent.

Incomes Gain

Incomes climbed 0.2 percent for a second month after January’s gain was revised down. They were projected to increase 0.4 percent, according to the Bloomberg survey median. Wages and salaries climbed 0.3 percent in February, while interest payments were little changed for a second month.

Income after taxes and adjusted for inflation declined 0.1 percent in February, the third decrease in the past four months. The decrease combined with the jump in spending pushed the saving rate down to 3.7 percent, the lowest level since August 2009, from 4.3 percent in January. Adjusted for inflation, which are the figures used to calculate gross domestic product, consumer spending increased 0.5 percent, the most in five months.

Some consumers are becoming more optimistic. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index last week reached the second-highest level in four years. Over the past three weeks, at least 30 percent of households said they had a favorable view of the buying climate, the longest stretch since early 2008.

Gaining Confidence

A firming labor market is helping household sentiment. The jobless rate held at a three-year low of 8.3 percent in February, and employers capped the best six months of employment since 2006, according to data from the Labor Department.

While job gains are lifting Americans’ spirits, higher gasoline prices remain a concern. The price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas was $3.93 as of March 29, up 65 cents since the end of last year, according to AAA, the nation’s largest automobile association.

“As we look to the second half of fiscal 2012, we are beginning to see some signs that the economy is slowly starting to improve,” Howard Levine, chairman and chief executive officer ofFamily Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO), said on a March 28 conference call. “Yet consumers still face some headwinds, especially from rising gas prices, which could strain discretionary purchases and impact the pace of the recovery.” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke shares those concerns when he spoke before Congress this month.

Bernanke’s View

“Higher energy prices would probably slow growth, at least in the short run,” Bernanke said March 21. Rising fuel costs create “short-term inflation pressures, and moreover, they act as a tax on household purchasing power and reduce consumption spending, and that also is a drag on the economy.”

Today’s report showed the Fed’s preferred price gauge, which is tied to consumer spending patterns, climbed 0.3 in February from the prior month. It was up 2.3 percent from the same time last year. Fed policy makers set a goal to keep inflation at around 2 percent when they met in January.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-30/consumer-spending-in-u-s-rose-more-than-forecast-in-february.html?cmpid=linkedin

Cost of Vacancy for Recruiting and Retention Managers

By: Dr. John Sullivan

Calculating the cost of a vacancy (COV) is a critical activity, one that’s necessary to determine the actual business impact of talent shortages that result from a gap between the time talent is needed and the time required by the recruiting function to supply such talent. As a metric, it can be configured to measure the dollar impact of voluntary turnover and involuntary turnover, or the impact of a slow recruiting process that’s incapable of meeting the organizations growing talent needs. Calculating COV is critical, because organizations are unlikely to place the requisite emphasis on addressing recruitment issues if they are unaware of the negative impact such vacancies may be generating. So many organizations these days have become so laser-focused on cost containment that they often overlook the possible longer-term detrimental impacts their actions regarding talent may have. This is especially true in organizations where the HR budget is controlled by a CFO who continues to see the function largely as an administrative one. Cost-focused organizations end up seeing a position vacancy as a short-term reduction in expenses; after all, salaries do show up on the balance sheet as an expense (not an investment.) That’s why it’s so critical to demonstrate the business impact of not having a performing employee in key positions. Even the dumbest finance person realizes that without having a single employee, no matter what the cost savings, the firm would produce zero revenue. If you have the time, I strongly recommend that your organization calculates the actual costs of having a vacancy in key roles. In some key jobs ó particularly in industries where time to market is a key factor in driving corporate success ó the cost of a single vacancy has been calculated to be between $7,000 and $12,000 per day. In one unique case, it was as high as $200,000 per day. Unfortunately, calculating the actual COV for all positions in an organization would be ultra complex and time consuming, which is why many organizations opt to use a simplified formula that estimates the cost. (For key roles, should you want to calculate the actual cost, many of the factors you would need to include in your formula are discussed later in this article.) It is important to note that there is no magic or even standardized formula for the calculation of the cost of a vacancy, because the factors that must be considered are largely dependent upon the position, the industry, and the current stage in the product lifecycle. Whatever formula you select, be sure to develop it in conjunction with the finance department. Their early involvement is essential, in that it adds credibility to your calculations and preemptively eliminates any resistance or doubt they would cast on your efforts otherwise.

Part 1: The Simplest Formulas If you just want a simple, direct means of calculating COV, here are a few basic formulas you can use:

Average revenue per lost employee. When you have no position-specific data available, take the company’s revenue per employee (which is the company’s total revenue divided by the number of employees) and divide that by the number of working days in a year (220). This provides you with the average revenue produced by an employee on a daily basis. The principal here is that if an employee is not in place, you cannot generate the revenue that that one employee would have generated on average.

Salary multiplier of revenue that is lost. When you have no position-specific data available, you can base your cost of a vacancy calculation on the premise that every employee generates a certain amount of money (a multiplier) above their salary. You calculate the multiplier by taking the total dollar amount the department or company spends via payroll for one year. Then divide the payroll by the number of employees to get the average employee salary. Next divide that number (the average employee salary) into the revenue per employee, and you get a number which is the salary multiplier (it is usually between two and seven). You then multiply the multiplier times the individual’s daily salary, and you get the amount of revenue or value that each employee is expected to generate everyday. Again, the principal here is that if an employee is not in the job that day, he or she can’t generate the average daily salary multiplier (daily revenue).

Simple salary multiplier. For this calculation, you use no specific company information. Instead you rely on research that has indicated that the individual’s value is between one and three times their salary (a Harvard study found that it was three times a person’s salary, which many analysts have found to be an accurate estimate). You can use a 1x salary calculation without any argument, but if you go above 2x their salary, you need to get the approval of the finance department (again, their preemptive approval lends credibility) to utilize this as a realistic substitution for the actual cost of a vacancy.

Revenue lost. For revenue-generating jobs such as a sales role or loan officer, you take the average yearly revenue generated by a person in this job and divide it by the number of working days in a year. The principal here is that if there is a vacant job in a revenue-generating position, that revenue will be lost if no one is in that position.

Budget expenditure per employee that is lost. For administrative positions where there is no direct measure, you take the department’s annual budget and divide it by the number of employees in the department. That is the average budget expenditure per employee. Then divide that by the number of working days and you get the budget value of each person. The principal here is that if you don’t have an employee in the job every day, they can not produce the value reflected in the budget allocated to them.

In any of the above calculations, if the vacant position is replaced by a temporary employee, you have to determine the lower productivity of a temp compared to having a regular employee in the same position. If the manager “fills in” to do the added work, it is generally okay to assume that because they won’t be doing their regular job, there will be some dollar consequences. You can also calculate the higher error rates and lower productivity that any “fill in” is likely to generate and add the extra costs of overtime pay if regular employees must work over time to do the work.

Part 2: The Business Impacts of a Vacancy If you are serious about the economic impacts of slow time to fill and turnover, here is a detailed list of the factors that should be used in the calculation of COV ó working with a GM and finance, of course. You should work with functional leaders in marketing, sales, engineering/production, and finance to develop actual costs or acceptable guesstimates for each bullet relevant to your organization.

Product Development and Productivity

TTM is dramatically impacted by the entire production chain. Because departmental schedules and plans are closely interwoven, any disruption in one department may adversely affect all others.
In industries that rely on the seasonal launch of new products (e.g. toys), vacancies in key skill positions may dictate that products and projects be delayed till the next season or dropped altogether.
Being understaffed (due to the vacancy) will lower the probability of a department meeting its productivity targets, which could have a cascading impact on other inter-related departments.
The mother’s milk of corporate competitive advantage goes to hell in an environment where key people are leaving. Incidentally, the reduction in innovation starts long before any individual actually leaves.

Team Impacts

Team results may be dramatically impacted by the disruption caused by the lost productivity, lost experience, lost leadership and lost skills of the “vacated” person.
If a team environment exists, a disruption in team cohesiveness may occur. This can result in a longer TTM (time to market) and a loss of focus, which can also impact TTM.
Vacancies may affect the idea generation of others because co-workers are frustrated or overworked.
Vacancies may cause overworked employees (because they have to fill in) to tire, which may cause increased accidents or an increase in error rates.
Excessive vacancies may lead to increased “whining,” grievances, and even union activity.
If the team leader is the vacancy, then time to productivity is likely to be even more negatively impacted.
A vacancy may make a manager reluctant to terminate poor performing employees. Vacancies coupled with poor performers can cripple the team.

Individual Employee Impacts

A vacancy means that a current employee must do the work of the vacant position. This can cause a cascading effect when others have to fill in for their position, resulting in many “rusty” people doing unfamiliar jobs and decreasing productivity.
Vacancies may frustrate other employees, causing them to lower their productivity.
Vacancies may frustrate other employees, causing them to quit at higher rate than they normally would be.
Vacancies may frustrate other employees, causing them to be sick, late, or absent at a higher rate than they normally would be.
Vacancies may cause the team to miss its goals, thereby reducing the possibility of individual and team incentives, which may further reduce productivity.
Increased stress on overworked current employees (caused by having to fill in) may cause increased absenteeism and tardiness.
Vacancies may hold up vacation time for current employees which may lead to increase stress or frustration.
Understaffed departments will not be able to send current employees to training and conferences, which may lead to increase stress, decreased worker knowledge, and frustration.
If temps or “fill-ins” must be hired, they usually have a higher error rate than the average employee and they are unlikely to generate many new ideas.
Superstar employees often resent being asked to fill in when lesser employees’ positions are vacant, which may cause them to quit also.

Increased Management Time and Effort

Teams with vacancies require high maintenance and more management attention, decreasing the time they can spend on more strategic management issues.
Managers often have to skip their normal management planning and responsibilities in order to fill in for the vacant employee.
When managers fill in for vacant employees, that time can’t be spent on the best employees.
Vacancies in management and team leader positions have a multiplier effect on productivity and the recruitment of others.
There are opportunity costs for things a manager and co-workers could have done if they didn’t have to carry the extra load of filling in for a vacancy.
If the vacancies are caused by top management decisions (hiring or budget freezes), it can cause managers to lose hope. This can impact morale and it may lead to a high management turnover rate.

Customer Impacts

Excessive vacancies may send a message to customers and suppliers that the organization is getting weak or doesn’t care about them. It may cause a period of confusion for suppliers and customers regarding whom they can contact and the stability of the relationship. Errors resulting from vacancies may lower sales volume and occasionally result in lost customers.
Any fill in of a salesperson or account rep may provide customers an opportunity or excuse to look for other suppliers.

Your Competitive Advantage, Culture, and Value

Excessive vacancies may cause panic and encourage the “quick” hiring of poor performers. Once a team is saddled with a large number of poor performers, you may never be able to hire any new top performers.
Vacancies at the CEO, CFO, CTO, and other top manager positions can adversely impact external financing and the willingness of others to partner or merge with the organization.
Vacancies in key positions may send a message to analysts and the stock market that the organization is getting weak.
Vacancies may send a message to competitors that the organization is vulnerable, which can lead to increased competitive pressures.
A large number of vacancies means that the organization is losing employees, which means a weakening of the corporate culture. New employees with new values may change or dilute core values and “corrupt” current employees.

Your Image and Recruiting

Excessive vacancies sends a message to competitors that the organization is getting weak. This might encourage them and improve their own confidence so that they become bolder in the product and employee poaching markets.
Vacancies may impact new recruiting because vacancies send a message to future recruits that the organization is not easily able to recruit replacements.
Large numbers of vacancies may also send a message to your current employees that the organization is headed downhill.
High vacancy rates may over-stress recruiters and the recruitment process.
Vacancies may send a message to outside recruiters that the organization is vulnerable, which can lead to increased “headhunter” activity.

Out-of-Pocket Costs

Having to hire high-cost consultants as “fill in help” could mean higher costs. If hourly employees are involved, it probably means additional overtime costs.
Vacancies can mean the underutilization of plants and equipment.

Other Miscellaneous Concerns (and Costs) That May Arise

The new hire may be a lower quality (low performance) candidate.
New hires are unlikely to be immediately productive, thus resulting in increased costs.
Some “vacating employees” take others with them soon after they leave. A “break in the dike” of one leaving may cause the whole intact team to leave.
Many new hires don’t work out and must be replaced within six months, essentially stretching the length of the vacancy.

In the case of start-ups and small departments, where there is little cross training, the cost may be more dramatic. If you only have ten employees and lose two, you have a 20 percent vacancy rate (which is a big deal!). In a tight labor market, vacancies in hard-to-hire jobs may not be replaceable, at any cost. Spending the time to avoid vacancies or to fill them rapidly with top performers may have a huge ROI ó especially if departing employees go to a competitor with your ideas, causing their revenues to increase as yours go down.

Rising Green Jobs and Services Put Future Generations on Solid Ground

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics in a report released today stated that in 2010, 3.1 million jobs in the United States were associated with the production of green goods and services. That’s accounting for 2.4 percent of the country’s total employment.

According to the report, among the states, California had the largest number of GGS jobs (338,400), accounting for 2.3 percent of employment in the state. Vermont had the highest proportion of GGS employment at 4.4 percent; the District of Columbia had the second highest at 3.9 percent.

The report further states, that the private sector had 2,268,800 total GGS jobs, the public sector 860,300 GGS jobs, the State government had 227,100 whilst the federal government had 156,700 GGS jobs in 2010.

The Bureau says, “Green Goods and Services (GGS) jobs are found in businesses that produce goods and provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources. A process-based approach is one in which worker’s duties involve “making their establishment’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources.” The process approach data will be released later this year.

President-elect Barack Obama has always been a strong advocate of the green goods and services program and wants to spend $150 billion over the next decade to promote energy from the sun, wind and other renewable sources as well as energy conservation. Providing financial incentives to clean-energy companies is high on his promises. He has a goal of creating five million green jobs over the next decade, put US leadership on global climate change and decrease its dependence on imported petroleum.

However, Republicans have expressed their concern, saying that even though the government has spent a lot of money, the results are not there to validate such spending. They point to the government’s decision to pump $528 million into California solar company Solyndra. The decision, they say, was a disaster for it collapsed, laying off 1,100 workers.

Darrell Issa, a California Republican had said, “It is now clear that the Department of Energy has spent the last three years supporting projects that have yet to deliver on innovation, accountability or job creation.”

Cai Steger, energy policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council said, “These green jobs are very real and important to our rebuilding economy, it isn’t just about keeping kids safe or the environment clean, it’s about jobs … it’s about rebuilding our economy.”

The Green initiative is one of the brighter spots in our struggling economy. It is a lifeline for nearly 3 million American families. These are the jobs of tomorrow. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics report is a welcome and positive indicator of good times ahead.

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2012/03/rising-green-jobs-and-services-put-future-generations-on-solid-ground/

The Cloud Will Cure Cancer

By: Mark Kaganovich

Much ink has been spilled on the huge leaps in communications, social networking, and commerce that have resulted from impressive gains in IT and processing power over the last 30 years. However, relatively little has been said about how computing power is about to impact our lives in the biggest way yet: Health. Two things are happening in parallel: technology to collect biological data is taking off and computing is becoming massively scalable. The combination of the two is about to revolutionize health care.

Understanding disease and how to treat it requires a deep knowledge of human biology and what goes wrong in diseased cells. Up until now this has meant that scientists do experiments, read papers, and go to seminars to get data to build models of both normal and diseased cell states. However, medical research is about to go through a tectonic shift made possible by new technological breakthroughs that have made data collection much more scalable. Large amounts of data combined with computers mean that researchers will have access to data beyond just what they can themselves collect or remember. A world with affordable massive data in the clinic and in the lab is on the horizon. This will mean exponentially faster medical progress.

New technology is changing research

A major challenge thus far has been the difficulty in gaining access to clinical data. Observational studies have had limited success because collecting enough meaningful data has not been possible. For research to move faster human clinical data must be collected and integrated to yield actionable results, by universities, hospitals, and biotech companies.

Developments in biotechnology over the last 10 years are painting a picture of how the new world of “Big Bio” might come into existence. Rapidly improving scale and accuracy of DNA sequencing has led to leaps in our understanding of genetics. This is just the beginning – sequencing technology is still very much in development. There are three publically traded companies, and about a dozen high profile startups/acquired startups whose entire business is the race for faster, cheaper, more accurate sequencing. At this point, clinical applications are usually limited to screens for known genetic markers of disease or drug response, but as the cost of data acquisition drops we will start to see companies and academics use unbiased observational correlations to generate meaningful hypotheses about the genetic causes of disease.

Sequencing is one of many technologies experiencing a revolution in accuracy and scale. Progress is being made in imaging and identifying proteins, metabolites, and other small molecules in the body. The result is the opportunity to create pools of comprehensive data for patients and healthy people where researchers can integrate data and find patterns. We simply haven’t had anything like this before. Patients can measure every feature, as the technology becomes cheaper: genome sequence, gene expression in every accessible tissue, chromatin state, small molecules and metabolites, indigenous microbes, pathogens, etc. These data pools can be created by anyone who has the consent of the patients: universities, hospitals, or companies. The resulting networks, the “data tornado”, will be huge. This will be a huge amount of data and a huge opportunity to use statistical learning for medicine. It could also create the next engine of economic growth and improve peoples’ lives. The question remains how will all this data be integrated. The missing piece of the puzzle is the parallel advancement we’ve seen in the past 6 years in cloud computing.

Correlation in the cloud

The cloud will make data integration possible, useful, and fast as new types of data appear. Data and algorithms can be distributed to people who specialize in different fields. The cloud can help create a value network where researchers, doctors, and entrepreneurs specializing in certain kinds of data gathering and interpretation can interface effectively and meaningfully. The true value of the data will begin to be unlocked as it is analyzed in the context of all the other available data, whether in public clouds or private, secure silos. This massively integrated analysis will speed the transition from bleeding edge experimentation to standards as solutions and data interpretations move from early-adopter stage to the good-enough stage where they will compete on ease-of-use, speed, and cost.

SolveBio, my startup, is working on making it better and easier to run large-scale analysis apps and data integration tools by taking advantage of bleeding edge cloud computing. The result will finally be literal exponential growth in medical knowledge in the sense that new medical discoveries will benefit further discovery. The results of research will create clinical demand that will be fed back into the data tornado for analysis.

A key area that is likely to be the first to benefit from massively distributed data integration technology is cancer research. At some point you will get cancer if you live long enough because cancer is a disease of genetic regulation going wrong. The thing that makes it complicated is that cancers result from many different things going wrong in different cells. For complex diseases, lumping cases together into a few linguistic terms doesn’t reflect the biology: we have classifications like asthma, autism, diabetes, and lymphoma, but the reality is that each pathology is probably significantly different among individuals on dimensions that can be relevant to therapy. As Clay Christensen and colleagues point out in Innovator’s Prescription, there used to be 2 types of “blood cancer” and now physicians classify 89 types of leukemias and lymphomas. The reality is probably that there are N types of lymphomas, where N is the number of people who have lymphoma.

Cancer research = Big Bio

Cancer is the ultimate Big Bio problem. Tumors may have millions of mutations and rearrangements as compared to normal tissue in the same individual, and cancer cells within the tumor itself may have different genomes. Most of the mutations may be uninformative “passengers” that come along for the ride, whereas many might be “drivers” that actually cause the unregulated cell proliferation that defines cancer. To distinguish between “drivers” and “passengers” very many cases and controls are needed to understand which mutations repeatedly appear in cancerous, but not normal cells.

Collecting comprehensive profiles of every tumor for every patient provides a dataset to build models that learn normal cellular function from cancerous deviations. Diagnostics and treatment companies/hospitals/physicians can then use the models to deliver therapy. If we imagine a world where every tumor is comprehensively profiled, it quickly becomes clear that not only will the data sets be very large but also involve different domains of expertise required for quality control, model building, and interpretation. Every cancer and person will be different based on their genome, proteome, metabolite and small molecule profiles, and features we have yet to discover. Stratifying by every possible relevant dimension to build the best models of effective drug targets and treatment regiments is a massive computational task. With current technology it takes a 16GB RAM desktop about 2 days to process gene expression data. If a biotech is analyzing a couple thousand patients, with 10 time points, and a few cancer samples each time, that quickly adds up to 570 years on the desktop. This is just gene expression profiling, and doesn’t take into account the downstream data integration analysis to find informative correlations. Only a distributed computing platform can get the job done, and the cloud opens this work up to the masses.

We are catching a glimpse of how just DNA sequencing and computation can contribute to the transformation of oncology from the realm of Intuitive Medicine to Precision Medicine (to borrow from Clay Christensen, again). A major first step is to better target therapies based on genetics. It is estimated that only one-fourth of administered chemotherapy drugs have their intentional cytotoxic effect. Herceptin (Genentech) was the first cancer drug to actually come with a genetic test: it targets tumors specifically over-expressing one gene. Many more are in the pipeline, and Foundation Medicine is working on ways to better inform doctors and pharma companies as to how to target new drugs based on gene sequencing. Numedii is using genomic profiling to reposition drug compounds already approved by the FDA. Champions Oncology can graft your tumor onto a mouse and test drugs there.

Big Bio in Cancer research has game-changing implications for treatment and diagnosis. As other types of data are measured for cancer cells we will learn more and more from data integration. The cloud can seriously help treat cancers by allowing researchers, doctors, and engineers gather, interpret, and integrate data on unprecedented scales. As we begin to understand more precisely how individual cancers work, drug development ventures will have a much better sense of what to focus on, diagnostics companies will know what to look for, and patients will be treated by therapies that maximize effectiveness and minimize side effects – all based on actual data.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/29/cloud-will-cure-cancer/

Manufacturing Jobs Show Sustained Growth

Government reports on Thursday confirmed that factories in the Northeast have been recruiting people into early March. While the mild inflation continues, concerns over rising gas prices have not handicapped the jobs market, and there were fewer people asking for unemployment aid last week than ever in the last four years. Two surveys conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York supported the data. As expected, news of the good economy drove stocks higher. A well-known economist told the media that the new economic data shows a labor market that is in the process of bouncing back.

Since October, applications of unemployment have dropped by 14% though the entire decline cannot be attributed to job growth. Much of the drop in claims is a consequence of people losing eligibility or plain giving up. However, in general, a sharply declining trend in unemployment applications cannot be there without accompanying growth in employment.

Steven Wood, an economist predicted another month of 200,000 plus payroll employment in March. He said the new data shows steady improvement in the labor market.

Philadelphia has been going strong with the manufacturing index posting its highest since April 2011. At the same time the New York Fed index in manufacturing reached a 21-month high.

The Labor Department data released last week also is in the same line and shows that growth continues in the manufacturing sector and that the sector grew by 31,000 jobs in February. Over the last year, the manufacturing sector has added 227,000 jobs. Experts say that higher demand for autos and heavy equipment helped factories to remain working and keep adding employees.

However, rising gas and oil prices continue to haunt economists over the question whether consumers are going to cut back on discretionary spending and stick only to the essentials.

This week, the Federal Reserve also said that oil and gas prices may increase temporary inflation but in the long-term, inflation would be stable. Fed policymakers defined that the falling unemployment meant economic growth and that with growth continuing, unemployment would continue to fall.

However, more than 12.8 million people remain unemployed according to records, without counting the group of discouraged, who have distanced themselves from workplaces.

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2012/03/manufacturing-jobs-show-sustained-growth/

IT Hiring Increases, Hits New Record

By: Debbie Fledderjohann

The Information Technology industry added 13,300 jobs in January, bringing the total number of IT jobs in the U.S. to an all-time high of 4.1 million, according to Staffing Industry Analysts.

Citing information from TechServe Alliance’s index of IT Jobs, the article states that IT employment is at its highest level since 2008 when there were 4,088,600 IT jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that IT employment was up 3.4 percent in 2011.

Some of the recruiters we work with have observed that IT seems to have bounced back much quicker than the rest of the economy. This could be because many companies put off upgrades during the recession, so IT was their top priority when the economy improved. For that reason, many turned to contractors because they didn’t want to commit to direct-hires.

In general, IT is well-suited to contract staffing because it is often project-based, so talent is only needed for a specific amount of time. Also, many IT professionals prefer a more flexible schedule and telecommuting arrangements, which are more common with contract assignments. So as IT hiring continues to increase, contract staffing is likely to surge as well!

http://www.recruitingblogs.com/profiles/blogs/it-hiring-increases-hits-new-record?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Facebook Buys Instagram for $1 Billion

By: Evelyn M. Rusli

Facebook is not waiting for its initial public offering to make its first big purchase.

In its largest acquisition to date, the social network has purchased Instagram, the popular photo-sharing application, for about $1 billion in cash and stock, the company said Monday.

It’s a notable move for Facebook, which has exclusively focused on bite-size acquisitions, worth less than $100 million.

With Instagram, Facebook will get a formidable mobile player – an area that is seen as a weakness for the sprawling social network. Founded two years ago, the service — which lets users share photos and apply stylized filters – has become one of the most downloaded applications on the iPhone, with some 30 million users. Instagram released a version of its application for Google’s Android operating system last week.

On Monday, both companies expressed their commitment to run Instagram as an independent service.

In a post on his profile page, Facebook’s chief Mark Zuckerberg said Instagram would continue to work with rival social networks. That will allow users to post on other services, follow users outside of Facebook, and to opt out of sharing on Facebook.

“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family,” Mr. Zuckerberg wrote. “Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.”

In a separate blog post on Instagram’s Web site, the company’s chief executive, Kevin Systrom, also reiterated plans to preserve the service’s functionality and said he looked forward to leveraging the new parent company’s resources and talent. The announcement comes as Facebook prepares for its highly anticipated initial public offering, widely expected to take place next month.

Here is the news release from Facebook:

“Facebook announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Instagram, a fun, popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices.

“The total consideration for San Francisco-based Instagram is approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close later this quarter.”

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook, posted about the transaction on his Facebook page:

“I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.

“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.

“We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

“That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

“We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.

“These and many other features are important parts of the Instagram experience and we understand that. We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products. At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.

“This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.

“We’re looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we’re going to be able to build together.”

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/facebook-buys-instagram-for-1-billion/

Please visit our Candidates page and click on Search Career Opportunities to see our currently open positions.

1437 Military Cutoff Road | Suite 201 | Wilmington, NC 28403 | o. 910.338.2790

f. 910.256.4036 | www.humancs.com | info@humancs.com | Prosperity at Work

March Prosperity at Work E-Tip

intern — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:52:29 +0000

Economics & Job Creation:

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) February Employment Situation

AT&T To Build Data Center in Metro Charlotte Area

6 Ways Recruiters Make a Difference

Large Firms Increasing Jobs

Energy & Power Generation:

US Military to Start Using Biofuels

Consumer’s Need to be Educated On Smart Energy

Life Sciences:

Healthcare Booming in Alaska

Rubicon Genomics Selects Velesco to produce Products for Breast Cancer Diagnostics

Multi-National Lean Manufacturing:

H.C. Starck Wins Evolution in Manufacturing Award

Technology:

Intel Targets Auto Technology Industry

Please visit our Candidates page and click on Search Career Opportunities to see our currently open positions.

The Employment Situation – February 2012

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 227,000 in February, and the unemployment rate

was unchanged at 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Employment rose in professional and businesses services, health care and social

assistance, leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, and mining.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons, at 12.8 million, was essentially unchanged in

February. The unemployment rate held at 8.3 percent, 0.8 percentage point below

the August 2011 rate. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.7 percent),

adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (23.8 percent), whites (7.3 percent), blacks

(14.1 percent), and Hispanics (10.7 percent) showed little or no change in February.

The jobless rate for Asians was 6.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables

A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little

changed at 5.4 million in February. These individuals accounted for 42.6 percent of

the unemployed. (See table A-12.)

Both the labor force and employment rose in February. The civilian labor force

participation rate, at 63.9 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 58.6

percent, edged up over the month. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred

to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged at 8.1 million in

February. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut

back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In February, 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,

essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.)

These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work,

and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as

unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the

survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.0 million discouraged workers in

February, about the same as a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.)

Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe

no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6 million persons marginally attached

to the labor force in February had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding

the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See

table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 227,000 in February. Private-sector employment

grew by 233,000, with job gains in professional and business services, health care and

social assistance, leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, and mining. (See table B-1.)

Professional and business services added 82,000 jobs in February. Just over half of

the increase occurred in temporary help services (+45,000). Job gains also occurred in

computer systems design (+10,000) and in management and technical consulting services

(+7,000). Employment in professional and business services has grown by 1.4 million

since a recent low point in September 2009.

Health care and social assistance employment rose by 61,000 over the month. Within

health care, ambulatory care services added 28,000 jobs, and hospital employment

increased by 15,000. Over the past 12 months, health care employment has risen by

360,000. In February, social assistance employment edged up (+12,000).

In February, employment in leisure and hospitality increased by 44,000, with nearly all

of the increase in food services and drinking places (+41,000). Since a recent low in

February 2010, food services has added 531,000 jobs.

Manufacturing employment rose by 31,000 in February. All of the increase occurred in

durable goods manufacturing, with job gains in fabricated metal products (+11,000),

transportation equipment (+8,000), machinery (+5,000), and furniture and related

products (+3,000). Durable goods manufacturing has added 444,000 jobs since a recent

trough in January 2010.

In February, mining added 7,000 jobs, with most of the gain in support activities for

mining (+5,000). Since a recent low in October 2009, mining employment has increased

by 180,000.

Construction employment changed little in February, after 2 consecutive months of job

gains. Over the month, employment fell by 14,000 in nonresidential specialty trade

contractors.

Overall, employment in retail trade changed little in February. A large job loss in

general merchandise stores (-35,000) more than offset an increase in January (+23,000).

Employment in motor vehicle and parts dealers continued to trend up in February.

Government employment was essentially unchanged in January and February. In 2011,

government lost an average of 22,000 jobs per month.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at

34.5 hours in February. The manufacturing workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 41.0 hours,

and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.4 hours. The average workweek for production

and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.8

hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose

by 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $23.31. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings

have increased by 1.9 percent. In February, average hourly earnings of private-sector

production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $19.64.

(See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised from +203,000

to +223,000, and the change for January was revised from +243,000 to +284,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Huge AT&T Data Center Planned for Kings Mountain

By: Ken Elkins

AT&T Inc. will build a $200 million data center in a Kings Mountain business park that already contains a partially complete Walt Disney Co. data center. The 470,000-square-foot building for Dallas-based AT&T will open by 2014 in T5 Partners’ Kings Mountain Data Center Park. The first building is part of an anticipated 14-year, $851 million project that would include three more computer rooms totaling 900,000 square feet. The projected 10-year economic impact of the development is $935 million.

“Four years after opening a broadband technical support call center down east, in Goldsboro, we are thrilled to announce today that AT&T’s newest data center will be located in western North Carolina,” Cynthia Marshall, president of AT&T North Carolina, said in announcing the project. It will occupy 130 acres, the largest parcel to be sold in Kings Mountain Data Center Park, off U.S. Highway 74 on the west side of Kings Mountain. The data center will employ about 100 workers. During construction, the center will create 1,000 temporary jobs. N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue says AT&T chose North Carolina for the center because the state has created an “excellent economic environment.”

“AT&T could have located this data center anywhere, but they chose North Carolina,” Perdue says.

The area west and northwest of Charlotte has seen a flurry of a data-center development. During the last four years, Google Inc. has established an operation in Lenoir, Apple Inc. has opened a center in Maiden and Facebook Inc. has started work on a center in Rutherford County. Experts say the area’s low electric rates and access to water to cool the facilities are the key ingredients to the server-farm boom. Builders are finishing the $200 million Disney data center in the Kings Mountain business park. It’s located on a 26-acre site.

This is the second economic-development announcement for Cleveland County in the last 10 days. Last week, Kendrion FAS Controls Inc. said it would add 57 jobs and spend $7.3 million to expand its operations in Shelby. Much of the expense is to add clean rooms to the company’s 189,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on the east side of town.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/outside_the_loop/2012/02/huge-att-data-center-planned-in-KM.html?page=all

6 Way Recruiters Can Make a Difference

By: Kevin Wheeler

Never before has the time been riper for recruiters to make a real difference to the profitability of their firms. The differentiator between profits, innovative products, and long-term success is, very simply, the quality of talent.

As gatekeepers, your function is far from trivial. You are key to finding the best talent and therefore ultimately a core player in corporate success. But we continue to act like our job is about as important as sorting screws or stocking shelves. We are rarely influencers or early adopters of technology.

Influencers are noted for focus, their ability to make a case for what they want that is backed up with data, and for empowering others to act. In many cases, they also use the latest tools to raise awareness and efficiency. If you want to be an influencer here are some ideas, concepts, and provocative moves you can use to transform your recruiting function.

Narrow the Field

Most recruiters have too large a scope and hence spread themselves very thinly, pleasing no one. Determine who the most critical hires are for your firm — the ones who generate revenue, create new products or services, or build strong customer relationships — and then focus primarily on locating where the best of those people are. Use social media, targeted messaging, and focused branding to attract them. Every recruiter should have a community of interested, qualified, and available talent so that they can quickly fill any open position. To do this may require finding additional resources to recruit the less important positions. These can be offloaded to an RPO or agency or, given enough recruiters in your organization, to the less experienced. The most challenging part of this is to determine what the most important positions are. But once the priorities have been set, you can then be far more successful by being able to focus.

Get Relevant Data

Spend the time to establish measurable and meaningful goals that can be proven by facts and data. Your goals and what you focus on have to be approved and believed by the hiring managers. The best way to establish the measures is to include hiring managers in formulating them. Then set up mechanisms and software that can collect and generate the needed numbers without a huge commitment of time. Focus on just three or four metrics and make sure your recruiters know what they are and are rewarded for attaining good results.

I suggest you try to get agreement on reporting such things as quality of hire (perhaps measured by time to productivity, team acceptance, speed to promotion, or turnover within 90 days), and overall staffing efficiency measured by dividing the total of all the base salaries of your hires by your total recruitment spend, including all overhead, advertising, posting fees, search costs, and signing bonuses and so one. This figure is much better than cost per hire as it is free from regional salary differences and the differences in cost to hire for different positions. An additional measure is the time to present a candidate that is acceptable to the hiring managers. And that should be as close to “0” as possible. Perhaps realistically the time should be 24-48 hours.

Go for the Crowd

Leverage your employees and seek out connections, referrals, and recommendations of good people. Don’t worry about specific professions or skills. Go for anyone who your employees think is a high performer, unusual thinker, entrepreneur, and doer. You can screen them later and, as work changes and new needs arise, who knows whom your firm may need. As IDEO’s CEO David Kelley says, “Hire people you know you don’t need now, but you think you might need later.”

A wide range of skills and experience means that you have a broad and deep talent community to ask for additional referrals if the community does not have what you need already. If you are an influencer, you should be able to have a conversation about this, even if you are not successful in changing anyone’s mind. By planting the seeds, offering a few different people, and showing you are thinking about the long term success of your firm, you add value and gain respect.

Move the Transactional Out

Outsource or automate whatever is routine, transactional, and doesn’t directly lead to a new candidate, a close, or a hired person. Your job is to find and get great people hired. It’s not to administer paper, write reports, manage budgets, and schedule interviews. Someone else (or a tool) can do this, freeing you and your team to hire the most critical contributors.

Empower Hiring Managers

Let them do more. This is their hire, not yours. You are the scout, the initial evaluator, and the coach. You should be coaching the hiring managers and advising them how to probe, sell and close. Of course, you can help this process by quickly providing good candidates, but the key is to offload as much as you can to them. This may require you to invest time in training them, providing them with tools, and influencing them to take more responsibility by showing them how critical their involvement is to their own success.

Use Technology — Especially Video

I have written many articles on using tools to improve productivity and quality. I truly believe that much of what currently takes up recruiter’s time is wasted energy. Everything including branding, sourcing, interviewing,assessing, marketing, onboarding and workforce planning can be augmented or even completely offloaded to technology. For example, social media, and crowdsourcing techniques can relive you of most of the need for Boolean search, job posting, and other time-consuming tasks with low return on your time investment. By feeding candidates good content, and by creating and managing engaging social media pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+, you can improve the flow of qualified candidates. If you augment this with video-based simulations, games, or similar activities that assess skills and abilities, you can eliminate the need for many tedious hours of interviewing or testing.

And, if you use video interviewing you can save time, lower the costs of travel and time wasted waiting and scheduling, plus you will have a recorded interview that can be viewed by hiring managers anywhere, anytime. Consistency rises; decisions are made against the same information. There is no better way you can become truly professional at what you do than by improving your ability to quickly deliver great people and by being able to influence hiring managers to make better decisions.

http://www.ere.net/2012/02/28/6-ways-recruiters-can-make-a-difference/

Large Firms Increasing Job Gains

A common question that is asked by the citizens of the United States is whether or not more jobs are created from small companies or larger companies. For quite a while, people have believed that it is the smaller companies that help with the increase in job gains. However, new statistical information that was recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that it is actually the larger companies that are helping to increase job gains in the United States.

Nathan Clausen, the economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistic, has said that the most growth of employment has taken place within larger firms. Clausen is in charge of creating new statistics for when it comes to employment, job gains, and job growth.

Figures show employment from the spring of 1990, during the month of April when employment reached a high, all the way up until March 2011, a period of time in which employment hit an all-time low due to the Great Recession, which began in 2007 and lasted for two years, ending in 2009. During this span of many years, statistics show that it was the larger companies, known for having nearly 500 employees or more had actually risen by 29 percent. However, the smaller companies, with less than 50 employees, had only risen by less than half of the amount of the larger companies.

The smaller companies, all of which had less than 49 employers, experienced a growth of about 10.5 percent during this period. If the private sector grew at that exact same pace, instead of rising by the amount of 19 percent, millions of people would be without jobs, meaning that the unemployment rate would have been shockingly high, at about 14 percent.

Employment within smaller companies seems to have had stability during good economic times and bad economic times. During the recession, the employment numbers seem to fall while they rise drastically during expansions. And, after the recession in 2001, there were more people working for smaller companies instead of the larger companies. It seems as though during specific turning points within the economy, it is the small companies that are nimble. During the summer months of 2007, the smaller companies began to make layoffs, reducing the number of employees and their positions. It was not for another seven months that the larger companies began following suit, eliminating positions and cutting back on employers. And, the smaller companies started adding workers back to the workforce four months before the larger companies began adding more employment opportunities. Aside from smaller companies and larger companies, it also depends on what these types of companies are. Some companies hire seasonal workers, specifically retail companies, which can lead to temporary employment gains.

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2012/02/large-firms-increasing-job-gains/

EERC to Develop Biofuel for US Military

By: Kari Williamson

The EERC will demonstrate gasification-based technologies for converting non-petroleum feedstocks, such as coal and biomass, into liquid fuels including biofuel. The testing supports CCAT’s work for the US Defense Logistics Agency (US DLA).

The US Military has committed to increase energy security through the utilisation of domestic resources with life cycle CO₂ emissions equal to or less than their petroleum-derived counterparts.

The EERC is supporting the CCAT team by using the EERC’s transport reactor development unit (TRDU) and bench-scale entrained-flow gasifier (EFG) systems to evaluate the impact of fuel quality and operating conditions on synthetic gas composition, gas clean-up, system performance, overall process efficiency, and CO₂ emissions.

“Dozens of fuels have been tested in these gasification systems over the past two decades,” says Mike Holmes, Deputy Associate Director for Research at the EERC.

“For example, since its commissioning in 1990, our TRDU gasifier has proven to be an excellent system for evaluating the operational performance of all ranks of coal, coal–biomass blends, and 100% biomass. The seven-story-high TRDU system enables the gasification reactions to be self-sustaining, but it is still small enough that several different operating conditions can be evaluated in a single day.”

The project will be completed by the end of September.

http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/24218/eerc-to-develop-biofuel-for-us-military/

Industry Experts: Still a Need to Educate Consumers on Smart Energy Options

By: Laylan Copelin

Consumers are not yet smart about so-called smart energy options for their homes.

Parks Associates, an international research firm sponsoring a Smart Energy Summit in Austin for three days, focused on how the industry — from retailers to utilities to appliance makers — can encourage consumers to embrace technological changes coming to the home energy market.

The deployment of smart meters, the widespread use of broadband and the rise of smartphones and tablet computers allow consumers to manage their home energy usage, even remotely, to save money and make their lives more convenient.

Yet the market has generally stayed flat the past three years, according to Parks Associates, because consumers aren’t aware of what’s available, are concerned about the price or don’t see the value of the service.

Among the research findings:

• More than 60 percent of the U.S. households with broadband think that saving energy and lowering utility bills are desirable, but only 19 percent have taken advantage of the energy-saving programs.

• Almost 40 percent of those households are unfamiliar with the programs and services available.

• Interest in the products or services are cut in half as prices climb toward $99 per month.

• At the end of 2011, about 28 percent of U.S. households had a smart meter.

Despite the hurdles to growing the market, retailers, appliance makers, security firms and broadband providers are expanding their products and services.

GE Appliances, for example, is building refrigerators, water heaters, dishwashers, ovens, washers and dryers that can be managed via the Internet.

“We show how much each appliance is costing them,” said Jonathan “J.T.” Thompson with GE’s Home Energy Management division.

Armed with that knowledge, customers typically cut their electricity bills by 5 percent, but they can increase that to 15 percent by automatically shifting their appliance run times from peak-demand prices to cheaper off-peak prices.

Several speakers at the conference urged companies to partner with one another or with an electric utility as the most effective way to grow the market.

During the conference, Comcast Cable and EcoFactor, a California company, announced an agreement to deliver cloud-based energy management service to residential customers.

EcoFactor learns the unique heating and cooling patterns of a home and makes automatic and incremental adjustments to the thermostat based on real-time weather data, the thermal characteristics of the house and the temperature preferences of the homeowner.

http://www.statesman.com/business/technology/industry-experts-still-a-need-to-educate-consumers-2210845.html

Healthcare Industry in Alaska is Booming

In Alaska, the healthcare industry is definitely booming and the boom is expected to grow and increase throughout 2012. There were approximately 31,800 healthcare related jobs during the year of 2010, which was a rise of about 46 percent within the last decade. The growth of healthcare jobs seems to be growing faster than the population of the state and faster than all other sectors.

The healthcare employment data was released within a report by the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association. The report states that the healthcare sector has helped contribute to the economy, with about 7.2 billion during 2010 alone. However, the industry still has its own set of problems as well.

Underpayments have cost different Alaska hospitals nearly 410 million during 2010, which was 21 percent of the total cost and is an extremely high rate, the report states. The Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association’s president, Karen Perdue, says unpaid hospital costs are often shifted over to other people and create higher bills for the people who can actually afford to pay it. Perdue explains that this is one of the several reasons as to why the cost of hospital care is typically higher than other states.

When it comes to healthcare employment, a little over 50 percent of those jobs are within thirteen different hospitals in the Alaska area, along with some nursing homes that operate around the state of Alaska.

Perdue says, “It’s easy to see why Alaskans often don’t think of health care as an industry. But it is, and a very strong one. Hospitals are major employers.” She also says, “It’s like a fire station, open 24 hours every day of the year. You love to know it’s there, and you want it staffed with the most competent people and the best equipment. And, you hope you never have to use it.”

Healthcare employment helps to stimulate the company, aside from offering employment to those individuals who have gone without work for quite a while. Construction spending for hospitals in Alaska increased and was at about $305 million during 2011. This helped out the construction sector. And, there were a number of projects in the making in several different areas, including Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Nome.

Hospitals have also helped many businesses develop, including medical supply business, hotels, and clinics as well. In fact, in Anchorage, there has been a growth in the amount of clinics and medical offices in the area. The Providence Hospital complex and Alaska Regional Hospital are nearby and are partly the reason for the growth of clinics and offices.

However, it is true that in Alaska, healthcare is more expensive than it is in other states. A study, which took place in 2011, showed that hospitals in Alaska charge 38 percent more than six other comparison states.

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2012/01/healthcare-industry-in-alaska-is-booming/

Rubicon Genomics Selects Velesco to Manufacture its TransFLEX RNA Amplification Kits for Clinical Diagnostic Use

Rubicon Genomics, Inc., a company developing and commercializing sample-specific pre-analytical processes to improve the capabilities and performance of DNA and RNA analytical platforms, today announced that it has selected Velesco Pharmaceutical Services to manufacture the TransPLEX® kits it will be supplying for use with Agendia’s breast cancer diagnostics. Velesco is a provider of analytical method development, drug formulation, stability testing and consulting services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies. It operates a 10,000 square foot cGMP manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

“We are delighted to have found a highly qualified manufacturing partner located near our headquarters in Ann Arbor,” commented James Koziarz, CEO of Rubicon. ”Velesco’s cGMP facility and quality processes are first-rate; its quality track record is impeccable and it has the formulation, fill and finishing expertise we need. Velesco provides us an immediate pathway to cGMP kits for diagnostic use and it has the capacity to rapidly expand cGMP production as sales of our diagnostic kits ramp up. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship as we grow our clinical diagnostics business.”

Rubicon recently announced a clinical supply agreement with molecular diagnostics firm Agendia for the company’s TransPLEX whole genome RNA amplification technology. Agendia is using Rubicon’s kits to facilitate the analysis of FFPE (formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded) patient samples for use with its Symphony™ breast cancer diagnostics. cGMP production of the TransPLEX kits is required as part of the FDA’s 510(K) clearance process for the Symphony tests.

“We are pleased to be able to provide high quality cGMP manufacturing services to Rubicon as they expand into the clinical diagnostics arena,” said Velesco Chief Operating Officer and co-founder Gerry Cox. ”The availability of exceptional life science talent and infrastructure was a key reason we chose to grow our company in Michigan, and the addition of our neighbor Rubicon to our growing client list is another validation of that choice.”

Velesco is a CMC contract research organization, founded and staffed by pharmaceutical scientists from Pfizer’s former Michigan R&D campus. Velesco specializes in nimble, just-in-time cGMP drug product manufacturing, as well as traditional pharmaceutical cGMP manufacture.

Rubicon’s TransPLEX RNA kits and GenomePLEX® DNA kits are members of its OmniPLEX® family of amplification technologies that are designed to deliver sufficient quantities of high quality nucleic acids to enable analyses of FFPE samples for biomedical research and clinical medicine. They use proprietary methods for advanced library synthesis and high-yield amplification to prepare samples for sensitive and accurate PCR, microarray and next-generation sequencing analysis. They have been used with thousands of clinical FFPE samples with exceptional consistency, superior performance and proven sensitivity. The OmniPLEX kits are fast, simple to use and amenable to automation.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rubicon-genomics-selects-velesco-to-manufacture-its-transplex-rna-amplification-kits-for-clinical-diagnostic-use-141162693.html

Going “Green” Garners H.C. Starck the Evolution of Manufacturing Award

For the second year running, H.C. Starck was among 11 companies honored at the 2012 Northeast Ohio Evolution of Manufacturing Awards sponsored by Smart Business magazine. Recognized for its excellence in manufacturing execution and implementation of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and a Sustainable Energy Management system, H.C. Starck also realized benefits from going “green”.

Going “green” means total compliance with local, state, federal, and international environmental regulations. In addition, H.C. Starck’s materials contribute to the energy efficiencies of electronic devices such as smart phones, tablet PCs, and HDTVs, fuel efficiency of airplanes, and “green” energy generation by solar panels. A joint venture to develop and manufacture cathode materials for high-performance lithium-ion batteries to power electric cars ranks high on its list of green initiatives.

“We are honored to receive this award in Euclid for the second year. Since 2011, H. C. Starck has increased its involvement in environmentally friendly technologies such as solar power, “green” energy generation and transmission, and energy-efficient lighting such as LED,” says Dmitry Shashkov, President and CEO of H.C. Starck’s Fabricated Products business segment. “This award reflects our ongoing commitment to both our employees and communities, as well as to larger environmental issues that H. C. Starck products can help address.”

Along with the gamut of technology innovations comes an increase in social and environmental responsibility. H.C. Starck embraced this challenge with key Responsible Care® programs to address pollution prevention, process safety, environmental, health, and safety, community awareness and emergency response.

H.C. Starck benefited from its “green” initiatives when it was certified as a Sony Green Partner in 2011 for having an Environmental Quality Assurance System in place to meet Sony’s strict international environmental standards.

As a responsible corporate citizen, H.C. Starck meets and continually strives to exceed governmental, industry and environmental standards worldwide. To ensure this, H.C. Starck has implemented various internal management systems. These are based on international standards and encompass all areas of the company. H.C. Starck’s Responsible Supply Chain Management (RSCM) system ensures efficient and competitive sourcing of conflict free raw materials that meet the requirements of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas. The EICC has declared H.C. Starck’s tantalum supply chain free of conflict materials and lists H.C. Starck as a Conflict-Free Smelter (CFS). Ultimately, most the metals, materials, and parts that H.C. Starck manufactures are recyclable at the end of their respective use.

About H.C. StarckH.C. Starck is a leading global supplier of refractory metals and technical ceramics, and serves growing industries such as the electronics, chemicals, automotive, medical technology, aerospace, energy technology, and environmental technology industries, as well as mechanical engineering and tool manufacturers. H.C. Starck has 12 manufacturing facilities located in Europe, America, and Asia, with close to 3,000 employees worldwide.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/going-green-garners-hc-starck-the-evolution-of-manufacturing-award-2012-03-02

Auto Tech is Target of Intel $100 Million Fund

When Intel wants to build or penetrate a market, it has a few favorite tricks–including putting up a hefty pot of money into start-ups that could become partners or supporters of its chip technology. The auto industry is the latest example.

The Silicon Valley company on Wednesday is announcing a $100 million venture capital fund to accelerate technology innovation in cars. Intel said it will also establish a product development center in Germany that will focus on the field.

Why bother? Well, Intel needs to find businesses besides selling chips for computers, and cars are becoming a major target as more computing power is added for safety, engine control, navigation and entertainment.

Many such applications involve either the car adding its own wireless communications capability, or interacting with Interconnected-smartphones and tablets that users bring into the vehicle, said Staci Palmer, general manager of Intel’s automotive solutions division.

In one scenario frequently cited by chip industry marketers, cars may also eventually begin sending information to each other. For example, a vehicle forced to brake because of an accident could send a warning to others behind it, Palmer said.

But this won’t be a cakewalk for Intel. The company is known for microprocessors, which run large pieces of software and usually work alongside separate memory chips. Most cars use simpler microcontrollers, which have built-in memory and are sold by companies such as Renesas Electronics, Freescale Semiconductor and Texas Instruments.

The situation is not too dissimilar from Intel’s position in smartphones, where it has some promising relationships but not much in the way of high-volume sales. “We are a relative newcomer to the market,” Palmer said, during a briefing with reporters.

But Intel does have cash, and a big venture capital arm with years that can use its investments to help accelerate diversification. The company has set up multiple funds in the past to aid favored technologies; in the past decade, for example, communications fund plowed money into areas that included an effort called Centrino that helped popularize the wireless technology called Wi-Fi.

At the moment, the company has a number of geography-specific funds, targeting investments in China, Brazil, India and the Middle East, said Arvind Sodhani, president of the investment arm called Intel Capital. It has another fund at the moment to spur creation of portable computers it calls Ultrabooks, as well as a fund targeting the development of apps that work with Intel technology.

Intel says its auto-technology development center will be in Karlsruhe, Germany, near universities and tech suppliers that serve the car industry. The company expects to eventually employ about 60 people at the center. Intel also is announcing plans for an academic program, also centered in Karlsruhe, to develop skills applicable to the auto industry.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/02/29/auto-tech-is-target-of-intel-100-million-fund/tab/print/

Please visit our Candidates page and click on Search Career Opportunities to see our currently open positions.

1437 Military Cutoff Road | Suite 201 | Wilmington, NC 28403 | o. 910.338.2790

f. 910.256.4036 | www.humancs.com | info@humancs.com | Prosperity at Work

February Prosperity at Work E-Tip

intern — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:05:20 +0000

HCS Corner: From the Desk of the CEO

Economics & Job Creation:

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) January Employment Situation

Resumes in 2012: What’s old, what’s new?

North Carolina takes 50th in Union Membership

Energy & Power Generation:

Obama’s Energy Plans

Offshore Winds to be Used for Energy in VA

Life Sciences:

BioMarin Expanding for Treatments of Rare Diseases

Biotechnology Laying the Foundation for the Economy

Multi-National Lean Manufacturing:

Veterans Filling the need for Skilled Labor

Technology:

What the Facebook IPO Means for Silicon Valley

Google predicts the Web Economy will Double

From the Desk of the CEO:

It gives me great pleasure to announce our company continues to grow and in January we have added a Vice President of Business Development and two additional Managing Directors to the firm.

Kevin Hutchinson is our VP of Business Development and is leading current client and new client deployment globally for HCS. Kevin is a seasoned healthcare and technology executive with nearly 30 years of business development experience. He was born in Shrewsbury, MA and received a BSBA degree from Northeastern University in Boston, MA majoring in Finance and Insurance. Upon graduation in 1977, Kevin worked for the Data General Corporation as a senior financial analyst specializing in hardware cost analysis and performance. After a successful and rewarding computer technology career with Data General, Kevin was offered in 1997 a senior level reinsurer business development position representing Lloyd’s of London in their US self funding medical group market. Kevin received numerous sales recognition rewards from Lloyd’s and has been a frequent speaker at health industry related conferences regarding the underwriting of self funding medical risk and B2B relationship building. Kevin has also represented Standard Security Life and most recently United Healthcare in significant Business Development health care roles. Kevin holds active memberships with the SPBA,(Society of Professional Business Administrators) SIIA (Self Insured Institute Association) and HFMA (Healthcare Financial Management Association)Kevin lives in Wilmington, NC and is married with five children. He enjoys spending much of his free time with his family at the beach or on the golf course.

Rich Hosier is our Managing Director leading current and new client development along with project execution across Energy / Power Generation and Multinational Lean Manufacturing. Rich was born and raised in Hoosier country, Anderson, Indiana. After serving in the U.S Army he attained a B.S. degree from Ball State University. His professional career spans 30 years across Manufacturing and Logistics industries. He served as Vice-President of Administration for a North American Warehouse firm and led the efforts growing from 11 million square feet to 23 million square feet within five years. As his career progressed he transitioned from warehousing to large integrated 3^rd Party logistics projects as the Director of Inventory Deployment with Ryder Integrated Logistics. His work included consultative selling, team based solution designs, real estate development and implementation of multi-million dollar ventures for several global companies. Subsequently Rich worked as a Logistics leader for companies such as General Motors, American Sunroof, Club Car, Ryder, Comprehensive Logistics and Cummins Turbo Technologies. Rich’s unique cross-functional experience in numerous business sectors positions him well in supporting companies seeking talent for various business disciplines. Rich is a subject matter expert in lean manufacturing, supply chain, transportation and logistics.

Mark Monaghan is our Managing Director leading current and new client development along with project execution across all facets of the Food and Beverage and Life Sciences industries. Mark was born in Flint, MI and grew up in Boca Raton, Florida. As the son of entrepreneurial parents, Mark has brought a keen sense of ownership and work ethic to each position he has held over his 20 year career. He graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Telecommunications and spent sixteen years in the hospitality industry. Eight of those years were with the Outback Steakhouse ending as a Managing Partner in their Stone Mountain, Georgia location. Mark accepted an opportunity with JK Harris & Company in 2000 as their VP of Human Resources and was later promoted to Executive Vice President of Talent Acquisition & Call Center Operations. Mark received a Dual Masters degree in HR Management & Development graduating with honors and is certified by the Society of Human Resource Management as a Senior Professional of Human Resources (SPHR). Most recently, Mark has provided HR and business consulting services in the Charleston, South Carolina area focusing within the food, beverage and restaurant industry. He is married with two children and most enjoys time spent with his family. He is a very active member within his community as a member of the Board of Directors for the Low Country Food Bank. He is a leader within his church, an accomplished cook with his famous crab cakes and loves Sci Fi movies.

With the addition of Kevin, Rich and Mark, our firm continues to strengthen our capability to grow market share and our global footprint across Energy and Power Generation, Lean Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Technology.

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — JANUARY 2012

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the

unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics reported today. Job growth was widespread in the private

sector, with large employment gains in professional and business

services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing. Government

employment changed little over the month.

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point in January to

8.3 percent; the rate has fallen by 0.8 point since August. (See table

A-1.) The number of unemployed persons declined to 12.8 million in

January. (See the note and tables B and C for information about annual

population adjustments to the household survey estimates.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men

(7.7 percent) and blacks (13.6 percent) declined in January. The

unemployment rates for adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (23.2

percent), whites (7.4 percent), and Hispanics (10.5 percent) were

little changed. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.7 percent, no

seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In January, the number of job losers and persons who completed

temporary jobs fell to 7.3 million. The number of long-term unemployed

(those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.5 million

and accounted for 42.9 percent of the unemployed. (See tables A-11 and

A-12.)

After accounting for the annual adjustments to the population

controls, the employment-population ratio (58.5 percent) rose in

January, while the civilian labor force participation rate held at

63.7 percent. (See table A-1. For additional information about the

effects of the population adjustments, see table C.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 8.2

million, changed little in January. These individuals were working

part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were

unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In January, 2.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labor

force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not

seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force,

wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime

in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because

they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

(See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged

workers in January, little different from a year earlier. (The data

are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not

currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available

for them. The remaining 1.7 million persons marginally attached to the

labor force in January had not searched for work in the 4 weeks

preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family

responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January. Private-

sector employment grew by 257,000, with the largest employment gains

in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and

manufacturing. Government employment was little changed over the

month. (See table B-1.)

Professional and business services continued to add jobs in January

(+70,000). About half of the increase occurred in employment services

(+33,000). Job gains also occurred in accounting and bookkeeping

(+13,000) and in architectural and engineering services (+7,000).

Over the month, employment in leisure and hospitality increased by

44,000, primarily in food services and drinking places (+33,000).

Since a recent low in February 2010, food services has added 487,000

jobs.

In January, health care employment continued to grow (+31,000). Within

the industry, hospitals and ambulatory care services each added 13,000

jobs.

Wholesale trade employment increased by 14,000 over the month. Since a

recent employment low in May 2010, wholesale trade has added 144,000

jobs.

Employment in retail trade continued to trend up in January. Job gains

in department stores (+19,000), health and personal care stores

(+7,000), and automobile dealers (+7,000) were partially offset by

losses in clothing and clothing accessory stores (-14,000). Since an

employment trough in December 2009, retail trade has added 390,000

jobs.

In January, employment in information declined by 13,000, including a

loss of 8,000 jobs in the motion picture and sound recording industry.

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing added 50,000 jobs. Nearly

all of the increase occurred in durable goods manufacturing, with job

growth in fabricated metal products (+11,000), machinery (+11,000),

and motor vehicles and parts (+8,000). Durable goods manufacturing has

added 418,000 jobs over the past 2 years.

Employment in construction increased by 21,000 in January, following a

gain of 31,000 in the previous month. Over the past 2 months,

nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 30,000 jobs.

Mining added 10,000 jobs in January, with most of the gain in support

activities for mining (+8,000). Since a recent low in October 2009,

mining employment has expanded by 172,000.

Government employment changed little in January. Over the past 12

months, the sector has lost 276,000 jobs, with declines in local

government; state government, excluding education; and the U.S. Postal

Service.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was

unchanged in January. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.3 hour

to 40.9 hours, and factory overtime increased by 0.1 hour to 3.4

hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory

employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.8

hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private

nonfarm payrolls rose by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $23.29. Over the

past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.9 percent.

In January, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and

nonsupervisory employees edged up by 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, to

$19.62. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for November was

revised from +100,000 to +157,000, and the change for December was

revised from +200,000 to +203,000. Monthly revisions result from

additional sample reports and the monthly recalculation of seasonal

factors. The annual benchmark process also contributed to these

revisions.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Resumes in 2012: What’s old, what’s new?

By: Justin Thompson

It seems everyone has an opinion on what a résumé should contain, how many pages it should be and how it should be formatted. So as we enter into a new year, what are the universally agreed-upon elements that are in, and which ones are now passé? Here are some of the best practices when it comes to crafting your résumé in 2012:

Stop trying to make “objective statements” happen
The days of including a career objective and/or professional summary are over. It’s a waste of valuable space. Instead, just address this with a sentence in your cover letter about how the position you’re applying for fits into your overall career plan. Get to business by starting with accomplishments and facts that are relevant to the job posting.

Be concrete
Use numbers and proof of what you’ve done. “Increased sales by 35 percent through client profiling campaign” is better than “Increased sales in my region.” Stop putting generic tasks down, and instead, get creative in portraying what you did in your role or how you brought forth new ideas for products, processes, efficiency, etc. The more you can quantify your efforts with actual numbers or data, the better positioned you’ll be.

Cover letters are back
Like the “two page versus one page” debate, the subject of cover letters is heated. While some recruiters say they don’t bother looking at them, others say some job seekers have grown lazy and won’t take the time to write one or tailor one specifically to the company to which they are applying. It’s a perfect opportunity to sell yourself, and it’s where you can infuse personality into your application. But once you craft a terrific cover letter, don’t just push it out to every job prospect. Take the extra few minutes to tailor it to why you want that specific job at that specific company and why your skills would benefit the overall organization if hired.

Keywords are your friend
If a recruiter or manager can put your résumé side-by-side with the job requirements and check off the same keywords, you’ve made his life so much easier. Instead of using a lot of useless jargon on your résumé, pay attention to the keywords in the job posting. Be sure to use them in your résumé and cover letter, because even applicant tracking systems are based on keyword searches. Just as you use keywords to search for jobs, employers are using keywords to find your résumé.

Get creative with quick response codes
Young professionals are using QR codes — bar codes that can be scanned by smartphones to download or link to information — on the back of business cards and on their résumé to link to online portfolios. As you network and attend career fairs, you’re able to pass out business cards with the QR code that can link recruiters and other contacts to either your portfolio or LinkedIn profile so they can instantly connect with you.

Wow with visual résumés
More people are using tools to help illustrate their work history through sites such as Vizualize.me. These sites offer tools to help individuals present the information on their résumés in a unique way that stands out. Just remember that you still need a traditional format to hand out or attach to make it easy for saving in company databases.

Give video a chance
In this tough economy, job seekers are going to creative lengths to get their name, talents and personality in front of employers, like this résumé video for a Google position. If you’re going to create something like this, make sure you’re providing substance or showing off your soft skills within the video instead of just doing something flashy to get the recruiter’s attention.

Social media are here to stay
If you’re not using social media to promote yourself, you’re missing out. Just as employers use multiple avenues to push out job postings, you as a job seeker need to use all the channels available to you to put yourself in front of recruiters. Using Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn as a means to give updates on your career or connect with other professionals gives your résumé legs and can make you more memorable as a candidate. But since companies are screening candidates through social media, make sure your online profiles are either professional facing or locked for outside viewing.

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2862-Cover-Letters-Resumes-Résumés-in-2012-Whats-old-whats-new/?SiteId=cbmsnhp42862&sc_extcmp=JS_2862_home1

N.C. Claims the 50th Spot in Labor Union Membership

By: Sougata Mukherjee

With a little more than 100,000 union members across the state from a working labor pool of 3.6 million, North Carolina ranks as the country’s 50th state in terms of union membership.

Figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show only 2.9 percent of the workers in North Carolina were union members in 2011. While the labor union membership always has been low in the Tar Heel state, industry watchers believe this may be the first time that the rate has fallen below 3 percent.

Last year, 29 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below the U.S. average of 11.8 percent. The Southeastern states bagged the three lowest positions in terms of union membership. South Carolina was No. 49, with a 3.4 percent rate, followed by Georgia at 3.9 percent.

Several N.C. Republican lawmakers have made it a key goal to keep North Carolina a right-to-work state.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2012/01/30/nc-claims-the-50th-spot-in-labor.html

Obama Unveils Energy Plans

By: Laura Meckler & Keith Johnson

Working to advance his “all of the above” energy strategy, President Barack Obama on Thursday embraced natural gas as a transportation fuel, saying it is cleaner and cheaper than oil, and much more abundant inside the U.S.

“We’ve got a supply of natural gas under our feet that can last America nearly a hundred years….It turns out we are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas,” Mr. Obama said at a United Parcel Service Inc. facility that will serve as a refueling station for trucks that run on liquefied natural gas. “Think about an America where more cars and trucks are running on domestic natural gas than on foreign oil.”

The president officially opened the first natural-gas “corridor” linking the port of Long Beach, Calif., with Salt Lake City, where medium- and heavy-duty trucks can refuel along the way.

Atlanta-based UPS used more than $5 million in federal support to upgrade its own fleet of trucks and complete the corridor.

Mr. Obama nodded to concerns associated with hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, a technique used to extract the natural gas that environmentalists worry will contaminate groundwater supplies. The White House said this week that the administration will require companies drilling for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use.

“America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk,” Mr. Obama said.

Many in the oil and gas industry have criticized what they see as the president’s tardy embrace of gas and are still skeptical about the administration’s support. The Environmental Protection Agency, for example, raised hackles with a study that it said showed groundwater contamination at a natural-gas well in Wyoming.

Some important industrial sectors aren’t eager to see natural gas demand increase, because they rely on cheap natural gas to stay competitive internationally.

“The American people benefit most when the free market and consumer choice determine our nation’s energy policy, so we oppose government mandates and costly taxpayer subsidies that try to dictate energy choices,” said Charles Drevna, president of American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers.

Also Thursday, Mr. Obama announced the final lease sale of offshore acreage in the central Gulf of Mexico, scheduled for late June, with conditions meant to make sure that oil companies develop the leases they acquire, officials said. The lease sale of some 38 million acres will be the last one of the current five-year plan for development of offshore resources. The agreement will include a sliding scale of rental rates to compensate deep-water lessees for delays in beginning operations in the wake of the 2010 BP PLC Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

According to administration officials, the latest Gulf lease sale could lead to the development of one billion barrels of oil.

Proponents of more oil production in the Gulf welcomed the latest lease sale but said permit issues in the wake of the BP spill continue to hold back development. “There continues to be tremendous uncertainty with regard to the federal government’s ability to timely approve the necessary plans and permits required to get the drill bits turning,” said Lori LeBlanc, executive director of the Gulf Economic Survival Team, a group founded after the BP spill to push back against the deepwater-drilling moratorium.

The president has faced strong criticism on energy policy after he blocked for now the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Republicans have excoriated that decision, saying Mr. Obama put the concerns of environmentalists over jobs.

Later Thursday, at an event at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo., outside Denver, Mr. Obama touted his administration’s support for alternative energy, particularly through the military. The president highlighted a Navy announcement that it will buy a gigawatt of clean energy, enough to power 250,000 homes per year, and mentioned a solar energy installation on the base.

The White House natural-gas plan, contingent on congressional support, also includes tax credits to offset part of the cost of upgrading trucks to run on natural gas and federal help to spur the creation of five additional natural-gas corridors on heavy trucking routes. Additionally, the Obama administration plans to promote federal research to find new ways to use natural gas for transportation, as well as supporting the conversion of city bus and truck fleets to run on the cleaner fuel, administration officials said.

The Obama administration’s embrace of natural gas as a transportation fuel comes after years of similar efforts by high-profile proponents ranging from the oil-and-gas tycoon T. Boone Pickens to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

The Obama administration had signaled before that it favored the idea, but the president jumped in with both feet this week, first in his State of the Union speech Tuesday and then Thursday in Las Vegas.

The U.S. is experiencing an unexpected glut in natural-gas supplies thanks to a revolution in drilling technology over the last decade. Natural-gas prices have fallen to near 10-year lows.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204573704577185131406225666.html?mod=WSJ_Energy_leftHeadlines

Offshore Wind Energy Lease Process Moves Forward

By: Peter Bacque

The federal government has cleared an environmental hurdle in allowing wind energy lease sales off the Virginia coast.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has sent out a call for information to identify industry interest in locations in the offshore Virginia Wind Energy Area for commercial leases, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Thursday.

Dominion Virginia Power is planning to respond to the federal government’s call for interest in building offshore electricity-generating wind.

“Offshore wind generation holds great promise in the long term as a renewable source of electricity,” the Richmond-based company said in a statement, “if it can be achieved at reasonable cost to customers.”

A wide span of business and political interests hailed the federal move clearing the way for industrial wind turbines on the blue waters.

“Cost-effective development of Virginia’s offshore wind resources is one important component of our overall effort to make Virginia ‘The Energy Capital of the East Coast,’ ” said Republic Gov. Bob McDonnell.

And his Democratic predecessor, Timothy M. Kaine, said, “I am thrilled to hear Virginia can move forward in developing wind energy infrastructure off our coast.”

Chesapeake Climate Action Network Director Mike Tidwell said, “News today that offshore wind lease areas in coastal Virginia can be developed in ways safe for the environment — and that federal officials are stepping up leasing procedures — is only further indication that Virginia should move swiftly to develop its vast offshore wind power resource.”

The federal ocean energy agency said its environmental assessment found no significant environmental and socioeconomic impacts would spring from issuing wind energy leases in outer continental shelf areas off Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management identified nearly 113,000 acres about 24 miles off the coast of Virginia that could be developed for electricity-generating wind turbines. It asked potential developers to respond within 45 days with their interests.

Thursday’s announcement by the bureau is intended to test industry interest in developing the 9-square mile blocks, or parcels. The area is made up of 19 whole blocks and 13 sub-blocks.

“There are a number of developers who are very interested in developing offshore wind here, and our goal is to hold the auctions and be able to issue the leases now, in 2012,” U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said. “So, this is not something that’s going to be waiting around.”

Dominion Virginia Power, the state’s largest electric utility, intends to be a player in Virginia offshore wind energy market. But “this is a long-term project,” said Mary C. Doswell, the company’s senior vice president for alternative energy solutions.

“The United States currently lacks offshore wind infrastructure without dedicated ships or supply chain today,” Doswell said. “The challenge remains the high cost of building this generation and bringing it to customers.”

Electricity from sea-based wind costs about 28 cents a kilowatt-hour to produce, the company said, while its all-inclusive rate for residential customers is 11 to 12 cents a kilowatt-hour.

Federal tax credits for the development of offshore power are due to expire this year, which Doswell said is a “big deal” because of the expense of developing offshore winds.

Virginia’s largest utility has a $500,000 Department of Energy Grant to study ways to bring down the costs of offshore wind development, including turbine designs and other new technologies.

Clean-energy advocates have promoted the natural power off Virginia because of strong winds and shallow waters in the areas the government has designated for development. The state’s shipbuilding and port industries, they say, could handle the design, manufacture and shipping of the turbines.

Besides Dominion Virginia Power, at least two other companies have shown interest in developing wind farms off Virginia: Apex Offshore Wind, based in Charlottesville, and Seawind Renewable Energy Corp.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/state-news/2012/feb/03/tdbiz01-offshore-wind-energy-lease-process-moves-f-ar-1660441/

BioMarin CEO Seeking Deals to Expand Push for Treatments for Rare Diseases

By: Sasha Damouni

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., (BMRN) with five drugs in clinical trials, is seeking to buy smaller companies to expand its pipeline for treatment of rare diseases, not be acquired itself, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Jacques Bienaime said in an interview.

The number of trials is the most ever at one time for BioMarin, a maker of drugs for rare diseases, Bienaime said. The Novato, California-based company will follow a similar acquisition strategy to one used for purchases such as Zystor Therapeutics Inc., which BioMarin bought in 2010 for $22 million in upfront cash. That acquisition gained the company a medicine now being tested for Pompe disease, a muscle-disabling disorder.

“These were acquisitions around $20 million or less upfront,” Bienaime said. The company had about $224.4 million in cash and short-term investments as of Sept. 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

BioMarin has a market value of $4 billion and four approved products. The company isn’t being managed to be sold, Bienaime said. If an acquirer came after the company “aggressively, it would have to be an exciting premium,” he said.

BioMarin rose 1 percent to $35.26 at 10:36 a.m. New York time. The company’s shares had gained 35 percent in the 12 months before today.

In any case, Bienaime said he doesn’t anticipate interest from an acquirer until BioMarin reports later this year on final testing on GALNS, a treatment for the rare genetic bone disease Morquio A syndrome.

Michael Yee, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in San Francisco, described GALNS as the biggest driver and most important data set of the year for BioMarin.

The drug has the potential for about $500 million in peak sales in 2020, potentially doubling the company’s revenues over the long term, Yee said in a telephone interview. Suitors, he said, would probably prefer to wait for definitive data on GALNS and the Pompe disease drug BMN-701 before considering a bid.

BioMarin has said it anticipates BMN-701 will start the last phase of testing usually needed for U.S. marketing approval in 2013. It is being groomed to compete with Lumizyme and Myozyme, from Sanofi’s Genzyme unit, which generated $412 million in revenue in 2010.

BioMarin is one in a growing field of drugmakers looking to profit by treating rare diseases.

These companies develop medicines for as few as 5,000 to 10,000 patients worldwide and make returns by charging as much as $400,000 a year per patient for drugs. The U.S. andEurope give drugmakers exclusive marketing rights to focus on these so- called orphan diseases with no other treatment options, and smaller patient populations mean fewer participants are needed for clinical trials.

As an acquirer, BioMarin will probably focus on making small in-licensing deals, Yee said, as the company already has a large pipeline of drugs at various stages of testing.

At the same time, nearly all large global pharmaceutical companies and specialty-drug makers, including Shire Plc and Pfizer Inc. have expressed interest in the orphan disease market, Yee said.

BioMarin remains a “top mid-cap takeout candidate over the longer-term given its proprietary orphan drug pipeline, global commercial infrastructure and biologics expertise,” Yee wrote in an earlier Jan. 9 note to clients.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-27/biomarin-seeks-to-buttress-rare-disease-push-with-deals.html

Biotechnology Can Provide Foundation for a U.S. Economy “Built to Last”

BIO Calls on the Administration and Congress to Embrace Proposals to Unleash the Promise of Biotechnology

BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech:

“We commend President Obama’s call for creating an economy that is ‘built to last.’ We strongly believe that biotechnology can meet this challenge. Our industry sustains and creates high-wage, high-value U.S. jobs, fuels 21st century manufacturing and helps drive U.S. leadership in competitiveness and innovation. Most importantly, biotechnology offers lifesaving and innovative scientific breakthroughs through the development of new cures and treatments for debilitating diseases including cancer, Multiple Sclerosis and HIV/AIDS and by providing cutting-edge technologies to address pressing concerns in creating alternative energy sources, combating hunger, and protecting against bio-terror.

“Increasing investment in federally funded research, as the President called for in his address, is important. It takes public and private companies to translate that research into cures and useful technologies. We look forward to working with the Administration and the Congress to pursue public policies that will unleash the promise of biotechnology.

“Curing diseases, first and foremost, means saving lives. But it also means reducing health care costs. With science-based regulatory systems, appropriate tax policy and incentives to encourage continued innovation, America’s biotechnology sector can help drive substantial job growth in the United States and advance our nation’s competitiveness over the long term. The proposals detailed in our ‘Unleashing the Promise of Biotechnology’ plan are designed to transform the innovative ideas of today into the realities of tomorrow.

“The President has been a supporter of building a strong biobased economy. The U.S. biobased economy is growing in large part from the innovation and commercial development of the industrial biotechnology sector. Biorefineries that deploy biotechnology to convert renewable agricultural feedstocks and other organic raw material to chemicals and biofuels or more cleanly manufacture consumer products can help revitalize U.S. manufacturing and generate high-quality jobs. Growth of the bioeconomy can strengthen our nation’s economic security and energy security by reducing dependence on foreign oil. And it could improve the health of our nation’s citizens and its environmental health through more efficient manufacturing.

“America is the world leader in biotechnology. Our nation’s biotechnology industry is comprised of scientists, entrepreneurs, and large and small companies in all 50 states engaged in translating the latest scientific discoveries into innovative new medical therapies and environmental products, increased agricultural production and farm incomes, and greener bio-based products and biofuels. Nationwide, our industry directly employs more than 1.4 million people and indirectly generates jobs for an additional 6.6 million people. These are high-quality jobs, paying substantially more than the average U.S. wage.

“Realizing the promise of biotechnology requires a comprehensive national strategy that fine-tunes some policies and overhauls others. The biotechnology sector continues to stand ready to work with President Obama, his Administration and the Congress to help create jobs and drive economic growth.”

http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/Biotechnology-can-provide-foundation-for-lasting-US-economy-608855

Veterans Help Manufacturers Plug Skills Gap

By: Lucia Mutikani

Three years ago Gabe Collins was on the front line in Kandahar province, one of the most dangerous places in war-ravaged Afghanistan, conducting search and rescue missions with the U.S. Navy.

These days the 25-year-old, who also served in the Iraq war, is an aircraft engine mechanic at global aerospace firm AAR’s plant in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is applying skills honed while working on helicopters during his eight years of service in the Navy.

Just over a 1,000 miles away in Miami, 37 year-old Ruben Henao, also a veteran of the Iraq war, inspects aircraft landing gear at another AAR plant.

Henao was mostly a supply specialist and infantry man in the U.S. Army. But he learned to fix Humvees and tanks in the field, valuable mechanical experience for his duties today as the last person to sign off on the aircraft landing gear that has been disassembled, repaired and rebuilt.

The two men are among hundreds of military veterans who have been tapped by manufacturing companies that are facing a critical shortage of skilled workers.

According to a joint study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, manufacturing companies have roughly 600,000 vacancies they are struggling to fill. It illustrates a growing skills mismatch, with not enough of the 13.1 million unemployed Americans equipped for the available jobs.

From skilled trades to internet technology and engineering there is a dearth of qualified people as the country continues to churn out fewer math and science graduates.

According to the latest available government data, the share of math, engineering, technology and computer science students dropped to about 9.9 percent in 2009 from 11.1 percent in 1980.

An aging population of skilled workers is adding to the problem. As the Baby Boomers retire, there are fewer skilled workers available to replace them.

Companies are only too glad they can turn to the growing pool of military veterans, admired for their “can do” attitudes.

“One of the reasons for employing veterans is that the skills set we are looking for, the values and work ethic are perfectly aligned with the military,” said David Storch, chief executive officer at AAR.

“Veterans are very disciplined, very focused, in addition to the technical skills that the army trains for,” he told Reuters.

AAR provides inspections, line maintenance, aircraft modifications and upgrades to the world’s major regional and cargo airline fleets. It also serves the U.S. military and government agencies.

Last year the firm employed 314 veterans, who accounted for 18 percent of AAR’s total workforce of about 7,000.

Yet there are not enough qualified veterans to plug the technology and engineering skills gap confronting the U.S. labor market. AAR still has about 600 positions it cannot fill.

Analysts say the skills mismatch is holding back the economy’s growth potential and keeping the unemployment rate stubbornly high.

“Unfortunately many of the unemployed are too old to be retrained. It’s already hurting the potential economic growth rate,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, California.

“Growth needs labor and capital, and we just don’t have enough bodies in the right place.”

PASSION DRIVEN

A similar story is told at Advanced Technology Services, a manufacturing consulting services company that counts Caterpillar and Motorola among its clients.

The company has gone a step further by hiring a former U.S. Army captain to spearhead its military recruitment drive. Its hiring need at any given time can be as many as 200.

Holly Mosack, the former captain, spent 7-1/2 years in the Army. A veteran of the Iraq war, she knows what it takes to find a job.

“I did not have a corporate, human resources or recruitment background. All I had was my passion,” she told Reuters.

Last year, ATS hired between 200 and 250 veterans, and it is looking to increase the number this year. Close to 30 percent of the company’s 3,000 employees are military veterans.

“When you look at manufacturing and skilled trades, people are not going into them anymore. There is a misperception of manufacturing, that jobs are going away and that factories are outdated,” said Mosack.

But manufacturing is making a small comeback in some sectors. Although it accounts for only about 12 percent of gross domestic product, it has been the main driver of the recovery from the 2007-09 recession. The factory sector added 225,000 jobs last year, marking the first year of sustained job gains since 1997.

Like AAR, ATS is targeting veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars because of their ability to adapt to difficult environments and often work with limited supplies.

“They have not had a supplier down the street to mail them a part. They have had to make do with what they had. So they bring a great sense of ‘can-do’ attitude with them, a great sense of teamwork and a disciplined approach,” said Mosack.

“That is something that is very hard to train people to have and the military does a wonderful job of instilling that every day in all their service members.”

JUST DIFFERENT EQUIPMENT

The majority of veterans hired by ATS are maintenance technicians. They are recruited from military bases and job fairs and in conjunction with the Department of Veterans Affairs, among others.

“We provide technical training to help them understand, ‘You did this electrical work in the military and here is a piece of manufacturing equipment, here is what we call it and here is how it is a little different,’” said Mosack.

Other companies seeking out military veterans include Siemens Corporation, which plans this year to hire 300 former service people to fill positions ranging from field engineers to service technicians and sales and marketing specialists.

“This reflects the fact that the technical training and advanced skills sets that veterans bring to the workforce are a perfect match for Siemens,” said Mike Panigel, senior vice president of human resources for Siemens, which hired 630 veterans last year.

Veterans are also being wooed by finance, software, communications and security companies.

TOUGH MARKET

Veterans are hardly jumping the queue in a tough labor market where three of four unemployed Americans cannot find work. Unemployment among post 9/11 military veterans was at 13.1 percent in December, far higher than the 8.5 percent rate for the civilian population. About a quarter of a million service men and women were out of work in December.

The problem is more acute among veterans in the 18 to 24 age group, where the unemployment rate is 31 percent. A total of 857,000 veterans of all wars were unemployed in December.

Joblessness among former service men and women is set to worsen as the war in Afghanistan winds down. More than one million service members are projected to leave the military by 2016. The Obama administration and Congress have pushed forward an array of measures, including tax credits for companies employing veterans of the two wars.

But not many firms are biting. Some says veterans’ reserve commitments and battlefield stress-related issues make them less-dependable workers.

“Some people are actually leery of hiring veterans because of their reserve commitments, because they are considered not working during those times,” said Michael McNelis, a director at The Training Camp, which provides vendor certification for the IT sector.

The Training Camp has a program dedicated to helping returning veterans get jobs in the IT sector.

“We have been going out to the companies that we do business with and telling them that when you hire a veteran and if you need to train them, we will offer low-cost and discounted training for these individuals,” McNelis said.

“We have dealt with 400 veterans and only about 100 of them have found a job. Companies seem to just pass over this large pool of individuals. If we can’t give a job to someone who is willing to give their life for country, shame on us.”

Companies like AAR, which currently employs 14 active duty service members, overlook the problems of absenteeism because of reserve duty and mental health issues.

Henao, the former infantryman who was part of an Army task force in Tikrit, says the transition has been difficult.

“I am still in transition pretty much because in my division we lost 91 soldiers and I lost a couple of friends in Iraq. I am still in therapy and all that stuff and AAR supports me,” he said.

At AST, newly hired veterans are teamed up with already established former service people to help with assimilation to a new culture and to work through issues they encounter.

For AAR’s Collins, working on aircraft engines is more than just a job. He joined the Navy straight out of high school and left in last August after a career that included tours of duty in Afghanistan and Bahrain and two deployments to Iraq.

In six months, Collins will receive his Federal Aviation Administration mechanic’s certificate. That will allow him to perform maintenance and inspections on aircraft and engines under FAA regulations.

The on-the-job training has provided what high school and the military did not. “I decided to get out of the Navy to further my education,” said Collins.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/us-usa-economy-veterans-idUSTRE8112CO20120202

What a Facebook IPO means for Silicon Valley?

By: Om Malik

Get ready for a blockbuster — and almost nuts — technology 2012. Why? Because Facebook is doing the mother of all initial public offerings.

And much like Netscape and Google before it, the $5 billion offering is being viewed as the much-awaited catalyst for the technology industry and is expected to set off a flurry of activity. I have been here long enough to cover the IPOs of both Netscape and Google, and on both occasions, the tailgate effect was enough to pull even the clunkers (read: marginal startups) to the proverbial finish line.

We are already seeing four recently public companies — Pandora, LinkedIn, Zynga andGroupon — ramping up their efforts to buy little startups. Google is competing for talent and so are other Internet giants. And now Facebook!

I have been wondering whether we would see a slow exodus of Facebook employees, which in turn would force the social networking giant to go out and start acq-hiring people by buying a lot of tiny startups. And if more of these little companies get acquired, the more dollars would rush into the startups and thus creating a fly-wheel effect. The presence of Facebook millionaires is only going to accelerate angel investment activity.

Nevertheless, I wanted to see how some of the top venture capital investors (whom I deeply respect for their clear and concise views of the industry) were thinking about the landscape.

Fred Wilson, general partner of New York-based Union Square Ventures and an investor in red-hot companies like Zynga, Etsy, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr and Kickstarter emailed me back with this answer:

Yes, I said exactly that on Friday evening at a talk I gave at social media weekend at Columbia University. I think this is great for entrepreneurship, startups, angel investing, etc., etc. because we are going to get a bunch more capital created and entrepreneurs created and we’ll also get more exits.

What this means is that super angels/hacker universities like Dave McClure, YCombinator and TechStars are going to see a lot more of their companies get acquired. Jeff Clavier, founder partner of SoftTech VC, an early-stage investment firm based in Palo Alto, who recentlyclosed his $55 million dollar fund, had a multitude of thoughts:

Because of the ginormous valuation, it is clear that the number of Facebook employees reaching tens of millions of dollars in (paper) net worth is unusual. Candidly a number of early Facebookers have already taken off and “retired” at the age of 30/35. One of the questions moving forward is how much of a carrot can Facebook give new employees with such a high base valuation.

Remember that Facebook has a very high bar to talent acquisitions, and should not compromise on that. Once Facebook has a public currency, it will make it easier for them to make larger paper acquisitions. Until recently they were not doing that to avoid issues with the 500 shareholder rule (Ed Baker’s Friendly was a rare, recent deal where equity was used).

Brad Silverberg, a veteran of Microsoft and other tech companies and general partner at Ignition Partners, a Seattle-based venture fund, thinks that the IPO could have a corroding influence on the company culture.

One of the biggest challenges Facebook will face is the gulf between the have’s and have-not’s within Facebook. It can create tremendous internal stress and can result in people leaving to follow their own entrepreneurial dreams. This can be both for early people who made it and love the thrill of the startup, and for later people who are contributing, gain confidence, and now want to go off and make their own fortunes.

I think Brad’s point is pretty spot-on. I have seen this haves-versus-havenots dynamic create havoc at many companies before. I have spoken to multiple people and there is a general sense in the Valley that there is a large contingent of Facebook-ers who are ready to bolt. Google in comparison didn’t see an exodus of employees till recently, mostly because of its deep engineering-centric culture. Google, before it was grafted with the Microsoft genes, was a company where the smartest people went to be with the smartest people. It wasn’t till 2007 that the company started to lose its top-rated talent.

Facebook — Mark Zuckerberg’s Hacker Way missive not withstanding — is a lot more mercenary and materialistic. And part of that means employees are likely to cash their chips and run, only to place them on some new startups. And whichever way you look at it, I am pretty sure 2012 is going to be one heck of a ride. Buckle up!

http://gigaom.com/2012/02/01/what-a-facebook-ipo-means-for-silicon-valley/

Web Economy in G20 set to double by 2016, Google Says

By: Tim Weber

The value of the web economy in G20 countries will nearly double by 2016, according to Boston Consulting Group.

Driving the spurt from $2.3tn (£1.5tn) to $4.2tn (£2.7tn) will be the rapid rise of mobile internet access.

The study, supported by web giant Google, assumes that in four years 3bn people will be using the internet, or nearly 50% of the world’s population.

The research suggests that the UK is one of the most advanced e-commerce economies.

Right now, every year about 200 million people are going online for the very first time.

However, traditional internet access via a copper wire and a desktop PC will fade into the background.

The rapid fall in the cost of smartphones – with cheap versions now costing about $100 – means that by 2016 about 80% of all internet users will access the web using a mobile phone.

The research does not even account for web access using so-called feature phones.

The ‘new’ internet

These numbers look impressive, but they are still just a fraction of the global

In 2010, the internet economy in the G20 group of leading nations was worth $2.3tn – larger than the economies of Italy or Brazil, but a mere 4.1% of the total size of all G20 economies.

The Boston Consulting Group researchers speak of the emergence of a “new internet” where:

web access will not be a luxury any more

the majority of web users will live in emerging markets (within four years, China is expected to be home to 800 million people using the internet; that is more than the United States, India, France, Germany and the UK taken together)

about 80% of all internet users will access the web from a mobile

the internet will go social, and allow customers and companies to engage with each other

This trend will be coupled with another huge technology shift that will fundamentally change the nature of how to run a business – the rise of the so-called “internet of things”, where all kinds of devices from sensors to cars to radiators will be connected to the web.

Understanding the economic potential of the web should be an urgent priority for leaders”

Patrick PichetteGoogle chief financial officer

Technology giant IBM estimates that by 2015, one trillion devices will be internet-connected.

Online is also reaching into the offline world. The BCG researchers say that every household already researches about $3,000 worth of goods online before buying them in traditional stores.

Digital, the researchers say, cannot be an add-on. Businesses have to adapt their people, processes and structures for the digital economy.

Paul Zwillenberg of BCG says that entrepreneurs building a digital business are outperforming rivals who do not embrace the web economy.

However, what the research fails to capture is the balance of employment between new, more efficient digital companies and old-style businesses.

The winners

Google, who supported the research, is obviously one of the companies set to gain most from the rapid growth of the internet.

“Understanding the economic potential of the web should be an urgent priority for leaders… [with] a powerful case for countries and companies to get online and reap the rewards of an age of data,” Patrick Pichette, Google’s chief financial officer, says.

However, the report suggests that Google will not be the only winner.

The researchers identify several “internet ecosystems” that will try to tie users in to their customised part of the internet, among them Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Baidu and Tencent in China and Yandex in Russia.

What is digital?

A problem with BCG’s research is obviously that it is difficult to define what is actually part of the digital economy.

“During the research we discovered very quickly that there is no approved way of measuring the internet economy,” says David Dean, a managing director at BCG.

Official statistics simply do not capture the sideways move of old technologies into the digital world, for example when a widget maker starts upgrading its devices so that they can be hooked up to the internet.

But if the report’s predictions are correct, then speaking of a “web economy” will soon sound about as comical as speaking of an “electricity economy”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16753902

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January Prosperity at Work E-Tip

intern — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:54:32 +0000

January Prosperity at Work E-Tip

Economics & Job Creation:

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) December Employment Situation

Small Business Continue to Create Jobs

Tips for those seeking Jobs in 2012

North Carolina to Join E-Verify

Energy & Power Generation:

How Semiconductors Can Help the World’s Energy Problem

Life Sciences:

Bristol Myers-Squibb to Acquire Inhibitex

Technology Changing How Medical Students Study

Multi- National Lean Manufacturing:

Manufacturing Employment Increases

A Boost in US Manufacturing Activity

Technology:

Ford Opening Research Center in Silicon Valley

Biggest Technology Innovations from 2011

The Employment Situation – December 2011

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 200,000 in December, and the unemployment rate,

at 8.5 percent, continued to trend down, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

reported today. Job gains occurred in transportation and warehousing, retail trade,

manufacturing, health care, and mining.

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons (13.1 million) and the unemployment rate

(8.5 percent) continued to trend down in December. The unemployment rate has

declined by 0.6 percentage point since August. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men decreased

to 8.0 percent in December. The jobless rates for adult women (7.9 percent),

teenagers (23.1 percent), whites (7.5 percent), blacks (15.8 percent), and

Hispanics (11.0 percent) showed little change. The jobless rate for Asians

was 6.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was

little changed at 5.6 million and accounted for 42.5 percent of the unemployed.

(See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate (64.0 percent) and the employment-

population ratio (58.5 percent) were both unchanged over the month. (See

table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes

referred to as involuntary part-time workers) declined by 371,000 to 8.1

million in December. These individuals were working part time because their

hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

(See table A-8.)

About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in

December, little different from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally

adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were

available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.

They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in

the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 945,000 discouraged workers in

December, a decrease of 373,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally

adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work

because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6 million

persons marginally attached to the labor force in December had not searched for

work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or

family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 200,000 in December. Over the

past 12 months, nonfarm payroll employment has risen by 1.6 million. Employment

in the private sector rose by 212,000 in December and by 1.9 million over the

year. Government employment changed little over the month but fell by 280,000

over the year. (See table B-1.)

Employment in transportation and warehousing rose sharply in December (+50,000).

Almost all of the gain occurred in the couriers and messengers industry (+42,000);

seasonal hiring was particularly strong in December.

Retail trade continued to add jobs in December, with a gain of 28,000. Employment

in the industry has increased by 240,000 over the past 12 months. Over the month,

job gains continued in general merchandise stores (+13,000) and in clothing and

clothing accessories stores (+11,000). Employment in sporting goods, hobby, book,

and music stores fell by 10,000.

In December, manufacturing employment expanded by 23,000, following 4 months of

little change. Employment increased in December in transportation equipment

(+9,000), fabricated metals (+6,000), and machinery (+5,000).

Mining employment rose by 7,000 over the month. Over the year, mining added

89,000 jobs.

Health care continued to add jobs in December (+23,000); employment in hospitals

increased by 10,000. Over the year, health care employment has risen by 315,000.

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places

continued to trend up in December (+24,000). Over the year, food services and

drinking places has added 230,000 jobs.

Construction employment changed little in December. Within the industry,

nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 20,000 jobs over the month,

mostly offsetting losses over the prior 2 months.

Employment in professional and business services changed little in December for

the second month in a row. The industry added 42,000 jobs per month, on average,

during the first 10 months of 2011.

Government employment changed little in December but was down by 280,000 over

the year. Job losses in 2011 occurred in local government; state government,

excluding education; and the U.S. Postal Service.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased

by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours in December. The manufacturing workweek increased

by 0.1 hour to 40.5 hours. Factory overtime decreased by 0.1 hour to 3.2

hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on

private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2

and B-7.)

In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm

payrolls rose by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $23.24. Over the past 12 months,

average hourly earnings have increased by 2.1 percent. In December, average

hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were

unchanged at $19.54. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised from

+100,000 to +112,000, and the change for November was revised from +120,000

to +100,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

The Small Business Employment Index Increases in December

The Small Business Employment Index, most commonly referred to as the SBEI, known for being the forecaster of hiring trends for small businesses and companies that have less than 300 employees has increased by nearly 2 percent within the past month. Aside from this increase, there was also an increase of .35 percent during the month of November.

The announcement was made after the December jobs survey was released. The survey proved that the private sector has recently added more than 300,000 jobs within the month of December. The business unit president for CBIZ Payroll Services, Philip Noftsinger, has said, “Our Small Business Employment Index reported a 1.75 percent gain in distinct employee count for the month of December. This represents the largest increase in the index in two years as December 2009 offered a similar tally of 1.77 percent. Additionally, the positive movement in the index supports a continued improving trend in labor markets.”

Of the assortment of companies that were surveyed, the statistical data provided showed that 19 percent of these companies reported a decrease in the number of employees. In the meantime, 30 percent of these companies reported an increase in the number of staff and employees added to the company. 51 percent of these companies that took part in the survey had maintained the number of employees within their company.

A sense of confidence has been added to many of the small business owners in areas all over the United States, especially as the economy begins to recover from such a crippling recession. If the demand continues to grow, the growth numbers in the index will continue to do the same as well.

It is important to also watch how employment is beginning to sustain and become such a positive trend, especially within the economy. This proves that the economy is finally beginning to grow again, even if it is at a slower pace than some of the economists would like. While the economy is beginning to grow and this is something to look forward to, there are still some concerns that people need to be wary about, especially because of the current debt crisis in Europe which has a lot of economists worried about what will occur in the future for the United States economy.

Noftsinger says, “We need to continue to see positive, or at least fair global macro news through the first quarter, otherwise the latest trend may not last through June 2012.” As of right now, CBIZ Payroll Services manages the payroll for over 3,000 different small businesses that employ 300 or less people within their company. CBIZ works to help its clients with all of their important financial information, taxes, and an assortment of employee services.

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2012/01/the-small-business-employment-index-increases-in-december/

Job Seekers, Be Creative and Flexible

By: Ruth Mantell

In 2012, creativity and adaptability will be key to landing and keeping a job for many workers, as staff levels remain lean and employees are expected to respond to a wide variety of demands, experts say.

Economists don’t expect loads of job growth, but there could be opportunities in areas such as health care, professional services, retail and some manufacturing, says Harry Holzer, a public-policy professor at Georgetown University. Also, continuing churn in the labor market means that even in areas with few new jobs, there will still be openings when workers move around.

Technical knowledge and experience will be required for certain spots. “For professional services you usually need a professional degree. In health you usually need some training,” Mr. Holzer says. “Manufacturing needs some occupational training. Retail is different. It doesn’t require specific occupational training, but it does often require some interpersonal skills.”

In addition to the standard prerequisites, employers will be looking for workers who are able to quickly adapt to new responsibilities as companies respond to changing economic and industry trends. So workers should highlight their creative skills to differentiate themselves, says Lawrence Katz, an economist at Harvard University.

“Firms have so many job seekers per opening. They are going to want candidates with clear credentials, but also a little extra shine in interactive skills and creativity,” Mr. Katz says. “They are less willing in a weak labor market to take chances.”

Here are other skills experts recommend workers should pick up and enhance.

Technical literacy. It’s important for workers at a variety of levels to be familiar with some of the technical, if mundane, processes that keep organizations running smoothly.

Take the health-care industry. Providers are bringing on more technology when it comes to record keeping and billing.

“A knowledge of electronic data handling is just a really big plus. That goes for receptionists to the doctors who are becoming employees of larger hospital systems,” says Warren Bobrow, president of All About Performance, a Los Angeles-based skills-assessment consultancy.

Workers also need to be good users of social media. There’s a fine line between letting interested parties know about the latest news and bombarding them with too much information. Still, individuals shouldn’t be afraid to use networking sites such as LinkedIn to make employment connections.

Business acumen. As companies remain concerned about demand for their products and services, a wide variety of employees need to think about sales, experts say. Even those outside of marketing should care about revenue, and making sure customers are happy.

Mr. Bobrow has clients in Colorado, an orthopedic practice with more than a dozen doctors, and those doctors don’t become partners until client-satisfaction surveys are reviewed and good results are found.

“They are in a competitive marketplace because so much of their work is based on referrals,” Mr. Bobrow says. “The doctors realize that their revenue depends on all of them bringing in more patients and having patients come back.”

Being savvy about pleasing customers isn’t about spin, says Ben Dattner, a New York-based organizational psychologist and author. Rather, workers need to illustrate the advantages of their products and services to please employers dealing with an ultra-competitive environment.

“Try to get to know your customer, the market and figure out how you can put things together in a package that adds value,” Mr. Dattner says. “Law firms are increasingly recruiting professionals who [bring clients with them]. The actual practice of law is becoming commoditized to some extent, but the ability to bring in customer relationships and be flexible is what companies are increasingly looking for.”

General proficiency. Companies are looking for workers who are flexible and can take on functions in various jobs as market demands change, says Greg Barnett, director of product development at Hogan Assessment Systems, a Tulsa, Okla.-based personality-assessment and consulting firm. That is, companies want workers who are “solid organizational citizens”—quick learners who are compliant, Mr. Barnett says.

“People are being asked to do more,” he says. “There are concerns when applicants are good workers, but not people who are able to learn and change direction and change their performance.”

Dan Ryan, principal at a Nashville, Tenn.-based executive search firm, stresses the importance of project management and communication skills, which also happen to be transferrable. “The ability of people at all levels to clearly communicate is not what it used to be,” he says. People “who can do that very well can differentiate themselves.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204552304577112771128538532.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_4

North Carolina to Join Ranks of States Requiring Employers to Enroll in E-Verify

By: Jennifer G. Parser & David L. Woodward

The North Carolina Legislature passed a bill that will gradually require all private employers with more than 25 employees to use the federal online E-Verify program to verify the employment authorization of newly hired employees. The bill, HB 36, was passed on June 18, 2011, and was signed into law by Governor Beverly Perdue on June 23, 2011 as Session Law 2011-263. E-Verify is a free internet-based system that allows employers to determine employment authorization by checking an employees’ documentation against Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration databases. Employers can enroll in E-Verify at https://e-verify.uscis.gov/enroll/.

This new E-Verify law required North Carolina counties and cities to register and participate in E-Verify by October 1, 2011. Private sector employers’ participation in E-Verify is phased in more slowly, according to the employer’s size:

Employers with 500 or more employees will be required to participate by October 1, 2012;

Employers with 100 or more employees will be required to participate by January 1, 2013; and

Employers with 25 or more employees will be required to participate by July 1, 2013.

Businesses will not be required to verify the employment eligibility of current employees unless the employer has been awarded a federal contract on or after September 8, 2009 that contains the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify clause. Also, industries that hire agricultural workers for 90 days or less in a 12 month period are exempt from using E-Verify.
Civil penalties for violations of North Carolina’s E-Verify law are to be assessed by the NC

Commissioner of Labor and will range from $1,000 to $10,000. Employers with more than 25 employees would do well to visit the above E-Verify website to acquaint themselves with E-Verify and attendant enrollment procedures well before enrollment is required.

The federal government has recently added E-Verify Self-Check which permits an employee or prospective employee to check his or her employment eligibility, just like an employer would when it uses E-Verify. E-Verify Self-Check also provides information to the employee on how to correct any problems. The E-Verify Self-Check website is https://selfcheck.uscis.gov/SelfCheckUI/start.html. E-Verify Self-Check is being phased in slowly on a national basis and is currently offered to individuals who maintain addresses in 21 states. North Carolina does not yet have E-Verify Self-Check, although neighboring Virginia and South Carolina do.

Semiconductors Can Address The World’s Energy Crisis

By: Robert Krysiak

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object is a question that has perplexed many philosophers for thousands of years. Today, this classic paradox makes a good metaphor for one of the world’s most important issues.

The “unstoppable force” is the continually increasing worldwide demand for energy. The “immovable object” is the world’s rapidly diminishing fossil-fuel reserves and the growing acceptance that burning these fuels is causing climate changes that will have profoundly negative effects on future generations.

Worldwide demand for electrical energy is increasing and all indications are that it will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. Exxon Mobil, for example, predicts that by 2030 global electricity demand will reach 30,000TWh (terrawatt-hours), 50% more than today’s demand. Even if we found enormous new reserves of fossils fuels, we would not be able to continue burning them because of their contribution to global warming. Unstoppable force meets immovable object.

In the early 20^th century, oil was a cheap and apparently inexhaustible resource, and nobody imagined our consumption could affect something so seemingly out of our control as the climate. Today, we know differently. And our present scenario is both dire and unsustainable.

Given the scale and complexity of the challenge, the key players necessarily must include governments and the major energy-producing and energy-consuming industries such as electricity providers and the automotive industry. However, one industry – semiconductors –will play a pivotal role in making the “unstoppable” force less unstoppable and making the “immovable” object more movable.

The Unstoppable Force

Two paths offer hope. The first is to reduce the amount of power each electrical product and application consumes and to make the generation and distribution of electrical energy more efficient, while the second is to change consumers’ energy-consumption patterns. Semiconductor technology has a crucial role to play in both.

Electricity consumption can be divided into three main categories: electric motors (55%), power supplies (24%) and lighting (21%). Today’s technologies and systems have been developed with a mindset that we could call “P2” i.e. Price vs Performance. Tomorrow, we need to adopt a “P3” mindset: optimizing Power consumption, Performance and Price.
There are several ways in which the energy consumption can be reduced. One is via technology evolution. Replacing previous-generation transistors with state-of-the-art devices would save 4 to 5TWh/yr in power-supply applications – the equivalent of two 500MW nuclear power plants.

A second way is “smart systems,” which combine multiple functions to reduce power use in individual devices and systems. The effectiveness of this approach has already been proven in domestic appliances where the availability of powerful, low-cost microcontrollers replaces the traditional universal motor with a more efficient brushless motor, which is typically 30% more energy efficient. If all universal motors were replaced by brushless motors, we could save up to 50TWh of power by 2020.

In lighting, today’s cost-effective IC solutions make compact fluorescent lamp and light-emitting diode lighting solutions more affordable, with the result that the replacement of incandescent lamps by CFL in Europe will produce a saving of 11.5TWh by 2025.

Similar reductions could also be achieved in power supplies. If state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies and electronics topologies were universally adopted, the world could reduce consumption in traditional applications by around 27%.

The second path – helping consumers change their energy-consumption patterns – is more challenging because its successful execution largely depends on local combinations of legislation and infrastructure. But enabling technologies such as smart systems, smart metering and smart grids are available and there is evidence that supplying consumers with detailed information about their energy usage patterns encourages them to conserve. A pilot program recently conducted in Finland resulted in consumers reducing their average energy consumption by 7%.

The Immovable Object

We can also encourage consumers to adopt (in whole or in part) alternative power sources such as solar, wind turbines and other renewable energy sources and make these sources more efficient. Chip companies are working hard to utilize accumulated expertise in silicon technology, electronic circuitry and system architecture to make renewable sources more cost-effective in producing, storing and distributing energy. Today’s solar cells and electrical storage technologies can store energy generated when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, then distribute that electricity during less productive times.

Finally, we must accelerate the development and deployment of smart grids to not only conserve power but redistribute it to the areas where (and when) it’s needed most. Upgrading the grid is perhaps the greatest challenge because it requires massive but seamless changes to electricity infrastructures around the world. The good news is that governments around the world have recognized that smart grids are an essential development and are looking for ways to implement them into national grids. There are many advantages to smart grids, one of which is that they facilitate the wider deployment of renewable sources.

A second incentive for introducing smart grids is that consumers would not only minimize power drawn from the grid, they could receive payments when they delivered power back to the grid. Today’s grids provide little incentive for this kind of investment.

This kind of thinking offers a solution to the dilemma of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. With everyone pulling together, and with the work of ST and other technology companies, we believe solutions will be found and semiconductor technologies will contribute greatly to them. But we need to cooperate on a global level, and the time for cooperation is now.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/01/04/semiconductors-can-address-the-worlds-energy-crisis/

Bristol to Buy Inhibitex for Hepatitis C Treatment

By: Lewis Krauskopf

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co has agreed to acquire Inhibitex Inc for about $2.5 billion to gain access to its promising hepatitis C treatment, the companies said on Saturday.

At $26 per share, the deal is a huge 163 percent premium to Inhibitex’s closing price of $9.87 on Friday.

Recent years have seen significant advances for treating hepatitis C – a serious liver disease that afflicts an estimated 180 million people worldwide – while setting off a scramble among large drugmakers to secure the most promising products.

The Bristol-Inhibitex deal comes on the heels of Gilead Sciences Inc’s $11 billion acquisition in November of Pharmasset Inc, which has its own promsing hepatitis C therapies. That deal was at an 89 percent premium.

Inhibitex’s lead asset is INX-189, an oral drug in Phase II or mid-stage development. Bristol envisions combining INX-189 with products in its own pipeline to create an all-oral regimen that would eliminate the need for interferons, which often cause flu-like side effects that lead many hepatitis C patients to stop or delay treatment.

Bristol expects the transaction to hurt earnings through 2016. That includes an expected hit to earnings per share of about 4 cents in 2012 and 5 cents in 2013.

Analysts on average expect Bristol to earn $2.01 per share in both 2012 and 2013, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/08/us-bristolmyers-inhibitex-idUSTRE80704220120108

The Virtual Anatomy, Ready for Dissection

By: Natasha Singer

People wear 3-D glasses for new movies like “The Adventures of Tintin.” But for medical school?

The answer is yes at the New York University School of Medicine, which is using 3-D technology to update a rite of passage for would-be doctors: anatomy class.

In a basement lab at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan last month, students in scrubs and surgical gloves hovered over cadavers on gurneys, preparing, as would-be doctors have for centuries, to separate rib cages and examine organs. But the dead are imperfect stand-ins for the living. Death — and embalming fluid — take a toll.

So, in an adjacent classroom, a group of students wearing 3-D glasses made by Nvidia, a graphics processing firm, dissected a virtual cadaver projected on a screen. Using a computer to control the stereoscopic view, they swooped through the virtual body, its sections as brightly colored as living tissue. First, the students scrutinized layers of sinewy pink muscles layered over ivory bones. Then, with the click of a mouse, they examined a close-up of the heart, watching as deep blue veins and bright red arteries made the heart pump.

Compared with the real cadavers in the lab next door, the virtual one seemed as dynamic as Imax.

“It’s like a living digital textbook,” said John J. Qualter, a research assistant professor of educational informatics at the medical school who helped design the 3-D installation.

The virtual human body is the creation of BioDigital Systems, a medical visualization firm in Manhattan that Mr. Qualter helped to found. It develops animations of the anatomy for drug makers like Novartis, medical device makers like Medtronic, television shows like “Mystery Diagnosis” and medical schools.

The virtual body, introduced last month at N.Y.U., represents an unusual collaboration between industry and academia. The companies, which originally paid BioDigital to develop medical animations of certain body parts for commercial purposes, agreed to let the design firm freely use the digital models for educational purposes. In recognition of N.Y.U.’s involvement, the company has pledged a small share of future revenue to the medical school.

But the medical students were merely testing an early incarnation of an ambitious project.

BioDigital plans to develop the virtual cadaver further on its new medical education Web site, biodigitalhuman.com, with the aim of providing a searchable, customizable map of the human body. Right now, Mr. Qualter said, the site is available only in a beta version. But in the coming months, the company plans to offer its code to, say, health Web sites that want to embed images of the respiratory system, or to doctors who want to show animations of prostate cancer surgery to patients.

“We wanted to use our data visualization to improve knowledge of complex health topics,” Mr. Qualter said. His firm hopes to position the virtual body as the health education equivalent of Google Maps — available as a free, easy-to-use public Web site and in an upgraded, fee-based professional version.

“We want to become a scalable model,” Mr. Qualter said, “a Google Earth for the human body.”

Mr. Qualter and his business partner, Frank Sculli, a software engineer, founded BioDigital Systems in 2002 to help companies and institutions use 3-D storytelling to make medical topics more comprehensible and compelling. For instance, the firm created an animated heart to demonstrate how an implant from Medtronic could fix a prolapsed heart valve. At N.Y.U., the firm worked with the medical school to develop animations of operations for surgical education.

Those kinds of commissions helped make BioDigital successful as a small business. But its executives concluded that its growth potential would be limited if they remained focused on one-off projects for limited audiences. Last year, they decided to combine all of their commissioned medical illustrations into one virtual human.

“As a private company, as a service business, we can make a couple of million dollars annually,” Mr. Qualter said. But, as a product firm with a searchable map of the human body to market, he said, the company has greater potential to increase revenue and improve health education. “Once the BioDigital Human is really being used by a lot of people, we can leverage that.”

IT is too soon to tell whether studying a digital human model will help medical students understand anatomy more deeply than they can by dissecting cadavers alone. But the virtual body certainly offers some advantages.

In the N.Y.U. lab, Chana Rich, a 21-year-old first-year student from Fairfield, Conn., dissected an older, female cadaver. But the dead woman had undergone a number of surgeries during her lifetime, and her body was now missing its appendix, spleen and right lung.

“She’s skinny and female,” Ms. Rich said, “so sometimes it’s hard to visualize the smaller vessels.”

A few minutes later, Ms. Rich was in the projection room, isolating the liver of the virtual cadaver and examining the blood vessels connected to it.

“In a cadaver, if you remove an organ, you cannot add it back in as if it were never removed,” she said as she adjusted her 3-D glasses. “Plus, this is way more fun than a textbook.”

But her colleague, Susanna Jeurling, a first-year medical student from Washington, disagreed. Dissecting a real cadaver, she said, gives students a unique, tactile understanding of the body.

“I don’t think this will ever replace cadavers,” said Ms. Jeurling, 24. “There’s something about being able to hold it and turn it in your hand.”

Administrators at the medical school say they have no plans to phase out dissection, an educational method that dates back to the Ptolemaic era. The 3-D digital human body is merely a complementary teaching method, said Dr. Marc M. Triola, associate dean for educational informatics.

“It’s an amazing blend of one of the oldest medical education techniques and the absolute newest,” Dr. Triola said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/business/the-human-anatomy-animated-with-3-d-technology.html?ref=health

Manufacturing Jobs and Employment Increases

The economy in the United States has obviously received plenty of good news in the month of December but besides the fact the economy is doing better, manufacturing sectors are also doing much better and therefore received good news in December as well. The nonfarm payrolls have increased by 200,000 and helped to lower the unemployment rate to a lower 8.5 percent. Employment for the manufacturing sector grew by 23,000.

When taking a look at the different sectors, some of the strongest sectors (when it comes to monthly gains) were transportation equipment, metal products, and machinery. There were a few declines within the petroleum and coal products along with furniture products. However, even with a few declines, the manufacturing company still seems to be making progress. In 2010, 109,000 manufacturing jobs were created. By 2011, 225,000 jobs were created for the manufacturing sector. This shows how much progress has been made within just the span of a year. Since 2008, more than 330,000 jobs have been acted to this sector.

Chad Moutray, a chief economist, has said, “The domestic economy — particularly among manufacturers — is starting to rebound after several weak months in mid-2011.” He also says, “More importantly, recent data suggest that manufacturers are upbeat about production and employment moving forward — a positive sign for the coming months. Yet, we should also appreciate that significant weaknesses persist in the marketplace. The unemployment rate is still stubbornly high, the housing market is improving but still depressed, economic anxieties about Europe still resonate as well as the uncertainty being created in Washington. These concerns suggest that businesses remain cautiously optimistic about 2012, mindful of the headwinds that still persist around them.”

The executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, commonly referred to as the AAM, Scott Paul, has pointed out that although the numbers for manufacturing jobs in the month of December were good, the sector has, unfortunately, shed at least one-third of its employment rate within the past ten years. While this is unfortunate, there are some who are hopeful that with the progress being made, the manufacturing sector will be able to create more employment for people who work in this particular sector.

Scott Paul says that there are quite a few challenges that will come across in the future for the manufacturing sector. Paul says, “Dampened growth in China and Europe may impact the fortunes of American exporters. Currency manipulation in China and Japan may continue to hamper manufacturing growth in the United States. Congress may impose self-inflicted wounds to our economy by refusing to expand tax breaks for plant and equipment purchases as well as clean energy manufacturing. So, there are no guarantees that manufacturing employment will continue to thrive unless Congress and the President understand exactly what is at stake.”

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2012/01/manufacturing-jobs-and-employment-increase/

US Manufacturing Activity Rises at Fastest Pace in 6 Months and Hiring at Factories Increases

Manufacturing grew in December at the fastest pace in six months and hiring at U.S. factories picked up. The data helped bolster the view that the economy gained momentum at the end of last year.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Tuesday that its manufacturing index rose to 53.9 from 52.7 in November. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.

Stocks surged in the first day of trading for 2012, in part because of reports that manufacturing grew in China and India in December, two of the world’s largest economies. The report on U.S. factory growth added to those early gains on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 250 points in the first hour of trading. Broader indexes also posted gains.

U.S manufacturing has expanded for more than two years. Factories were one of the first areas of the economy to start growing after the recession officially ended in June 2009.

The latest ISM survey showed that U.S. factories should start the year strongly. Factories hired last month at the fastest pace since June, the survey found. A measure of new orders rose, a good sign for future output. And exports also increased last month, though it’s not clear how long that will last. Europe’s economy is faltering amidst a debt crisis.

Consumers are gaining confidence and are spending more. Some economists forecast that car sales increased in December after a strong month of sales in November. That should boost output among automakers and also steel companies, tire makers and others that supply the industry.

Orders for long-lasting manufacturing goods jumped in November, the Commerce Department said last month. Most of that increase reflected a huge rise in commercial aircraft orders, a volatile category.

Still, demand for core capital goods, which are often a proxy for business investment plans, fell for the second straight month. Business spending has been a key driver of economic growth in 2011. If businesses cut back on spending, economic growth is likely to slow.

Businesses are less likely to retreat, however, if the economy continues to improve.

The Conference Board said last week that its consumer confidence index rose in December to the highest level since April. That’s important because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.

And the number of people applying for unemployment benefits each week is dropping steadily, evidence that companies are cutting fewer jobs. Weekly applications have dropped by 10 percent in the past three months.

Employers are hiring more workers, too. The economy generated an average of 143,000 net jobs a month from September through November. That’s almost double the pace for the previous three months.

The economy likely grew at an annual rate of 3 percent or more in the final three months of this year, analysts say. That would top the 1.8 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter, and the 0.9 percent growth rate in the first half of the year.

Analysts forecast a modest expansion of 2.4 percent in 2012, an Associated Press survey of economists found.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/us-manufacturing-activity-rises-at-fastest-pace-in-6-months-and-hiring-at-factories-increases/2012/01/03/gIQAZQ2CYP_print.html

Ford Opening Tech Center in Silicon Valley

By: Chris Woodyard

Other automakers have long had technology outposts in the Silicon Valley. But only now is Ford opening its own lab there. That seems a little tardy for an automaker that’s hellbent on trying to get America to think of it as a tech giant, not just an automaker.

Better late than never. Ford is planning to cast a large shadow at next week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It’s trying to make such a big impact that CEO Alan Mulally will skip the top days of the North American International Auto Show, which is going on at the same time, in order to be in Las Vegas.

He’s going to talk there about how Ford is bringing more apps to its infotainment system and lots of other high-tech vehicles like those in the next generation of the Flex crossover, shown above. The playpen for developing that technology will be the new outpost in the Silicon Valley, where Ford will spend a lot of time trying to partner with other companies.

“It’s time to prepare for the next 100 years, ushering in a new era of collaboration and finding new partners to help us transform what it means to be an automaker,” said Paul Mascarenas, Ford chief technical officer and vice president of Research and Innovation.

Other automakers, such as General Motors, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, are already in Northern California doing the same thing.

Ford’s initial forays into technology haven’t been without their problems. Consumers were complaining loudly earlier this year about confusion in trying to operate Ford’s My Ford Touch infotainment system and its confusing view screen. Ford says it has since straightened the screen by simplifying it.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/01/ford-opening-tech-center-in-silicon-valley/1

Bright Ideas: Innovation in 2011

Apple, Facebook and Google aren’t the only companies coming up with cool ideas.

Though news of the latest iPhone or Facebook remodel dominated headlines in 2011, the year saw many other companies quietly—and some not so quietly—flex their own creative muscle. Inventions ranged from the high-tech (brainy computers and self-piloting planes) to the startlingly simple (bits of paper that can diagnose some of the world’s most troubling illnesses).

While many this year mourned the loss of Apple’s Steve Jobs, considered one of the great innovators of his time, creativity and invention are far from gone.

Here is a handful of some of the year’s most impressive inventions:

IBM’s Watson Computer

Reality caught up with fiction when International Business Machines Corp.’s Watson computer system thumped two “Jeopardy!” champions in a nationally televised competition this February. The victory marked a milestone for the field of artificial intelligence, conjuring memories of the HAL 9000 computer from the classic science-fiction flick “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Watson—a group of technologies designed to understand the complex domain of words, language and human knowledge—is more than a cool R&D project. Health-plan company WellPoint Inc. plans to use Watson to help suggest treatment options and diagnoses to doctors. IBM executives believe Watson has the potential to grow into a billion-dollar business in three to five years as it is applied to other fields, such as call centers and engineering.

Watson shared the spotlight this year with one other disembodied assistant: Apple Inc.’s Siri voice-recognition software for its iPhone. While limited, Siri is a precursor for a range of new voice-activated consumer products, and could be followed with variants that make decisions for users, too, based on their past behavior and preferences.

—Spencer E. Ante

Northrop’s X-47B Drone

In February, an unmanned, bat-winged fighter jet soared over a desert north of Los Angeles in a 29-minute test flight that signaled a new age in naval aviation. This isn’t your average drone, piloted remotely with a joystick by someone with extensive flying experience. A computer takes care of the X-47B’s flight mission, while an operator can simply click a mouse to start the engines and send it on its way.

Northrop Grumman Corp.’s X-47B, which can carry up to 4,500 pounds of weapons in its two internal bays, will also be the first drone that can take off and land on the moving deck of an aircraft carrier.

Drone technology has made enormous strides over the past decade, but its limits were demonstrated late in 2011, when Iran claimed to have downed an RQ-170, a pilotless stealth aircraft operated by the U.S. military. Carrier-launched drones, set to enter service later in the decade, will be near-invisible to enemy radars.

—Nathan Hodge

Lytro’s ‘Living Pictures’

Many technological breakthoughs come from labs at big companies, but it was little Lytro Inc. that generated big buzz in the photography world.

Billed as a revolutionary development in digital photography, the Silicon Valley start-up’s still cameras create what it calls “living pictures,” which can be refocused after they are taken. When viewed through a Web browser, users can click on different spots to bring objects into focus.

Lytro says it updated a century-old invention called light-field cameras, which capture much more information than conventional digital cameras. Lytro in October began taking orders for its cameras, priced at $399 to $499, but doesn’t expect to fill them until early 2012.

—Don Clark

Leveraged Freedom Chair

Rolling around a city in a wheelchair is difficult enough without ramps and elevators. Toss in unpaved roads full of rocks and mud, as found throughout the developing world, and it becomes impracticable.

A new wheelchair created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mobility Lab could be the solution for millions of disabled people in these countries, a large share of whom live in rural areas and travel upwards of two to three miles to get to work or school, or simply stay at home.

Built with bicycle parts found cheaply and abundantly in developing countries, the Leveraged Freedom Chair costs only about $100 to make—compared with a few thousand dollars for conventional push-rim wheelchairs—and is designed with a special lever system that enables the user to muscle over rough terrain and up steep hills.

After several years of testing, the chair will begin production early next year in India, with other countries likely following.

—Scott Austin

Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve

The Sapien, made by Edwards Lifesciences Corp., does for diseased aortic valves what the stent did for clogged arteries: It enables treatment without open-heart surgery.

Sapien transcatheter heart valve.

Made partly of cow tissue and polyester and approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 2, it’s the first replacement heart valve delivered via catheter, through either a leg artery or a minor chest incision, rather than open-heart surgery.

The rise of stents, which are implanted only by cardiologists, meant a big reduction in cases for heart surgeons, rupturing relations between the fields. The new valve was developed collaboratively and can be deployed by both groups. If the device is widely adopted, Sapien’s true innovation may be in healing the rift between the specialties.

—Ron Winslow

Diagnostics for All

Postage stamp-sized paper could be a key to diagnosing some of the world’s troubling illnesses—all for less than a penny.

Diagnostics for All, a Boston-based non-profit organization created by biotechnology executive Una Ryan and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has developed a blood test using specially treated paper that channels a single drop of blood or urine and in minutes will change color if a problem is found.

Its first target is African AIDS patients with tuberculosis who often die of liver failure because of the highly potent drugs they take. This liver function test, which detects toxicity in blood, will cost 0.10 cents or less and work without external power or equipment, the group says.

—Scott Austin

Tri-Gate Transistors

Personal computers, smartphones and iPads would never have arrived without the relentless improvement of computer chips. Intel Corp. took a radical step to keep the innovation going, into the third dimension.

The Silicon Valley giant’s forthcoming microprocessors incorporate the most fundamental shift in semiconductor design since 1959. Intel is building key parts of transistors in each chip using a vertical, fin-like structure, much as architects developed high-rise buildings pack more office space in a city.

Intel says the 3-D design, a departure from the flat circuitry of previous builds, will result in 37% better performance and a 50% drop in power usage than current chips—helping to ensure that tomorrow’s gadgets will be better than today’s.

—Don Clark
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204552304577115143024715100.html#ixzz1iyIi4oEq

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HCS Corner: From the Desk of the CEO

Economics & Job Creation:

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) November Employment Situation

Chiquita to move to North Carolina

Confidence in the Economy is Increasing

Energy & Power Generation:

Growing Demand to Increase Spending on Innovative Energy

Oil Prices Continue to Drop

Life Sciences:

Treating Mental Illness with Light

New Hope for Curing H.I.V.

Multi- National Lean Manufacturing:

Bay Shipbuilding Co. Ramps Up Hiring

Clothing Company Plans to Move to South Carolina

Technology:

Facebook’s IPO Plans

Private Equity Firms Interested in Yahoo!

HCS Corner

By: Bo Burch, CEO

November tied with September as being our fourth highest billing month this year as our Life Sciences Division accelerates as compared to other divisions. Our Multinational Lean Manufacturing division continues to be strong, but we have seen some steam lost as we compare the fourth quarter to quarters one and two.

We’d like to recognize four of our University of North Carolina at Wilmington interns as they will be leaving us or graduating later this month. They are Stephanie MacConnell, Lindsay O’Neal, Rebecca Curtis and Chris Sawyer. Stephanie has been with us for over a year, Lindsay for nearly a year, Rebecca for two semesters and Chris is completing one semester. We are so fortunate to have UNCW involved with local business’ and students who have the drive and initiative to seek out an internship in the midst of a busy and full academic load. We are interviewing and selecting five new and additional interns to join the team in January.

The HCS Team would like to wish you and your family the most safe, enjoyable and festive Christmas holiday and the happiest of New Years!! Let’s make 2012 a year of giving!

The Employment Situation – November 2011

The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 8.6 percent in November, and

nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

reported today. Employment continued to trend up in retail trade, leisure and

hospitality, professional and business services, and health care. Government

employment continued to trend down.

Household Survey Data

In November, the unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percentage point to 8.6 percent.

From April through October, the rate held in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent.

The number of unemployed persons, at 13.3 million, was down by 594,000 in November.

The labor force, which is the sum of the unemployed and employed, was down by a

little more than half that amount. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men fell by 0.5

percentage point to 8.3 percent in November. The jobless rate for whites (7.6

percent) also declined, while the rates for adult women (7.8 percent), teenagers

(23.7 percent), blacks (15.5 percent), and Hispanics (11.4 percent) showed little

or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

(See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In November, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs

declined by 432,000 to 7.6 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those

jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little changed at 5.7 million and accounted

for 43.0 percent of the unemployed. (See tables A-11 and A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to

64.0 percent. The employment-population ratio, at 58.5 percent, changed little.

(See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred

to as involuntary part-time workers) dropped by 378,000 over the month to 8.5

million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been

cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In November, 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,

about the same as a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These

individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and

had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as

unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the

survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in

November, a decrease of 186,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally

adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because

they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million persons

marginally attached to the labor force in November had not searched for work in

the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family

responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 120,000 in November, in line with the

average gain for the prior 12 months (+131,000). The private sector added 140,000

jobs, as employment rose in a number of service-providing industries. Government

employment continued to trend down. (See table B-1.)

Employment in retail trade rose by 50,000 in November, with much of the increase

occurring in clothing and clothing accessories stores (+27,000) and in electronics

and appliance stores (+5,000). Since reaching an employment trough in December 2009,

retailers have added an average of 14,000 jobs per month.

Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to trend up in November (+22,000).

Within the industry, food services and drinking places added 33,000 jobs. This gain

more than offset a loss of 12,000 jobs in the accommodation industry. In the last

12 months, leisure and hospitality added 253,000 jobs, largely driven by employment

increases in food services and drinking places.

Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up in November

(+33,000). Modest job gains continued in temporary help services.

Health care employment continued to rise in November (+17,000). Within the industry,

hospitals added 9,000 jobs. Over the past 12 months, health care has added an average

of 27,000 jobs per month.

Manufacturing employment changed little over the month and has remained essentially

unchanged since July. In November, fabricated metal products added 8,000 jobs, while

electronic instruments lost 2,000 jobs.

Construction employment showed little movement in November. Employment in the

industry has shown little change, on net, since early 2010.

Government employment continued to trend down in November, with a decline in the U.S.

Postal Service (-5,000). Employment in both state government and local government has

been trending down since the second half of 2008.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at

34.3 hours in November. The manufacturing workweek was down by 0.2 hour to 40.3

hours, offsetting a 0.2 hour gain in the previous month. Factory overtime remained

at 3.2 hours in November. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory

employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 33.6 hours. (See

tables B-2 and B-7.)

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased in

November by 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $23.18. This decline followed a gain of 7

cents in October. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by

1.8 percent. In November, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and

nonsupervisory employees increased by 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $19.54. (See

tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised from

+158,000 to +210,000, and the change for October was revised from +80,000 to

+100,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Chiquita Relocating Headquarters to Charlotte

By: Ely Portillo

Chiquita is the successor company to the old United Fruit corporation, a firm whose influence over Latin American countries helped coin the term “banana republic.” In 2002, the company went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Since emerging it has acquired a salad distribution company to diversity its business.

Though Chiquita sells salads, juices and other produce, bananas still account for the lion’s share of the company’s revenues: $1.5 billion out of $2.4 billion in sales through the company’s first three quarters this year.

Earlier this month, Chiquita posted a $29 million loss for the third quarter as expenses rose and revenue fell slightly. But the volume of bananas sold rose 4.9 percent so far this year in North America, even as Chiquita raised prices 7.4 percent. Sales volumes are down slightly in Europe and have fallen a sharp 26 percent in the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Despite its iconic brand status, the company isn’t a stranger to controversy. The company agreed in 2007 to pay a $25 million fine to the U.S. Justice Department, for paying paramilitary groups in Colombia $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004.

Payments to the groups were similar to extortion, Chiquita has said, and company officials paid to protect workers in the banana fields. But the groups in question committed atrocities against Colombians, and the U.S. government labeled at least one group a terrorist organization.

The company employs about 21,000 people across more than 70 countries, most of them in Central America, where its bananas are grown. It’s sales are divided fairly evenly between North America and Europe.

Chiquita Brands International, an iconic company whose name is almost synonymous with ‘bananas,’ said Tuesday that it will move its global headquarters to Charlotte next year, bringing some 400 jobs.

The company was lured by $21.1 million in government incentives and the promise of easier international travel from Charlotte Douglas International Airport, which has grown as the Ohio airport near Chiquita’s current headquarters has shrunk.

Chiquita is in negotiations to lease five or six floors in the NASCAR Plaza office tower adjoining the racing Hall of Fame.

“This is a diversification, really an unprecedented diversification, in jobs, investment and development in our economic center,” said Charlotte Center City Partners president Michael Smith.

Chiquita CEO Fernando Aguirre, N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue and other state and local politicians announced the relocation Tuesday at the Charlotte Chamber, where the news was greeted with a standing ovation from local business leaders and government officials.

The company is set to bring an estimated 417 jobs to the city, including accountants, human resources workers, IT specialists and finance specialists. About 300 of those will be jobs that were formerly at the company’s Cincinnati headquarters.

Many of the other 100 jobs will be consolidated from Salinas, Calif., the headquarters of the former Fresh Express, which was bought by Chiquita in 2005. Some customer-facing jobs will remain in Cincinnati, like people who deal with supermarket chain Kroger.

Aguirre said he expects about half of the positions to be relocations and about half to be hired locally. The jobs will pay an average salary of over $106,000, state officials said, and Aguirre expects the move to be completed by late 2012.

The incentives package includes an estimated $16.1 million from the state in income tax withholding breaks over the next 11 years and $2.5 million from the state’s One North Carolina Fund, which is given to encourage business expansion the governor says is vital. Mecklenburg and the city of Charlotte have to match the $2.5 million state grant, a condition of the program.

The company’s investments in its Charlotte facilities will total about $14 million, Aguirre said. In addition to the headquarters, the company will also move its research and development to Mecklenburg County, and might open a second location to house those facilities.

At the NASCAR Plaza, which has struggled to lease office space and faced foreclosure proceedings last year, Chiquita branding will feature prominently on and in the building, Aguirre said.

Long, public campaign

The Duke Energy tower was lighted specially Tuesday evening to tie in with the announcement. Digital billboards around the city also went up to spread the news, the Chamber said.

Charlotte and Cincinnati have waged a long and unusually public contest for the company’s headquarters. Charlotte had been trying to lure Chiquita, the banana company, from its current location in Cincinnati for several months.

Supporters of both cities’ headquarter attempts mounted campaigns on Twitter to lure Aguirre, who frequently posts messages on the social network.

In addition to the grassroots campaign, Aguirre met with elected officials, including Gov. Perdue, Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx and Mecklenburg county commission chairwoman Jennifer Roberts. At the end of his first meeting with Perdue, Aguirre said she told him: “Fernando, I’m going to make this happen.”

He also met with airport director Jerry Orr, and attended a recent Panthers game. Aguirre didn’t recall which team the Panthers played, but said they won.

Boca Raton, Fla., dropped out of the competition for Chiquita’s headquarters after the company asked for at least $15 million in incentives, according to reports.

In the end, Ohio didn’t match North Carolina’s incentives offer, coming up with a final package of between $6 and $7 million. A government spokesman said a larger incentives package would have been money poorly spent.

“The company has issues beyond what incentives can address,” said Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. “We’re not going to be irresponsible and give away the store to try and keep a company that fundamentally doesn’t want to be here or which has already made up its mind to leave”

A Tale of Two Airports

Chiquita has been rumbling about leaving Cincinnati for some time. The city’s local airport has lost flights as travel has shifted away from Midwestern hubs, and there are far fewer routes to and from Cincinnati than there once were.

Charlotte’s airport has correspondingly grown, adding more daily local and international routes as US Airways’ presence in the city increased. Charlotte Douglas International Airport is the carrier’s busiest hub, with about 700 daily flights, 90 percent operated by US Airways.

The airport has direct flights to Frankfurt, which Chiquita has said would be “critical”, since about half of its business is in Europe. There is also a direct flight to San Jose in Costa Rica, where Chiquita has a regional headquarters.

Aguirre said the “thriving international airport” was key to Chiquita’s decision.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/11/29/2813157/charlotte-chamber-holding-business.html#ixzz1f8vd4hkr

American Confidence In Economy Rises

By: Anne D’Innocenzio

Americans’ confidence in the economy in November bounced back to its highest level since July, the latest sign that consumers are beginning to feel more cheerful about spending during the holiday shopping season.

The Conference Board, a private research firm, says Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index rose 15 points to 56.0. That’s up from a revised 40.9 in October — the lowest level since the recession — and the biggest jump since the 59.2 reading in July. The November number is encouraging, but far below the reading of 90, which indicates an economy on solid footing.

The confidence numbers are widely watched by economists because consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. The confidence of U.S. consumers has slipped amid renewed fears about a second recession. But Americans, who have been grappling with high unemployment and a weak housing market, have shown that they are feeling much more comfortable spending. Over the past weekend, for instance, they spent more than they ever have during the four-day start of the holiday shopping season.

“Consumers appear to be entering the holiday season in better spirits, though overall readings remain historically weak,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center in a statement.

Franco noted that consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved after six months of steady declines. Consumers’ anxiety regarding the short-term outlook for business conditions, jobs and income prospects eased considerably.

One barometer of the index, which measures how shoppers feel now, rose to 38.3 from 27.1. The other gauge, which measures how shoppers say they will feel over the next six months, rose to 67.8 from 50.0.

Consumers have some reason to be more confident. Earlier this month, for instance, the Labor Department reported that the job market improved modestly as unemployment rate nudged down to 9 percent in October from 9.1 percent in September. The month marked the 13th consecutive month of job gains.

http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2011/11/american-confidence-in-economy-rises

Harvard Study Calls for Radical Increase in U.S. Engery Innovation Spending

By: William Pentland

The U.S. government could save the economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually by 2050 by expanding support for energy innovation, according to the results of a three-year research project at the Harvard Kennedy School.

The report, “Transforming U.S. Energy Innovation,” begins: “The United States and the world need a revolution in energy technology—a revolution that would improve the performance of our energy systems to face the challenges ahead.”

To achieve this modest objective the report promulgates several recommendations for the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate the discovery, development and deployment of advanced energy technologies. Nevertheless, one of the report’s critical findings is experts in most areas of energy technology considered in the analysis believe that the U.S. government’s energy-innovation investments continued at current levels will likely lead to substantial improvements in performance and reductions in cost by 2030.

The study surveyed over 100 experts across a broad range of energy technologies to gauge how much research, development, demonstration (RD&D) investment is needed, and in which technologies to meet the looming energy challenges fa. The graphic included below shows the range of median reductions in overnight capital costs per technology predicted by each expert under his or her recommended energy-innovation investments per industry.

The study drew the following five recommendations for accelerating U.S. energy innovation:

The U.S. government should dramatically expand its investment in energy RD&D, focused on a broad portfolio of different energy technologies and stages of innovation.
The U.S. federal government should implement policies that create market incentives to develop and deploy new energy technologies, including policies that have the effect of creating a substantial price on carbon emissions, and sector-specific policies to overcome other market failures.
The U.S. government should take a strategic approach to working with the private sector on energy innovation, expanding incentives for private sector energy innovation, and focusing on the particular strategies likely to work best in each case.
The U.S. government should strengthen its energy innovation institutions, particularly the national laboratories, by giving them clear missions and direction; considerable management authority and flexibility with clear accountability for results; stable funding; a culture willing to invest in high-risk, high-payoff projects; and opportunities to lend their insights to the design of the policies and approaches they are helping to implement, including public-private partnerships.
The U.S. government should undertake a strategic approach to energy RD&D cooperation with other countries, to leverage the knowledge, resources, and opportunities available around the world, incorporating both top-down strategic priorities and investment in new ideas arising from the bottom-up.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2011/11/23/harvard-study-calls-for-radical-increase-in-u-s-energy-innovation-spending/

Crude Awakening: Forget Hubbert’s Peak, Think Drake’s Ingennuity

By: A. Gary Shilling

Commodity prices are collapsing, as I predicted in my Aug. 8 column. Copper is down 28% from its February top. Cotton has dropped 58% from its early March peak. Crude oil is down from its late April peak of $114 per barrel to $96, but it is still up 28% from its $76 October low.

Why? Beats me. The Arab Spring disruptions have fizzled, and Libyan oil production—zero in August—will likely reach 700,000 barrels a day at year’s end. In October OPEC cut its 2011 global demand forecast for the fourth consecutive month, this time by 180,000 barrels to 87.8 million per day.

Despite these dynamics the oil market is still worried about shortages, as first predicted by geoscientist M. King Hubbertin 1956. He examined the rise and fall of individual oilfield production and projected those patterns for the entire U.S. He then predicted a peak in output in 1970. Few believed him, but his forecast proved correct, and then shortages caused oil prices to surge in the 1970s.

Followers extrapolated “Hubbert’s Peak” globally and predicted a top in worldwide output in 2010–12. That hasn’t panned out, so they pushed it to 2015–20. They had to. Continual rises in output belied the static Malthusian shortage mentality of Hubbert’s Peak.

History shows that human ingenuity and free-market prices always overcome prospective shortages. In the mid-1800s a shortage of whales threatened to blow out all the whale-oil-fueled lights. Edwin L. Drake’s first-ever oil well in Titusville, Pa. in 1859 gave the whales a reprieve as kerosene replaced whale oil.

Initial engineering estimates of proven oilfield reserves tend to be conservative. But by accounting for further development, continual technology advances such as horizontal drilling and supportive prices, the U.S. Geological Survey calculates that 86% of total U.S. proven reserves are additions to original numbers.

New finds are adding still more. Norway’s Statoil, for example, recently discovered a potential 1.5-billion-barrel oilfield, among the five largest off Norway. With new technology permitting oil drilling under 6,000 feet of water, Petrobras discovered a huge field off the coast of Brazil under layers of salt.

The Hubbert’s Peak devotees also seem blind to the vast array of substitutes for petroleum. Hydraulic fracturing—fracking—is producing tremendous quantities of shale gas, and natural gas has plummeted from $13 per million Btu in 2008 to $3.42. U.S. gas reserves are estimated to last 100 years at current consumption rates.

Shale gas is also prevalent in China, Argentina and the U.K. With abundant natural gas, Canada is planning to ship LNG to Asia, and the U.S. is likely to retool import terminals to export LNG. South Africa’s Sasol is planning a $10 billion facility in Louisiana to convert natural gas into diesel fuel, which competes with petroleum products.

Coal has a dirty image due to sulfur and carbon dioxide emissions, but new technology is solving these problems. Coal can also be turned into gasoline and diesel fuel.

Nuclear energy is on hold in many parts of the world after the tsunami in Japan but will probably be revived, as it was after the Three Mile Island incident in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Petroleum from Canadian oil sands is relatively expensive but supported by today’s prices, and production is forecast to double to 3 million barrels a day by 2030.

Renewable energy sources such as ethanol, wind, solar and geothermal require huge government subsidies and are losing favor in the federal budget-cutting era.

On the demand side, regulations like auto-mileage minimums curtail energy consumption. Higher prices encourage efficiency. With economies here and abroad becoming more service- and less goods-oriented, global oil consumption per real GDP fell 41% from 1980 to 2010.

Shale gas excepted, cheap North American energy is fully exploited. However, most Americans favor energy efficiency and production on this continent against imports. In fact, imported energy fell to 49% of the total for sources outside North America in 2010, down from 60% in 2005. The Obama Administration is torn between the energy industry and labor unions, who want more energy development, and environmentalists, who want none.

Given the sagging global economy, expect crude oil prices to fall—barring outside shocks—with Hubbert’s Peak nowhere in sight.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2011/11/30/crude-awakening/

Lighting Up Our Mental Ills

By: Holly Finn

If Karl Deisseroth wants to change your mind, he can. At Deisseroth Lab, in the basement of the Clark Center at Stanford University, his team is proving how, using light in the brain, we may be able to switch depression, sociability and other seemingly ungovernable behaviors on and off. Just imagine how useful this could be at Thanksgiving dinner.

On his office’s metal bookshelf there’s a row of empty Champagne bottles, each downed to celebrate the publication of a scientific paper. Dr. Deisseroth, 40, reaches for an unused shot glass instead—a gift from a friend in Sweden. Shaped like a gremlin, with mismatched feet and a mischievous crown, it has “Karolinska Institutet” etched into the bottom. They’re the folks who give the Nobel Prize.

If he wins someday, it will be for contributions to optogenetics. Maybe you were at Davos with Dr. Deisseroth three years ago and heard about his budding new field. But for those who, like me, weren’t in Switzerland that week: The field combines the use of light and genetics to micromanage living tissue, including neurons in the brain. It could change our treatment of diseases ranging from epilepsy and Parkinson’s to anxiety and autism. It also could—and should—change our perceptions of those suffering them.

Take depression. The new movie “Melancholia” is getting attention not just because it features Kirsten Dunst’s comeback, Alexander Skarsgård’s jawline and the end of the planet. It indelibly depicts severe depression. We usually see such diseases only in their mildest form. The worst sufferers tend to withdraw, invisible and stigmatized, from a social world that prizes jollity. Major depression is the leading cause, globally, of disability in women, ages 15 to 44.

“It’s easy not to see these diseases as physical, as biological,” says Dr. Deisseroth—until you witness the gravest cases. “As primates, when we see another primate disrupted in this way, it creates a real, visceral response.”

Listening to Dr. Deisseroth, I’m not sure what my neurons are doing, but I feel relieved: This guy, not some antiseptic researcher, will figure out what countless Freuds couldn’t. He is incisive and empathetic, not only a neuroscientist but a psychiatrist.

Dr. Deisseroth regularly sees patients with autism and depression. “Both [conditions] are disruptive and debilitating,” he says, “but both have a feel to me of something that’s correctable.” Optogenetics gets at the biology behind them.

First you find light-sensitive proteins that occur naturally in, among other things, the DNA of algae. You install them in a brain’s neurons—so far, the brain of a lab mouse. Optical fibers connected to lasers are then attached to that brain. Light is flashed, neurons activated, results recorded. What’s revolutionary is the precision. Drugs have side effects because they’re inexact. This system activates a particular part of the brain at a particular moment.

Dr. Deisseroth shows me a video of a mouse placed in a cage with another mouse. The mouse is active and gregarious, showing interest in his new pal. A video of the same mouse, after a flash of blue light has boosted his brain’s “excitation” cells (a type of overactivity found in autism), is remarkably different. After a moment’s curiosity, he turns his back and shuffles into a corner. He remains remote, seemingly overwhelmed, and moves away when the other mouse gets close. For 30 minutes after that split-second burst of light, this mouse is not himself.

Optogenetics probably won’t make the leap from the lab to the holiday table anytime soon, if ever. It is more likely to inform the treatments of the future than to become one—making more precise the deep brain stimulation used on Parkinson’s patients, for instance, or creating “neural prostheses” after brain injury. It’s shocking to realize the frequency and severity of diseases that interfere with our brain patterns and personalities.

After a century of psychiatry, we still don’t really understand why or what to do about it. Optogenetics refocuses us on the physicality of disease and, perhaps, of all that’s human. Including choices. Some worry that this science demeans our sense of agency. Not me.

“So my bad decisions—I can blame them on something my neurons are doing here?” I ask Dr. Deisseroth, tapping the back of my head. “Actually, it’s here,” he says, kindly tapping his forehead before pointing out that, in the end, my neurons still belong to me.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204190504577040253172678244.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_8

New Hope of Cure for H.I.V.

By: Andrew Pollack

Medical researchers are again in pursuit of a goal they had all but abandoned: curing AIDS. Until recently, the possibility seemed little more than wishful thinking. But the experiences of two patients now suggest to many scientists that it may be achievable.

One man, the so-called Berlin patient, apparently has cleared his H.I.V. infection, albeit by arduous bone marrow transplants.

More recently, a 50-year-old man in Trenton underwent a far less difficult gene therapy procedure. While he was not cured, his body was able to briefly control the virus after he stopped taking the usual antiviral drugs, something that is highly unusual.

“It’s hard to understate how the scientific community has swung in its thinking about the possibility that we can do this,” said Kevin Frost, chief executive of the Foundation for Aids Research, a nonprofit group. “Cure, in the context of H.I.V., had become almost a four-letter word.”

There were attempts in the past to cure the disease, but most experts thought it more feasible to focus on prevention and treatment.

The push for a cure might seem even less urgent now that antiviral drugs have turned H.I.V. infection from a near-certain death sentence to a chronic disease for many people.

But the drugs are not available to everyone, and they do not eliminate the infection. Even if undetectable in the blood, the human immunodeficiency virus lurks quietly in the body. If a patient stops taking the drugs, the virus almost always comes roaring back.

So people with H.I.V. now must take drugs every day for life, which some researchers say is not a sustainable solution for tens of millions of infected people.

“I don’t think the world has the resources to deliver these drugs to everyone who needs them for decades,” said Dr. Steven Deeks, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

A cure may be the only realistic solution. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which says a cure is one of its top priorities, this year awarded grants that could total $70 million over five years to three research teams in pursuit of that goal. More grants are coming.

California’s stem-cell agency has committed a total of $38 million to three projects intended to find a cure. Companies like Merck, Gilead Sciences, Sangamo BioSciences and Calimmune have begun research.

It will be years before there is a cure, if there ever is, though some scientists are more optimistic than others.

“I think we are much closer to a cure than we are to a vaccine,” said Rafick-Pierre Sékaly, scientific director of the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida.

There are two main approaches. One is a so-called sterilizing cure — the eradication of H.I.V. from the body. The other, a functional cure, would not eliminate the virus but would allow a person to remain healthy without antiviral drugs.

Hope for a cure was raised in part by the experience of the Berlin patient, an American named Timothy Brown who had both H.I.V. and leukemia.

In 2007 and 2008, while living in Berlin, Mr. Brown received two bone-marrow transplants to treat his leukemia. The donor was among the 1 percent of Northern Europeans naturally resistant to H.I.V. infection because they lack CCR5, a protein on the surface of immune cells that the virus uses as an entry portal.

With his own immune system replaced by one resistant to infection, Mr. Brown, 45, who now lives in San Francisco, has apparently been free of the virus for about four years. But bone marrow transplants are grueling, risky and expensive. Moreover, it is hard enough to find an immunologically matching donor, let alone one with mutations in both copies of the CCR5 gene.

So scientists are trying to modify a patient’s own immune cells to make them resistant to infection by eliminating CCR5.

This is what was done with the Trenton patient. Some of the man’s white blood cells were removed from his body and treated with a gene therapy developed by Sangamo BioSciences. The therapy induced the cells to produce proteins called zinc-finger nucleases that can disrupt the CCR5 gene.

The treated cells were then infused back into the man’s body. One month later, as part of the experiment, the man stopped taking his antiviral drugs for 12 weeks.

As expected, the amount of H.I.V. in his blood shot up. But then it fell back to an undetectable level just before the end of the 12-week period. The patient’s immune cell counts also shot up.

“I felt like Superman,” he said in an interview, though this could have been partly because he stopped taking the antiviral drugs that had caused fatigue. The man spoke on the condition of anonymity because he has not told many friends and relatives that he has H.I.V.

Dr. Pablo Tebas, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who treated the man, said, “It is only one individual, but it is a remarkable result.” Some outside experts were cautious. “At 12 weeks, you can’t say that this therapy works and the patient is controlling it by himself,” said Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, director of the AIDS research laboratory at Weill Cornell Medical College. Nevertheless, he called the results “amazing.”

The gene therapy did not work so well for five other patients, according to results presented in September at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Researchers hypothesize that the Trenton patient did better because he had an inherited mutation in one of his two CCR5 genes, making the job easier for the gene therapy. Up to 13.5 percent of his CD4 cells, the main immune cells infected by H.I.V., were missing both copies of the CCR5 gene after the treatment. That is about twice as much as observed in the other patients.

Still, a vast majority of his CD4 cells were not genetically altered and remained susceptible to infection, making it puzzling that the therapy worked at all.

Some scientists said this suggested that freeing as little as 10 percent of CD4 cells from infection might somehow allow the immune system to control the virus. Researchers are contemplating how to increase the percentage of CCR5-deficient cells in patients who lack the Trenton man’s genetic mutation.

A team from the City of Hope and the University of Southern California, and another team from Calimmune and the University of California, Los Angeles, are working on disabling the CCR5 genes in blood stem cells. That would potentially make the entire immune system permanently resistant to infection, though patients would require a stem cell transplant.

Detractors say a functional cure would not offer much beyond existing drug therapy.

“Any approach that is going to require genetic engineering on a patient-by-patient basis is just utterly unrealistic in terms of the global epidemic,” said Dr. Robert Siliciano, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. David Margolis, of the University of North Carolina, said, “Some sort of gene therapy like that, that suppresses viral load to some extent for some period of time, is not a lot different from taking one pill once a day.”

Dr. Siliciano and Dr. Margolis are trying to eradicate the virus from the body.

H.I.V. can lie dormant for years. One refuge is the resting memory T-cells, which are the long-lived cells that “remember” exposure to a pathogen and help mount an immune response if the same germ invades the body years later.

The hope is that a drug can activate the latent virus and flush it out of its hiding places. One candidate, now being tested in a small clinical trial, is vorinostat, sold by Merck under the name Zolinza to treat a rare cancer.

Vorinostat reverses a mechanism that cells use to silence genes. H.I.V. is believed to take advantage of this mechanism to become dormant.

Another candidate, now being tested in primates, is an antibody developed by Merck to block a protein called PD-1.

But the sterilizing cure would also be challenging. “The virus is in the brain, it’s in the heart, it’s in the kidney, it’s in lots of different tissues,” said Dr. Jay Levy, a virologist at the University of California, San Francisco.

Vorinostat might activate not only the virus, but also genes that are supposed to remain silenced, causing side effects. Activating too many resting memory T-cells could lead to a dangerous immune system overreaction.

And once the cells and viruses are awakened, they would have to be killed, not just allowed to run amok.

Any attempt at a cure must be very safe, because most patients already do well on antiviral drugs, said Mark Harrington, executive director of the Treatment Action Group, an AIDS research policy organization.

Still, Mr. Brown, the Berlin patient, is now giving speeches urging work on a cure. And the Trenton patient, who is back on antiviral drugs, said he wants to be treated again.

“I feel like Oliver Twist in the orphanage,” he said, “going up with the empty bowl in his hand saying, ‘Please, may I have more, sir?’”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/health/new-hope-of-a-cure-for-hiv.html?_r=1&ref=health&pagewanted=all

Hiring Begins at Bay Shipbuilding Co.

Tidewater Marine has its ships built by Sturgeon Bay shipbuilders in the Great Lakes. Tidewater Marine is located in New Orleans. The construction of the ships by Sturgeon Bay means that more jobs will be created and commercial business could also be positively affected. The shipbuilders have already laid a keep on the first ship and a second keel will be laid in the middle of December.

“We are on an employment ramp-up, bringing back union workers, and we will get to full union employment by late December or early January,” said Gene Caldwell, vice president and general manager at Bay Shipbuilding Co.

For ships that conduct business on the Great Lakes, Bay Shipbuilding is responsible for repairing and overhauling those ships, both large and small. This is the busiest time of the year for Bay Shipbuilding, known as winter lay-up, because ships are brought in for maintenance and repair since the weather turns nasty.

Caldwell is expecting the employment at the shipyard to peak at 800 in the middle of winter this year, with anywhere from 100 to 150 new workers brought onto the staff to help with the large number of ships.

“The reason for a little bit of peak this year is because of our new construction,” he said.

There were only 250 employees at Bay Shipbuilding in the middle of November, which is a member of Fincantieri Marine Group. They share the same owner as Marinette Marine Corp. in Marinette and ACE Marine in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

There have been over $100 million in capital improvements in the Sturgeon Bay and Marinette shipyards by Fincantieri, an Italian company. On the shipyard’s waterfront property, a host of new buildings has been constructed in an effort to boost profit.

“The PSVs, which are an offshoot of workboats and off-shore supply vessels, are growing as you go into deeper water and longer distances from shore to support these larger drilling rigs,” Caldwell said. “Now they’re going into some northern regions and that’s where we came in with our expertise in ice class (vessels) and that was one of the interests that brought Tidewater to us. It is something new for us, and I think it’s the hot trend in the shipbuilding market right now. There are quite a few of them in contract right now around the world.”

Ship freighters will arrive at the shipyard beginning in January that will need major repairs. Those repairs include engine replacement and the replacing of steel parts in the ships’ cargo holds. Some of the ships that will be at the yard for repairs were constructed there 30 years ago.

“We plan on signing some more contracts and putting the shipbuilding part back at Bay Shipbuilding,” Caldwell said. “There is very much a commercial flavor to what we are looking at “For 12 to 18 months the market was very slow, no one was contracting and now it has got some momentum.”

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2011/11/hiring-begins-at-bay-shipbuilding-co/

Safety Clothing Maker Relocates to South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C.—An international manufacturer of safety clothing is relocating some operations from Egypt to bring 120 jobs to Barnwell County.

South Carolina officials said Wednesday that A&K Textiles LLC is setting up a new cut-and-sew operation in in a former Hanesbrands building.

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved the company for a rural infrastructure grant to help modify the building.

The company is relocating from Alexandria, Egypt, and is investing $150,000 in the South Carolina facility. Officials say they will begin hiring in March.

Sasco Safety, which shares an owner with A&K Textiles, has announced it would bring a division that makes highway safety products to the same building, creating 25 jobs.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/11/30/safety_clothing_maker_relocates_to_south_carolina/

Facebook Targets Huge IPO – Offering Next Year Could Raise $10 Billion, Valuing Company at $100 Billion

By: Shayndi Raice

Facebook Inc. is inching closer to an initial public offering that it hopes will value the company at more than $100 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The social networking firm is now targeting a time frame of April to June 2012 for an initial public offering, said people familiar with the matter. The company is exploring raising $10 billion in its IPO—what would be one of the largest offerings ever—in a deal that might assign Facebook a $100 billion valuation, a number greater than twice that of such stalwarts as Hewlett-Packard Co. and 3M Co.

Journal Community

A Facebook IPO has been hotly anticipated for several years, and viewed as a defining moment for the latest Web investing boom. The company has been vague about whether it would even make such an offering and silent on timing of an IPO. “We’re not going to participate in speculation about an IPO,” said Facebook spokesman Larry Yu.

The company now appears poised to go ahead with a deal. But it will likely come to market at a time when investors are beginning to question the value of some newer Internet businesses.

The most recent IPO, an $805 million float of discount-deal service Groupon Inc. on Nov. 3, has plummeted 42% in price in the past five trading days after surging in its first day of trading. Business-networking service LinkedIn Corp., whose stock more than doubled from its IPO price on its first day of trading May 19, has since fallen 36%, but remains 33% above its IPO.

IPO: Go, No-Go?

Initial public offerings aren’t always good investments. Here’s a look at some of the high-fliers and flame-outs of the Internet era

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has in the past publicly expressed reluctance to do an IPO. And he has opted to keep Facebook private longer than many suspected he would.

But he is warming to the idea. Facebook is now in internal discussions over the timing of its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and is considering filing dates as early as this year, said these people. Mr. Zuckerberg hasn’t made any final decisions, these people cautioned.

Facebook remains aloof from Wall Street and shows signs of wanting to play by its own rules.

Companies often explore an IPO once they have $100 million in revenue. Facebook is expected to debut with more than $4 billion in revenue, making it bigger than Web veteran Yahoo Inc.

Facebook has gone so far as to craft its own prospectus, said the people familiar with the matter. A prospectus document—which is filed with the SEC outlining the company’s business—is typically prepared by bankers and lawyers hired by a company.

Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman has been leading the company’s talks with Silicon Valley bankers about an IPO, said people familiar with the matter.

Bankers are aggressively pursuing the company, but Facebook remains elusive about a commitment to specific banks, even though an IPO looms. Mr. Ebersman told some bankers that he is skeptical over what contribution investment banks could make to a Facebook IPO, since the company is so highly sought after by major investors, said people familiar with the matter.

The social network, which was started by Mr. Zuckerberg in 2004 out of his Harvard University dorm room, has led the way in reshaping how people share information and interact with others on the Web. It now counts 800 million users, with 500 million users logging into the site daily.

Facebook will be required to make its financial information public by April, because the company will cross the 500-shareholder limit by the end of this year. The SEC requires companies with more than 500 shareholders to publicly disclose its financial information.

Facebook’s Growing Ambitions

Facebook could publish its financial information come April without an IPO, but board members and top executives have privately acknowledged that it would leave the company at a severe disadvantage, since they would have most of the liability that comes with being a public company, but lose out on the fundraising benefits of a public offering, said these people.

Only 13 IPOs have ever been completed with a value greater than $10 billion, and just three of those have been for U.S. companies, according to Dealogic, which tracks new securities issues. The only U.S. issuers at that size level have been Visa Inc. at $19.7 billion in 2008; General Motors Co. at $18.1 billion in 2010; and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. at $10.6 billion in 2000.

The most valuable company ever to go public was Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, which sold $21.9 billion of stock in October 2006 and finished its first day of trading with a market value of $148 billion, Dealogic said.

A Facebook offering of $10 billion would be the largest IPO by any technology or Internet company. The largest U.S. Internet IPO, the $1.9 billion sale in 2004 by Google Inc. which valued Google at $23 billion, ranks No. 3 among global Internet IPOs.

Facebook’s revenue is driven by its online advertising business, as big brands rush to the site to interact with consumers through display ads and fan pages. Facebook’s world-wide ad revenue is expected to hit $3.8 billion this year, up from $1.86 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by eMarketer. Facebook’s share of display ad revenue in the US is expected to grow to 16.3% in 2011 and 19.5% in 2012, eMarketer found.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203935604577066773790883672.html#ixzz1f6YBVvI6

PE Firm Eyes Buyout for Yahoo’s U.S. Business

By: Nadia Damouni

Thomas H. Lee Partners is interested in buying the U.S. operations of Yahoo Inc, breaking away from other bidders that are for now eyeing either a minority stake or teaming up with the Internet giant’s partners in Asia, sources familiar with the matter said.

THL is hoping to do a leveraged buyout of Yahoo’s U.S. business – which could be worth $5 billion to $6 billion – and draw on its experience running other media assets such as Nielsen Co, Clear Channel and Univision to turn around the ailing company, the sources said.

In taking this approach, THL is charting a different path than other private equity firms such as Silver Lake, KKR and TPG, which are expected to put in bids for a stake of up to 20 percent in the company on Monday, sources said.

Microsoft Corp is helping to finance a possible Silver Lake investment in Yahoo, which has a market value of about $19 billion, the sources said.

Yahoo’s board is expected to meet on Tuesday to assess the possibility of a minority investment, the sources said.

Another group of firms, including Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman, is in talks to team up with China’s Alibaba Group and Japan’s Softbank Corp, the sources said.

Any deal for Yahoo is still some time away. But THL’s interest adds yet another twist in the behind-the-scenes maneuvering as bidders jockey for the best position to eventually forge a deal for Yahoo, betting they can turn around the company’s fortunes with better management.

The Internet pioneer has seen growth stagnate in recent years due to competition from the likes of Google Inc and Facebook, and is currently without a permanent CEO as it tries to regain relevance in the new dot-com era.

Yahoo’s board fired CEO Carol Bartz in September and started the strategic review, which has been complicated by the different agendas of players with a say in the situation, including its Asian partners, co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, the board and shareholders.

Yahoo, THL, Microsoft, Blackstone, KKR and Silver Lake declined to comment. The other private equity firms were not immediately available for comment.

PIPE DEAL

Several other parties including THL are expected to sign confidentiality agreements later this week which would give them access to Yahoo’s financial information, the sources said.

TPG, KKR, Silver Lake and Microsoft have already signed confidentiality agreements with Yahoo over the last few weeks allowing them to prepare offers for a minority investment in Yahoo.

Their investment could come in the form of a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction. PIPE investors typically get stock at a discount to the public market valuation, so price could prove to be a sticking point in a deal, especially when the board might have other options before it, the sources said.

The board “is going to make decisions on how to pursue a PIPE deal,” one of the sources said, adding that the company and the suitors had different value expectations.

Keeping the initial investment below 20 percent would allow Yahoo to avoid putting the proposal up for a shareholder vote. “Yahoo has to decide whether they need to cram it down shareholders’ throats,” the source said.

Several private equity firms are taking the minority investment route with the idea that they could then team up with Yang and Filo, who together own another 9.5 percent of the Internet company, Reuters has previously reported.

That combined stake could further be raised by a large share buyback financed with debt, giving the owners a blocking position in the company and giving them a prime spot for a leveraged buyout sometime in the future.

However, Yahoo’s board would have to pursue all possible options as part of the strategic review, the source said. That means the company will need to see offers by firms in the others’ camps as well.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/29/us-yahoo-idUSTRE7AS07120111129

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November Prosperity at Work E-Tip

intern — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:27:39 +0000

November Prosperity at Work E-Tip

HCS Corner:

Encourage Others

Economics & Job Creation:

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) October Employment Situation

CareerBuilder CEO and Buffet discuss Job Creation in U.S.

Starbucks Helping to Create Jobs

Energy & Power Generation:

Secretary of Energy on Green Energy

Renewable Energy Map

Life Sciences:

GE has new $1 Billion Cancer Project

Population Increase Effect on Life Science Industy

Multi- National Lean Manufacturing:

Nephron to build new plant in South Carolina

Made in America – Millions of New Jobs

Technology:

Tech Jobs help to lower unemployment

IBM’s new CEO made it to the Top with Confidence

HCS Corner – Encouraging Others to Trust & Stretch!

By: Bo Burch, Chief Principal – Human Capital Solutions Inc. bo@humancs.com

Let me tell you a story about a young man named Palmer. When he was eight years old he was having nightmares about snakes and was having trouble sleeping. One day before bedtime, I tugged on his ear and said, “I am pulling all the bad dreams out.” I then tightened my fist as if I was holding the bad dreams and threw them across the room. I then massaged his forehead and said, “I am putting good dreams inside your head.” The peaceful smile that spread across his face was priceless. Much to his delight and my surprise, it worked! The snakes were gone!

Not long after that, he returned the favor. Palmer challenged to improve my memory when I meet someone by remembering their name. He noticed I often ask a person I meet their name after they’ve told me early in the conversation or introduction. It felt good! This young man cared enough about me to provide that important feedback. I did and continue to employ improved listening skills when meeting people and that feels good, but to have one of my friends, my son Palmer believe in me, encourage and challenge me (even if he was eight) felt just as good.

The lesson? Don’t underestimate what encouragement and believing in someone can do. You may say, “Who am I to encourage this person? I am not of their economic level or status, or I am only eight!” But, in reality, that is irrelevant and will inspire them on to better things.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to coach, encourage and challenge people I come into contact with to always be positive, encouraging, do their best and help others! I am so thankful my son Palmer helped me fight off the snakes and his lesson to me in helping others along the way!

Please visit our Candidates page and click on Search Career Opportunities to see our currently open positions.

The Employment Situation — October 2011

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in October (+80,000),

and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.0 percent, the U.S.

Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in the private

sector rose, with modest job growth continuing in professional and

businesses services, leisure and hospitality, health care, and mining.

Government employment continued to trend down.

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the

unemployment rate (9.0 percent) changed little over the month. The

unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2

percent since April. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate declined for

blacks (15.1 percent) in October, while the rates for adult men (8.8

percent), adult women (8.0 percent), teenagers (24.1 percent), whites

(8.0 percent), and Hispanics (11.4 percent) showed little or no

change. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.3 percent, not seasonally

adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In October, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27

weeks and over) declined by 366,000 to 5.9 million, or 42.4 percent of

total unemployment. (See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate remained at 64.2 percent

in October, and the employment-population ratio was little changed at

58.4 percent. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons

(sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) decreased by

374,000 to 8.9 million in October. These individuals were working part

time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable

to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In October, 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor

force, about the same as a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally

adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and

were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the

prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had

not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table

A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 967,000 discouraged workers

in October, a decrease of 252,000 from a year earlier. (The data are

not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not

currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available

for them. The remaining 1.6 million persons marginally attached to the

labor force in October had not searched for work in the 4 weeks

preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family

responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in October

(+80,000). Over the past 12 months, payroll employment has increased

by an average of 125,000 per month. In October, private-sector

employment increased by 104,000, with continued job growth in

professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, health

care, and mining. Government employment continued to contract in

October. (See table B-1.)

Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up

in October (+32,000) and has grown by 562,000 over the past 12 months.

Within the industry, there have been modest job gains in recent months

in temporary help services and in management and technical consulting

services.

Employment in leisure and hospitality edged up over the month

(+22,000). Since a recent low point in January 2010, the industry has

added 344,000 jobs.

Health care employment continued to expand in October 2011 (+12,000),

following a gain of 45,000 in September. Offices of physicians added

8,000 jobs in October. Over the past 12 months, health care has added

313,000 jobs.

In October, mining employment continued to increase (+6,000); oil and

gas extraction accounted for half of the increase. Since a recent low

point in October 2009, mining employment has risen by 152,000.

Manufacturing employment changed little in October 2011 (+5,000) and has

remained flat for 3 months. In October, a job gain in transportation

equipment (+10,000) was partly offset by small losses in other

manufacturing industries.

Within retail trade, employment increased in general merchandise

stores (+10,000) and in motor vehicle and parts dealers (+6,000) in

October. Retail trade has added 156,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

Construction employment declined by 20,000 in October, largely

offsetting an increase of 27,000 in September; both over-the-month

changes largely occurred in nonresidential construction. Employment in

both residential and nonresidential construction has shown little net

change in 2011.

Employment in other major private-sector industries, including

wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and

financial activities, changed little in October.

Government employment continued to trend down over the month (-24,000),

with most of the October decline in the non-educational component of

state government. Employment in both state government and local

government has been trending down since the second half of 2008.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was

unchanged at 34.3 hours in October. The manufacturing workweek rose by

0.2 hour to 40.5 hours, and factory overtime remained at 3.2 hours.

The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on

private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours in

October. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In October, average hourly earnings for all employees on private

nonfarm payrolls increased by 5 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $23.19. This

increase followed a gain of 6 cents in September. Over the past 12

months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.8 percent. In

October, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and

nonsupervisory employees increased by 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to

$19.53. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for August was revised

from +57,000 to +104,000, and the change for September was revised

from +103,000 to +158,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

CareerBuilder CEO and Warren Buffet Talk U.S. Job Creation and Economic Recovery

When (almost) alone in a room with American business magnate and investor Warren Buffett, what do you ask him? CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson appeared on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop” this morning to talk about just that. Buffett, Ferguson and a few other business leaders met last evening during Buffett’s stop in Chicago for an event for Junior Achievement, and discussed everything from U.S. job creation and the outlook for our nation’s economic recovery, to philosophies on business and the housing market.

This was the first time Buffett and Ferguson had gotten a chance to meet. On “In the Loop,” Ferguson shared a couple of highlights from their discussion:

Long-term predictions: Buffett believes that, while the U.S. is going through tough times right now, we will bounce back, the unemployment rate will come down and we’ll find ways to create jobs for everyone in society.

Short-term predictions: Right now, Buffett is focusing his closest attention on the housing market. He believes that when the housing market returns, we’ll see a broad range of industries related to housing or down the system from what housing creates. He thinks the housing market bouncing back is a lot closer than many of many people think.

The current skills shortage — and why we should care

Ferguson said our current skill shortage is a longer-term issue that, though it won’t be changed overnight, must be addressed now.

As a result of a long and deep recession, technology evolution, and globalization, we’re in a position where we have a lot of jobs — and not enough workers with the right skills to fill them. “We have to re-skill a lot of Americans into new industries, and it’s not something that happens in 3 or 4 months — companies have to participate in it and government has to incent it. If we don’t start investing in it now, we’re going to look back 2 years from now and say, ‘I wish we’d started that,’” Ferguson said.

In industries like information technology, health care, and engineering, Ferguson pointed out that we’re seeing a mismatch in skills. There are more job postings for some types of IT jobs this September than last, for example, but they’re staying open longer because there’s an undersupply of people in the U.S. who have the right skills for those jobs.

The key, Ferguson said, is to reskill people into various areas of those industries and help provide employment in the long term for them — but as he stressed, it will take all of us working together to do it. The positive news is that broad-based areas like customer service, marketing and sales are starting to make a comeback — a good leading indicator, Ferguson said, of the underlying health of the economy, and a sign that we may see better job creation as we move into 2012.

http://thehiringsite.careerbuilder.com/2011/10/28/careerbuilder-ceo-and-warren-buffett-talk-u-s-job-creation-and-economic-recovery/#more-14355

Get Your Starbucks, Create a Job

By: Catherine Clifford

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Starting Tuesday, Starbucks coffee drinkers can get their morning caffeine fix and help create jobs in small businesses across the country.

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX, Fortune 500) unveiled a program last month to help raise money to spur hiring among small businesses, considered the nation’s job engine.

“We have a crisis of confidence in this country. Washington is not producing the leadership we need and I think it is time that corporations and business leaders realize that we too have to do something. We can’t wait for Washington,” said Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in an interview with CNNMoney. “So this, in a sense, is using Starbucks’ scale for good.”

Scale, indeed. Starbucks has tens of millions of customers visiting its stores every week, according to Jim Olson, a spokesperson for the coffee giant. Starbucks will accept donations at almost 6,800 locations across the nation, in addition to its website at www.CreateJobsforUSA.org.

The program — called Create Jobs for USA – will pool donations from customers, employees, or any concerned American, which will be given to the Opportunity Finance Network.

Regulation Nightmares

The Opportunity Finance Network consists of 180 community development financial institutions, which lend to many organizations, including small businesses. The idea is that if small businesses have capital, they will hire.

A community development financial institution, or a CDFI, is an organization certified by the Treasury Department. It gives low-interest government loans, grants and tax credits to organizations that specialize in economically developing, low-income and otherwise underserved markets.

Sense of responsibility

This is not the first time that Schultz has used his company as a platform. He corralled more than 100 CEOs to sign a pledge to stop making political campaign contributions.

“This is not about marketing. This is not about Starbucks. This is about us saying to ourselves, we can’t sit by and be a bystander any longer,” said Schultz. “It is about investing back into America.”

And the idea is to instill that sense of responsibility and pride in Americans, too: patrons who donate at least $5 will get red, white and blue wristbands with “indivisible” printed on them.

For every $5, the CDFI should be able to lend out $35. According to estimates compiled by Opportunity Finance Network and independent economists, a new job will be created or saved for every $21,000 loaned, or every $3,000 donated.

That adds up to a lot of jobs: Starbucks expects to get millions of dollars in donations, and that is on top of the $5 million that the Starbucks Foundation is contributing to jumpstart the program.

Ditching Debt

CDFIs in the Opportunity Finance Network have an average 98% repayment rate, meaning that almost all the dollars donated will be recycled — or loaned out again.

Stepping up to the challenge

CNNMoney spoke to a handful of people and found that the majority of them had not heard about the program. But Tuesday was only day one of the initiative. And the reaction to the program was mixed.

Jennifer Pupovic, a 20-year old student, who goes to goes to Starbucks every day, said she will not likely donate to the program. “I am a student,” he said. “It is tough with the tuition costs. They are very high.”

Savas Sevil, owner of the Central Park Bicycle Shop, said he supports the idea of the program, but he couldn’t exceed his annual budget for donations. “We create a lot of jobs here, so I am helping in that sense,” he added.

Meanwhile, 24-year-old graduate student Shiemi Lim said she might donate to the fund. She would want to investigate who exactly is getting the money, but if she does decide to give money, getting a bracelet in recognition of her donation wouldn’t much matter. “If I am giving, I am giving, I don’t need a bracelet,” she said.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/01/smallbusiness/starbucks_jobs/

Steven Chi’s Gamble on Green Energy

By: William Pentland

For better or worse, Steven Chu, President Obama’s Nobel-prize winning Secretary of Energy, is likely to have greater influence over the world’s future energy economy than any other single person alive today.

In the past two years, Chu has orchestrated the most significant public investment in energy innovation in U.S. history. The objective is transforming today’s high-carbon, low-efficiency energy systems into tomorrow’s low-carbon, high-efficiency systems. Whether this epic effort fails or succeeds, history will likely hold Secretary Chu responsible.

The smart money says Chu will succeed. Exhibit A: the Energy Department‘s recently released “Report on the First Quadrennial Technology Review.”

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technologyrecommended that the Energy Department undertake the QTR to establish a principled framework for managing federal investments in energy research and development.

Chu has risen to the challenge. In the foreword, Chu says:

Traditionally, the Department’s energy strategy has been organized along individual program lines and based on annual budgets. With this QTR, we bind together multiple energy technologies, as well as multiple DOE energy technology programs, in the common purpose of solving our energy challenges. In addition, the QTR provides a multi-year framework for our planning. Energy investments are multi-year, multi-decade investments. Given this time horizon, we need to take a longer view.

This is vintage Chu. Long before become the Secretary of Energy, Chu pioneered an equally radical research platform at Stanford University calledBio-X, which brings novel interdisciplinary strategies to bear on important challenges in bioscience.

Over the past two years, the DOE has expanded on the Bio-X model by funding “energy innovation hubs” to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. Unlike linear R&D programs based on the process envisioned byVannevar Bush, the innovation hub is deeply informed by the feedbacks and spillovers that shape and sustain the energy innovation ecosystem. These hubs are devoted to developing clusters of technologies for next-generation energy applications. Here is how the DOE describes the energy innovation

The Department’s Energy Innovation Hubs are helping to advance promising areas of energy science and engineering from the earliest stages of research to the point of commercialization where technologies can move to the private sector by bringing together leading scientists to collaborate on critical energy challenges.

The Energy Innovation Hubs aim to develop innovation through a unique approach, where scientists and engineers from many disciplines work together to overcome the scientific barriers of development. In this environment, they can accomplish greater feats more quickly than they would separately.

For example, last year, the Department of Energy awarded a $130 million in federal grants to a team or researchers led by Pennsylvania State University and United Technologies to establish the Energy Efficient Building Systems Regional Innovation Cluster in a 30,000-square-foot building in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard. The hub is piloting a portfolio of advanced energy-efficient building technologies and designs using sophisticated sensors and modeling equipment with the goal of creating technologies capable of reducing energy use in existing buildings by 50% by 2015.

Similarly, the DOE selected a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratoryin Tennessee to operate the “Nuclear Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub,” which is pioneering a modeling technology run on a supercomputer called the Virtual Reactor that allows researchers to stand in the center of a virtual reactor, observing coolant flow, nuclear fuel performance, and even the reactor’s response to changes in operating conditions.

If these and similar investments achieve anything approaching the results they were designed to deliver, Chu will likely be considered the most successful Secretary of Energy in America’s history. The converse is true if those investments fail. In either scenario, the stakes are tremendously high for America’s future economy and the planet’s environmental welfare.

Chu has been a catalyst for radically reframing the federal government’s energy juggernaut. In 2009, Steven Koonin, the Under Secretary for Science, summarized this sentiment concisely while speaking at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, OH. Koonin explained that academics working in energy policy talked about energy “problems.” By contrast, energy executives in the private sector characterize those problems as “challenges.”

“In government, we don’t have energy ‘problems’ or energy ‘challenges,’” said Koonin. “We have energy ‘opportunities.’”

Let’s hope Chu didn’t waste this one.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2011/11/06/steven-chus-gamble-on-green-energy/

Where the Renewable Energy Is

By: Allison Linn

We hear a lot of talk about the need to reduce the nation’s dependence on costly fossil fuels, but what’s actually being done about it?

The Natural Resources Defense Council has created an interactive mapshowing where some major types of renewable energy facilities have either already been built in the United States, or are being planned.

Want to know if your air conditioner may soon be powered by the sun? The new graphic will show exactly where the new solar facilities are planned, who is constructing them and what the capacity is. It also allows you to zero in on your state or even zip code.

The list includes wind, solar, advanced biofuels and geothermal facilities, as well as biodigesters. That’s energy based on animal manure.

The NRDC said it didn’t include hydropower in the chart because it was originally focusing on new renewable energy technologies, and there currently aren’t any new hydropower facilities under construction. However, the nonprofit environmental advocate said it may add those down the road.

Hydroelectric power is currently one of the major sources of renewable energy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Although portions of the map are crammed with wind turbines and other symbols, for now at least renewable energy is still a very small portion of our overall energy consumption.

Renewable energy accounted for just 8 percent of our overall energy consumption in 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Nuclear energy accounted for another approximately 9 percent, while coal, petroleum and natural gas made up the rest.

http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/03/8620341-good-graph-friday-where-the-renewable-energy-is

GE’s $1 Billion Cancer Project: Raising the Bar on Social Business

By: Haydn Shaughnessy

GE’s healthymagination project is setting the pace for cancer care as well as defining what it means to be a social business. Back in September GE announced it would spend $1billion on cancer-related R&D over the next five years. The $100 million healthymaginationchallenge is a part of that – essentially a crowdsourcing platform to generate new ideas from screening to diagnoses to treatment and care for breast cancer

Earlier this week I got a chance to talk with Mike Barber, the GE VP who heads up healthymagination.

The fascinating aspect of the project is that the output metrics, what GE gets back on its money, according to Mike, are all related to patients.

The hope is for the $1 billion to deliver better care to 10 million patients by 2020, and healthymagination to positively impact 1 million women.

The investment though is not just about delivering these noble social objectives. That would make in only philanthropic.

The strength of the investment resides in creating shared value, and that is what makes it a strong, and significant, social business strategy. One we should all care about.

Let’s think how.

If you try to nail down what spending $100 million on healthymagination means to GE’s business then the best you can get to is “a richer business ecosystem”. There is no revenue ROI involved. There are no senior executive metrics that stipulate that the $100 million must produce, say, a new $1billion a year business. It doesn’t have an innovation metric like 5 new products of 20% in cost savings.

Mike says GE are looking “at the yield in terms of have we found new ideas, new concepts and concepts that impact patients, and long term, have we created a new ecosystem of new partners?”

This new business ecosystem is a way of describing shared value.

We need to be a alert to how new it is for companies to invest in something that would traditionally be seen as ill defined and to take a strategic view without a return on investment in the way that ROI is traditionally understood.

In fact the business process appears vague when compared to traditional $100 million investments.

In place of revenue, the return is all about ecosystems, new players, new opportunities.

By any traditional yardstick that vagueness would paralyze decision making in many companies. Few would pony up for a new ecosystem.

And if you talk to executives involved in innovation that’s what you find – there’s plenty of cash but an inability to make crucial decisions in part because traditional business calculations don’t seem to stack up or appear to need ground work or paradigm change.

The $100 million GE investment though will help generate new business ecosystems – drawing in people from new specialist backgrounds such as data analytics, software developers and …. who knows. At the very least you can anticipate that such a highly scaled challenge will entice very bright people.

But to invest in ecosystems you need faith in a new business process. And that’s what is so impressive about the project.

The investment might lead to a new paradigm for cancer care, though that is uncertain. GE’s business will be boosted by strong relationships with everyone in an emerging new paradigm. It might be able to cherry pick a new generation of solutions.

What GE seem to be saying though is that you can’t really control the ecosystem approach to business. As challenges become more complex the appropriate strategy is one that mixes new ingredients into the soup and then waits to see what kind of flavours come out.

Though it sounds risk laden it is in fact a very sapient approach. It acknowledges that GE can’t control the future, that it needs new partners, and that the challenge opens new opportunities for other members of the ecosystem not just for GE. Hence the shared value. But someone has to lead and GE is taking on that mantle.

If that gives hope to cancer sufferers it also bring opportunity to nascent companies. $100 million well spent. And a new way of doing business.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2011/11/05/ges-1-billion-cancer-project-raising-the-bar-on-social-business/2/

Population Dynamics: Future Opportunities for the Life Sciences Industry?

By: MaryClaire Kenworthy, Managing Director – Human Capital Solutions Inc. maryclaire@humancs.com

As we look to the future, our global community will be experiencing significant and more rapid population growth. Our world population just hit the seven billion mark and we’re now adding one billion net people to the planet every twelve years. Based on statistics from the UN Population Fund (UNPF), our globe will reach nearly ten billion by 2050. These growth rates are staggering and unprecedented, so what will be the effect of these interesting population dynamics on the industry that provides groundbreaking new medicines and nutrition to support healthy individuals? What could this mean to job growth in the Life Sciences Industry?

The addition of another billion people over the next twelve years will drive demand for 40% more food, 40% more fresh water and 50% more energy. Based on projections, we will experience the majority of population increase from the sub-Saharan African and South Asian regions. Northern climate populations will decline and some of the major economic power houses such as Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia will add fewer people in 2025 than today. The demographic increases will be primarily elderly and female. Across the globe, the population will expand more urbanely than rurally. While these statistics are concerning, we must consider the upside of population growth. Based on the population growth and the demographic shifts, we need to consider the impact on Human Capital and what the growth and the shifts may mean related to the demand for skills and job creation.

First, population growth can be positive. Growth and increased birthrates can provide a base of youthful employment expertise, including many young men and women. These young, driven professionals can provide very beneficial results related to productivity, efficiency, creativity, innovative thinking and ultimately, positive contributions to an improved quality of life. Youth entering the work force are prepared for dedicating resources and time to delivering productive outcomes. Leveraging the energy of more young people can yield rich dividends in economic growth and prosperity.

Second, to be able to innovate and address the needs of emerging markets will be pivotal as a focus point for the industry. These markets are growing with expanding healthcare needs. Efforts and funding will provide innovation and devoted resources to these markets contributing to even more success of the industry. The human capital required to support emerging markets goes hand-in-hand with the innovation and discovery required in these “up-and-coming” regions. This combination of more devoted resources plus applicable skills will reap positive revenue growth long-term.

Third, due to the increased population base in urban areas, there will be constraints on distribution in the healthcare market. Accelerated urbanization will create new opportunities for more efficient drug distribution and will require strategies to improve healthcare systems in large urban areas. The need to identify and hire the best talent that will drive effective provision of optimal drug therapy and superior healthcare will be more in demand than ever in the coming years.

Fourth, the relationship between health, disease and the depletion of natural resources and the environment is likely to receive more visibility and focus. Interventions, tools, technologies and methodologies that assist in increasing resource supplies represent a strong potential growth area for companies active in life sciences. This sets the stage for more proliferation of efforts regarding pharma in the years ahead. Cancer prevention and diagnostics along with nutrition management, food supplements, the prevention and control of obesity are research targets that will an impetus for research and job growth creation.

The ever-changing dynamics in the Life Sciences industry will continue to manifest daily and the key to organizational success continues to lie with effectively recruiting, developing and retaining the best talent that drives results for the company.

One of the most profound statistics stated by the UNPF to the seven billion society: an infant born in the US today has a 50 percent chance of living to the age of 100. Wow! What a time to be alive and working and investing in innovative compounds!

Florida’s regulatory pace led Nephron to seek site in South Carolina

By: James T. Hammond & Chuck Crumbo

As recently as July, Lou Kennedy, co-owner and CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals, was planning a $313 million manufacturing and research campus to be located at the generic drug maker’s Orlando, Fla., location. But in a moment of piqué with Florida regulators, she turned to a friend and former classmate, Sam Konduros of Greenville, for advice.

Konduros, a veteran economic development consultant, put Kennedy in touch with the S.C. Department of Commerce.

(Pictured, William and Lou Kennedy are flanked by Gov. Nikki Haley and Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt at today’s announcement. Photo/James T. Hammond)

Today, the Florida-based drug manufacturer announced it is investing the $313 million to build new facilities on a 68-acre site in the Saxe Gotha Industrial Park at Cayce in Lexington County.

The new facility is expected to employ 707 workers, with annual salaries averaging about $70,000. The company will need manufacturing workers, human resources staff, engineers and researchers.

Kennedy said she aims to staff the new facilities with people from South Carolina, rather than relocating people from Florida. Midlands Technical College will assist in training new employees for the plant.

“The decision to expand into South Carolina was based on several reasons, which included insurance concerns, need for geographic diversity of operations, competitive marketplace and state incentives. While the new facilities will be located in South Carolina, Nephron is committed to the Orlando area,” she said in a press release.

“We will continue to operate 250,000 square feet of manufacturing, distribution and packaging facilities in the city of Orlando. Additionally, we control approximately 60 acres adjacent to our existing operations, where the expansion into biologics/vaccines remains a strong possibility for us.”

In an interview this morning following the announcement, Lou Kennedy said she aims to get started on the facility right away. She said she does not yet have a general contractor, but will soon take care of that detail.

The decision to locate the new facility in Lexington County has moved rapidly. Lou Kennedy and her husband, co-owner William Kennedy, have a complete plant design by Orlando architects and engineers for the Orlando site. Last summer, they were also considering a site in Murray, Ky., where they already have a distribution facility.

But her contact with Konduros, and a later conversation with Gov. Nikki Haley, who urged Kennedy to rethink the location and put it in South Carolina, changed their direction quickly.

“We weren’t even thinking about South Carolina last summer,” she said.

Now they aim to adapt that design to the Lexington County site. She has already had a site engineering work done by a Columbia firm, Alliance Consulting Engineers.

Last year, the couple gave $30 million to the S.C. College of Pharmacy to add entrepreneurial expertise to the program.The Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center is housed on the University of South Carolina. They are both South Carolina natives and graduates of the University of South Carolina. She is from Lexington County; he is from the Upstate.

Nephron Pharmaceuticals manufactures respiratory medications. The company employs about 400 people there. The company already employs interns from the S.C. College of Pharmacy in its Florida operations. William Kennedy said they hope to greatly expand the connection between the company and the pharmacy school once the Cayce plant is built.

Nephron is a privately owned company with about $175 million in sales annually, William Kennedy said.

The company’s payroll today totals $33 million annually, with the average wage of around $70,000, said Lou Kennedy.

The pharmaceutical plant will be park’s third occupant, said Chuck Whipple, director of economic development for Lexington County.

Nephron will join Amazon.com, which is opening a 1 million- square-foot distribution center in January, and South Carolina Electric & Gas, which has a training facility in the park, Whipple said.

Two tracts, one of 90 acres and another consisting of 80 acres, remain for development, Whipple said.

http://www.columbiabusinessreport.com/news/41492-florida-rsquo-s-regulatory-pace-led-nephron-to-seek-site-in-south-carolina?rss=0

Bringing America Back: Up to 3M New Jobs Possible as U.S. Manufacturing Make Comeback

By: David Muir and Enjoli Fancis

Two million to 3 million U.S. jobs could be created in the next five years as “Made in America” manufacturing becomes more economical in the United States, according to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group.

“About 10 years ago, we started outsourcing things like appliances and computers, and a significant amount of goods that make up a lot of U.S. manufacturing,” said Harold Sirkin, lead author of the study. “That’s now changing because of what’s going on in China. Wages are rising rapidly, and U.S. [labor] is four times as productive as Chinese labor. ,,

“So as China labor goes up in price, it becomes more economical to produce goods in the U.S.,” Sirkin said.

The study found that the sectors most likely to return would be transportation goods, electrical equipment/appliances, furniture, plastics and rubber products, machinery, fabricated metal products and computers/electronics. They account for about $2 trillion in U.S. consumption per year and nearly 70 percent of U.S. imports from China.

‘Tipping Point’ Has Started

According to the Boston Consulting Group, these industries could add $100 billion in output to the U.S. economy and lower the U.S. nonoil trade deficit by 25 percent to 35 percent.

Sirkin said a “tipping point” in which certain goods would be more economical to make in the United States, had already started.

“It’s still slow, but companies are moving goods back from China, back to the United States,” he said. “A few days ago Ford announced that they were moving 12,000 jobs back from Mexico and China because of an agreement with [the United Auto Workers] — that makes those jobs productive.”

He said more and more companies were deciding that “made in America” simply made more sense.

One of those companies is tire maker Continental AG, which announced Thursday that it was building a half-billion-dollar plant in Sumter County, S.C. The new plant would manufacture car and truck tires for the U.S. car market, and bring 1,600 jobs to the area. It is a major turnaround in an industry that for the past decade has seen plants shuttered in the U.S. in favor of overseas operations.

“If you have goods close to the customer, you don’t have all that inventory sitting on that water,” Sirkin said. “Companies are beginning to realize this as costs get narrower and narrower. It’s a difference, and they are starting to move plants and equipment back to the United States.”

He said for U.S. companies it had become an economic question, not necessarily a patriotic one. No matter the reason, for the Americans desperately in need of jobs, news that more companies might be hiring is always welcome.

Farouk Systems USA, a hair dryer company in Houston, has seen that firsthand. It has already brought 1,200 jobs back from China recently, giving people like Patricia Benitez, a wife and mother of four, a shot at a new future.

Sirkin said there were ways to speed up the return of companies to the states.

“There are incentives that can be made by the government that would help make that transition easier because it may not be economic for companies over the next two to three years but will be in the next five,” he said. “There can be incentives that can be made over taxes.”

Sirkin also had advice for consumers in the U.S., where 75 percent of consumer goods are currently made.

“It would be nice if people could focus on ‘Made in America,’” he said. “We could move that number from 75 to a larger number, and that would create a tremendous number of jobs. … You can move the needle by 2 [million] or 3 million jobs by just some small changes.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/bringing-america-back-3m-jobs-us-manufacturing-makes/story?id=14685427

Tech Employment Helps Lower Unemployment

Tech employment seems to be at an all time high and because of the demand for tech employees, unemployment rates are decreasing drastically. The unemployment rate went from 11 percent in 2010 to 9.8 percent at the same time this year, in 2011.

The tech employment is one of the main reasons for the significant decrease in unemployment rates but other job industries helped play a part as well. The construction industry, which was once troubled, has recovered and many employees have found constructions jobs within the past year.

Technology jobs, construction jobs, and health-related jobs have increased within the past year. The demand for employees has increased and those who are looking to find an in-demand profession may want to consider one of these job fields. By September of 2011, over 1,000 construction jobs were available which helped hundreds of job seekers find necessary work. The health-related industry had an increase of 1,200 jobs which also helped many people find the employment that they were seeking.

Connie Brock, the ProMatch program manager, says, “We had a five-month waiting list to get in here a year ago. We have no waiting list now. Many people I’m meeting with daily have multiple offers.” This is great news for job seekers, especially those who have been waiting for employment for quite some time now. Individuals in the 40-50 age category were hit the hardest during the recession and are now finding employment in different job industries that are being created. The economy is getting better and available jobs are expected to increase dramatically over the next couple of years.

Many companies are now looking to expand and grow their business while the economy begins to stabilize. When a company chooses to expand, they will obviously need to hire more employees to keep running and keep their business successful. This is good for job seekers because they will be the ones finding plenty of job opportunities to choose from whereas in the previous years, job opportunities were scarce and hard to find.

Technology is an industry that continues to grow each and every year. Because technology grows, businesses grow, and employees are hired for work. Obtaining a degree in something that is technology related may be a good decision for those who want a quality job that will last a long time.

The number of jobless individuals is decreasing from city to city in the state of California and states all over the country. New jobs in different fields are being created and with job growth comes employment growth. By 2014, unemployment rates are expected to be far lower than they were in 2010 and even lower than they are this year. The government is still trying to find ways to help boost the economy, most notably with President Barack Obama’s jobs bill, which was recently voted down by the Senate.

http://www.employmentspectator.com/2011/10/tech-employment-helps-lower-unemployment/

For Incoming I.B.M. Chief, Self-Confidence is Rewarded

By: Claire Cain Miller

Early in her career, Virginia M. Rometty, I.B.M.’s next chief executive, was offered a big job, but she felt she did not have enough experience. So she told the recruiter she needed time to think about it.

That night, her husband asked her, “Do you think a man would have ever answered that question that way?”

“What it taught me was you have to be very confident, even though you’re so self-critical inside about what it is you may or may not know,” she said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit this month. “And that, to me, leads to taking risks.”

Her 30-year ascent through the ranks at I.B.M. happened during an era in which women entered corporate America in droves — with some of them, including Ms. Rometty, climbing their way to the top.

“The age group of women becoming C.E.O.’s started their careers in the early ’80s, when the huge tsunami of women were really building professional lives,” said Ilene H. Lang, chief executive of Catalyst, a research firm on women and business. Yet the fact that Ms. Rometty’s gender remains newsworthy also exposes the lengths that businesses still need to go to before women who invest their careers in companies have a shot at the corner office, or even equal representation.

“So we should be seeing more of this,” Ms. Lang said.

Ms. Rometty’s promotion also reveals something about I.B.M. and how it has developed a corporate culture that values diversity. The notable companies with women chief executives — like I.B.M., Hewlett-Packard, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, DuPont and Xerox — are also some of the country’s oldest. Surprisingly, newer companies lag, said Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, founder of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute at the Yale School of Management.

“The really longstanding, traditional companies are the ones who’ve been able to unblock the once-clogged pipelines that used to atrophy the meritocracy because of bias,” he said. “These are traditional major pillars of the U.S. economy, as opposed to upstarts or professional services or finance firms with a highly fluid work force.”

The promotion of Ms. Rometty is all the more significant because she spent her career at I.B.M., in technical, strategy and sales roles, said Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies women in business.

When she began studying these issues three decades ago, senior women were in “the three Ps,” she said — personnel, purchasing and public relations. Even recently, Anne M. Mulcahy, former chief executive of Xerox, had been vice president of human resources.

Ms. Rometty started at I.B.M. as a systems engineer in 1981 with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Northwestern University and is currently senior vice president for sales, marketing and strategy.

“The way she’s become C.E.O. is emblematic of a change that means women can have access to every opportunity, coming up the standard route instead of being hired from unusual places,” Ms. Kanter said.

A Catalyst research report this month found that women who build their careers inside a single company are more successful because they can prove themselves and develop sponsors to give them critical assignments.

“Earning this within the company, with your colleagues, is a little different from parachuting in Carly Fiorina or Meg Whitman from outside, where maybe they only look good because no one knows them,” Ms. Kanter said, referring to a former chief executive at Hewlett-Packard and its current chief executive.

It also gives Ms. Rometty added legitimacy, Mr. Sonnenfeld said. “There’s no cynic who can say there’s some demographic window-dressing here.”

Her career trajectory mirrors the successes of modern-day I.B.M.. An early producer of personal computers, I.B.M. has since sold off much of its hardware business to focus on higher-value software and services. Ms. Rometty’s career has been largely on the fast-growing services side, selling I.B.M. expertise to insurance and finance companies and overseeing the $3.5 billion acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting in 2002.

But for most companies, Mr. Sonnenfeld said, particularly finance, consulting and law firms, the biggest barrier for women remains the leaky pipeline — companies lose women before they ever near the top.

I.B.M., however, has a reputation for promoting diversity, said analysts who study the field.

I.B.M., 100 years old, hired its first professional women, 25 college seniors working in systems service, in 1935. In 1943, it named its first woman vice president. It instituted a three-month family leave policy in 1956, 37 years before the federal government made it law. And it runs the I.B.M. Women Inventors Community for filing patents.

“They see their ability to compete in today’s marketplace, to approach new markets and to make money as being tied to diversity,” said Caroline Simard, vice president of research at the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, which this year named I.B.M. the top company for technical women. “It really is a business imperative and not just a responsibility of H.R.”

Analysts said that perhaps the most important strategy at I.B.M., which also had early inclusion programs for minorities, disabled and gay employees, is its formal mentorship program. “I really never felt there was a constraint about being a woman,” Ms. Rometty said at the Fortune conference. “I was always surrounded by people that wanted to mentor you.”

Ms. Kanter at Harvard said that Samuel J. Palmisano, whom Ms. Rometty will replace as chief executive, should be named “mentor of the century.”

Still, women are not equally represented at I.B.M., accounting for 28 percent of the work force and just 21 percent of executives. I.B.M. does not break out engineers by gender, but tech companies have traditionally lagged in recruiting women.

Girls are discouraged from pursuing technical education and companies have trouble retaining technical women because they are often isolated from influential social networks inside companies, Ms. Simard said. “Research shows that the majority of people have an implicit bias that associates science and technology with gender, so from a very young age, girls are not encouraged to pursue these careers,” she said.

“Women like Ginni Rometty are a powerful antidote against the stereotype.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/28/business/for-incoming-ibm-chief-self-confidence-rewarded.html?ref=technology

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October Prosperity at Work E-Tip

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) September Employment Situation

Addiction Vaccine

The Availability of Oil

Increase in Costs in China Help to create Jobs in the U.S.

German Tire Company makes plans to bring Jobs to the Carolinas

President Obama’s Job Bill and the new Republican Job Bill – Can we find common ground?

Steve Jobs Death Causes Spike in iPhone 4S Sales

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — SEPTEMBER 2011

Nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103,000 in September, and the unemployment

rate held at 9.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The

increase in employment partially reflected the return to payrolls of about 45,000

telecommunications workers who had been on strike in August. In September, job gains

occurred in professional and business services, health care, and construction.

Government employment continued to trend down.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons, at 14.0 million, was essentially unchanged in

September, and the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent. Since April, the rate has held

in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (8.8 percent),

adult women (8.1 percent), teenagers (24.6 percent), whites (8.0 percent), blacks

(16.0 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) showed little or no change in September.

The jobless rate for Asians was 7.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1,

A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was 6.2

million in September. These individuals accounted for 44.6 percent of the unemployed.

(See table A-12.)

Both the labor force and employment increased in September. However, the civilian

labor force participation rate, at 64.2 percent, and the employment-population ratio,

at 58.3 percent, were little changed. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to

as involuntary part-time workers) rose to 9.3 million in September. These individuals

were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were

unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In September, about 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,

about the same as a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These

individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had

looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed

because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table

A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.0 million discouraged workers in September,

down by 172,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.)

Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe

no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million persons marginally attached

to the labor force in September had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the

survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table

A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103,000 in September. Since April, payroll

employment has increased by an average of 72,000 per month, compared with an average

of 161,000 for the prior 7 months. In September, job gains occurred in professional

and business services, health care, and construction. Government employment continued

to trend down. (See table B-1.)

Employment in professional and business services increased by 48,000 over the month and

has grown by 897,000 since a recent low in September 2009. Employment in temporary help

services edged up in September; this industry has added 53,000 jobs over the past 3

months. In September, employment growth continued in computer systems design and in

management and technical consulting services.

Health care employment continued to expand in September, with an increase of 44,000.

Within the industry, job gains occurred in ambulatory health care services (+26,000)

and in hospitals (+13,000).

Construction employment increased by 26,000 over the month, after showing little

movement since February. The over-the-month gain was due to employment increases in the

nonresidential construction industries, which includes heavy and civil construction.

Mining employment continued to trend up in September.

Employment in information was up by 34,000 over the month due to the return of about

45,000 telecommunications workers to payrolls after an August strike.

Manufacturing employment changed little in September (-13,000) and has been essentially

flat for the past 2 months.

Within retail trade, employment declined in electronic and appliance stores (-9,000)

in September. Employment in wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, financial

activities, and leisure and hospitality changed little.

Government employment continued to trend down over the month (-34,000). The U.S.

Postal Service continued to lose jobs (-5,000). Local government employment declined

by 35,000 and has fallen by 535,000 since September 2008.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1

hour over the month to 34.3 hours following a decrease of 0.1 hour in August. The

manufacturing workweek edged down by 0.1 hour in September to 40.2 hours. Factory

overtime increased by 0.1 hour to 3.2 hours. The average workweek for production and

nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.6 hours

in September. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In September, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls

increased by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $23.12. This increase followed a decline of

4 cents in August. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by

1.9 percent. In September, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and

nonsupervisory employees increased by 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $19.52. (See tables

B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised from +85,000 to

+127,000, and the change for August was revised from 0 to +57,000.

Vaccines for Addiction Gaining Momentum

By: Ron Zimmerman

Up to now, vaccines have been used effectively against a variety of infectious diseases, but what if they could be developed to treat and/or prevent addiction?

Take smoking, for example. Someone who wanted to quit would go through their usual lighting up routine, but when nicotine does not arrive in the brain, they would probably extinguish the cigarette and not light another. Without feeling nicotine’s effects, it is likely they would view smoking as a waste of money.

Or consider a vaccine against methamphetamine: Snorted or injected, the drug would not give the user a high, so what would be the point of going to the trouble of scoring this illegal drug in the first place?

Now both vaccines, for nicotine and for methamphetamine, have gone beyond the dreaming stage. Recently, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) awarded “visionary” grants to 2 scientists who believe that in the not-too-distant future, vaccines will be available not just for smallpox and whooping cough but also for substance abuse.

Two scientists proposing to develop vaccines against methamphetamine and nicotine have been selected to receive NIDA’s second Avant-Garde Awards for Innovative Medication Development Research.

The scientists, Thomas Kosten, MD, from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, and Peter Burkhard, PhD, from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, will each receive $500,000 per year for 5 years from NIDA to support their research.

Addiction vaccines could be life-changing for the estimated 22 million drug abusers in the United States. NIDA estimates that every year, addiction costs the country $84 billion in direct healthcare costs, lost earnings, crime, and accidents. The cost trend is rising, and researchers hope that addiction vaccines may reverse it, not only by treating addicts but also by immunizing young people before they become addicted.

Just like regular vaccines, substance abuse vaccines work by provoking the immune system to produce antibodies, which then causes the body to suspend and reject the drug before it reaches the brain. That is the goal, but thus far, success in humans has been elusive.

Dr. Kosten is working on a novel human methamphetamine vaccine, and since at this time there is no US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved medication for methamphetamine addiction, his research could have substantial effect.

Dr. Burkhard’s peptide nanoparticle antinicotine vaccine would be administered intranasally, which would be easier and less painful than an injection. He believes his de novo peptide design, coupled with nicotine, will induce a strong immune response against nicotine without the need for other chemicals to enhance it, leading to fewer adverse effects and a less expensive vaccine.

Addiction Interrupted

Both vaccines are expected to enter initial clinical trials within 5 years. They both work essentially in the same way: They induce a patient’s immune system to generate antibodies that then bind to the target drug, forming compound molecules that are too large to move from the bloodstream to the brain.

Once the drug is denied access to the patient’s brain, it cannot produce the reinforcement or “high” that is the major component of the motivation to continue using it. In short, the familiar addiction cycle — drug use, resultant brain stimulation, and then a subsequent desire for continued drug use — is interrupted.

The science behind vaccines for addiction goes back to the 1950s, when researchers developed a vaccine against fatal overdoses of the heart drug digitalis.

Then, in the 1970s, at the University of Chicago, researchers working with monkey models were successful in creating antibodies to heroin in their subjects by attaching molecules of heroin to a protein from cow’s blood. This is the model on which Dr. Kosten has based his research.

Another major precedent for these 2 new addiction vaccines is the work of California researcher Kim D. Janda, PhD, from Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, who made headlines in July when his team announced it had produced a vaccine against heroin’s effects in rats. His laboratory’s rodents stopped helping themselves to the drug after they received a vaccine, and it is thought they did so because the heroin stopped having any effect.

However, that success followed a serious setback in Dr. Janda’s work on another vaccine: A phase 2 clinical trial for a nicotine vaccine based on his work had disappointing results. Patients receiving the vaccine only quit smoking at the same rate as those receiving placebo, so the trial was halted.

To date, none of Dr. Janda’s vaccines has received FDA approval, and despite successes in animal models in his laboratory, they have not yet produced consistent results in humans.

As Dr. Janda recently told the New York Times: “The big problem plaguing these vaccines right now is difficulty predicting in humans how well it’s going to work.”

That difficulty was revealed in widely anticipated cocaine vaccine studies, in which a bacterial protein plus a molecule that is a cocaine look-alike trained the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to any cocaine in the bloodstream.

“Like Wiping Out Switzerland”

In a 2010 vaccine study at Columbia University, New York City, conducted by Margaret Haney, PhD, with crack cocaine addicts, the level of antibodies in the volunteers varied widely. Only 38% of the cocaine users produced enough antibodies to quell the drug’s effects, and of those, only half stayed off the drug more than half the time.

In a 2008 analysis of 34 behavioral studies in cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana addictions, improvement was seen in 67% of the addicts. “You can’t expect a medication or vaccine alone to take care of addiction,” said Dr. Haney.”I am entirely humble about that.”

NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, MD, said Dr. Kosten and Dr. Burkhard were awarded the grants because they have already demonstrated proficiency in the laboratory with vaccines.

“They also have clear plans for initiating clinical trials within an accelerated period of time,” said Dr Volkow. And that’s the goal of NIDA’s Avant-Garde Grant Program: “[T]o support investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative new research approaches that have the potential to produce a major impact on the treatment of drug abuse.”

“Seven million people die from smoking addiction every year,” Dr. Burkhard told Medscape Medical News, “that’s like wiping out Switzerland. It’s a tremendous step forward to have a vaccine to prevent smoking, not only for these 7 million who die but also for the other countless millions who are living with their smoking addiction.”

Nicotine presents a particular challenge in developing a vaccine against it, as on its own it is completely nonimmunogenic. “So you have to couple it to a carrier to induce an immune response,” he added.

Dr. Burkhard heads the Burkhard Protein Design Group at the University of Connecticut, which has developed proprietary methods to synthetically produce nanosize protein particles.

“Our greatest challenge is generating as strong an immune response as possible to induce the effect we’re looking for,” he said. “The idea has been around for awhile, and other companies have brought it into clinical trials, where they have shown that it works, but it only works if you have really high levels of antibodies. Most of the clinical trials have failed for this reason, because they were only able to induce antibodies in about 30% of the population. And that’s simply not good enough.”

Dr. Burkhard’s 18-nm particles are produced in his group’s laboratory after first being designed on a computer.

“We predict a peptide sequence that is then able to self-assemble into a particle with icosahedral symmetry,” he said. “Then we go into the lab to synthesize this peptide by biotech procedures, expressing it in [Escherichia coli], purifying it, and then refolding it. With those nanoparticles, the next step is coupling the nicotine molecule to the nanoparticle.”

No Guarantees

Under the NIDA grant timeline, Dr. Burkhard plans to spend the first year and a half developing an effective nanoparticle vaccine, “so that we can be sure that we do get enough antibodies.”

It will then take a year to manufacture enough vaccine for his 2-year phase 1 clinical trial. “That’s our expertise, developing these nanoparticles that have been shown to be very immunogenic, and we have some ‘tricks of the trade’ to really tweak the immune system to give us a very strong antibody response. There’s no guarantee that it will work, but we have confidence that we can achieve that,” said Dr. Burkhard.

In addition to his grant to develop a methamphetamine vaccine, Dr. Kosten already has a cocaine vaccine under development.

Known as TA-CD, for Therapy Addiction–Cocaine Addiction, this vaccine uses an inactivated cholera protein to bind to cocaine in the user’s bloodstream. The approach is to prevent the addictive substance from ever reaching the brain, and thereby prevent the chemical cascade that results in a euphoric “high.”

It is hoped that without that high, the user’s addictive cycle will be broken. In fact, a blinded, placebo-controlled study of 114 participants conducted by Dr. Kosten and his wife, neuroscientist Therese Kosten, PhD, showed that individuals who received the vaccine were twice as likely to reduce their cocaine use by at least 50% compared with those who received placebo. The study is now under review, and the Kostens are seeking FDA approval for a larger, 300-person, multicenter trial.

What is the scientific principle behind the vaccine? Dr. Kosten explained that although most foreign substances in the body trigger an immune-system response, drugs like cocaine fail to do so because their molecules are too small. They slip across the blood–brain barrier precisely because the molecules are so tiny.

However, when cocaine is bound to a much larger protein, such as the inactivated cholera protein that has been widely tested and found to be without adverse effects, the immune system creates antibodies to both the larger protein and the drug it carries. Then, the next time the user administers the drug, the body’s immune defenses attach onto the cocaine and break it down with enzymes.

“It’s like a big sponge for cocaine,” Dr. Kosten told Medscape Medical News. “The drug remains trapped in the blood until it’s metabolized and made inactive by the liver and secreted in the kidneys.”

Users can thwart the vaccine and their fortified immune system responses by taking more cocaine than their immune system can handle, so the user has to want to slow or stop their cocaine use for the vaccine to be effective in curbing their addiction. And that is why TA-CD is currently thought of as a therapeutic drug, not a preventative, said Dr. Kosten.

Made in China

Other researchers have run into a wall in trying to find a substance that will bind to materials such as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, in marijuana, so the body can see that substance.

Dr. Janda has tried to make vaccines against alcohol and marijuana use, but so far the effort has failed. He said that in the case of alcohol, its ethanol molecules have proven to be too small to attach a protein to them, and in the case of marijuana, its main ingredient, THC, hides too well for the immune system to react to it.

Using cholera bacterium as a vector was an essential part of Dr. Kosten’s new cocaine vaccine, he said, because it allows the vaccine to avoid potential viral syndromes associated with other vaccines. In addition, most people in Western countries where cocaine abuse is most severe do not have natural immunity to cholera.

In Dr. Kosten’s methamphetamine vaccine, he is using a Neisseria meningitis protein as a vector.

Dr. Volkow believes the field of drug abuse treatment is on the cusp of a large paradigm shift.

“Vaccines have a unique role to play in a comprehensive strategy to help people overcome addictions. A successful vaccine will make it easier for addicted individuals to establish and maintain abstinence. It will reduce the chances that isolated lapses into drug taking escalate into protracted relapses. Ideally, a single dose will remain effective for months or longer,” she said.

Although NIDA views vaccines as a potentially powerful tool to aid addicts from their illegal drugs, pharmaceutical companies are not lining up with research grants, say these researchers.

They believe the pharmaceutical companies do not see much money to be made in a shot that is given once every 6 months, and also perhaps because the companies are not anxious to associate their companies with drug addicts.

“Pharma does not see a profit in these vaccines, and only sees great risk in this population due to their lifestyle and [potential for] overdoses,” said Dr. Kosten.

Dr. Kosten is taking his methamphetamine vaccine manufacturing and clinical trial to China, as his greatest challenge has been in finding a domestic manufacturer.

“We’ve had no success doing this in the United States, but we have had success in China. We will manufacture the vaccine in China and do clinical trials there after getting Chinese FDA approval about 3 years from now. A placebo-controlled study will compare vaccinated [groups] to placebo groups during a 6-month outpatient clinical trial. We’ll have the vaccine in humans in 4 years and have a commercial product in 10 years,” he said

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/751594

There Will Be Oil

By: Daniel Yergin

Since the beginning of the 21st century, a fear has come to pervade the prospects for oil, fueling anxieties about the stability of global energy supplies. It has been stoked by rising prices and growing demand, especially as the people of China and other emerging economies have taken to the road.

This specter goes by the name of “peak oil.”

Its advocates argue that the world is fast approaching (or has already reached) a point of maximum oil output. They warn that “an unprecedented crisis is just over the horizon.” The result, it is said, will be “chaos,” to say nothing of “war, starvation, economic recession, possibly even the extinction of homo sapiens.”

The date of the predicted peak has moved over the years. It was once supposed to arrive by Thanksgiving 2005. Then the “unbridgeable supply demand gap” was expected “after 2007.” Then it was to arrive in 2011. Now “there is a significant risk of a peak before 2020.”

But there is another way to visualize the future availability of oil: as a “plateau.”

In this view, the world has decades of further growth in production before flattening out into a plateau—perhaps sometime around midcentury—at which time a more gradual decline will begin. And that decline may well come not from a scarcity of resources but from greater efficiency, which will slacken global demand.

Those sounding the alarm over oil argue that about half the world’s oil resources already have been produced and that the point of decline is nearing. “It’s quite a simple theory and one that any beer-drinker understands,” said the geologist Colin Campbell, one of the leaders of the movement. “The glass starts full and ends empty, and the faster you drink it, the quicker it’s gone.”

This is actually the fifth time in modern history that we’ve seen widespread fear that the world was running out of oil. The first was in the 1880s, when production was concentrated in Pennsylvania and it was said that no oil would be found west of the Mississippi. Then oil was found in Texas and Oklahoma. Similar fears emerged after the two world wars. And in the 1970s, it was said that the world was going to fall off the “oil mountain.” But since 1978, world oil output has increased by 30%.

Just in the years 2007 to 2009, for every barrel of oil produced in the world, 1.6 barrels of new reserves were added. And other developments—from more efficient cars and advances in batteries, to shale gas and wind power—have provided reasons for greater confidence in our energy resiliency. Yet the fear of peak oil maintains its powerful grip.

The idea owes its inspiration, and indeed its articulation, to a geologist who, though long since passed from the scene, continues to shape the debate, M. King Hubbert. Indeed, his name is inextricably linked to that perspective—immortalized in “Hubbert’s Peak.”

Marion King Hubbert was one of the most eminent—and controversial—earth scientists of his time. Born on a ranch in San Saba, Texas in 1903, he did his university education, including his Ph.D., at the University of Chicago. One of his fundamental objectives was to move geology from what he called its “natural history phase” into its “physical science phase,” firmly based in physics, chemistry and, in particular, rigorous mathematics.

In the 1930s, while teaching at Columbia University, Hubbert became active in a movement called Technocracy and served as its educational director. Holding politicians and economists responsible for the debacle of the Great Depression, Technocracy promoted the idea that democracy was a sham and that scientists and engineers should take overthe reins of government and impose rationality on the economy. “I had a boxseat at the Depression,” Hubbert later said. “We had manpower and raw materials. Yet we shut the country down.”

Technocracy envisioned a no-growth society and the elimination of the price system, to be replaced by the wise administration of the Technocrats. Hubbert believed that a “pecuniary” system, guided by the “hieroglyphics” of economists, was the road to ruin.

In the late 1940s, Hubbert heard another geologist say that 500 years of oil supply remained in the ground. This couldn’t possibly be true, he thought. He started doing his own analysis. In 1956, he unveiled the theory that would forever be linked to his name. He declared that U.S. oil production would hit its peak somewhere between 1965 and 1970.

1 trillion

Number of barrels of oil produced since the start of the industry

1.4 trillion

Estimated number of barrels currently considered technically and economically accessible—out of 5 trillion total barrels of petroleum resources in the ground

30%

Increase in annual world oil production since 1978

Source: The Quest

His prediction was controversial, but when U.S. oil production hit its high point in 1970 and began to decline, soon followed by the shock of the 1973 embargo, Hubbert appeared more than vindicated. He was a prophet. He became famous—and so did Hubbert’s Peak.

For many decades, the U.S. had been, by far, the world’s largest oil producer. All through the 1960s, domestic production had supplied 90% of demand. No longer. To meet its own growing needs, the U.S. became a major importer, deeply enmeshed in the world oil market and a new set of geopolitical concerns.

Hubbert was very pessimistic about future supply. He warned that the era of oil would be only a brief blip in mankind’s history. In 1978, he predicted that children born in 1965 would see all of the world’s oil used up in their lifetimes. Humanity, he said, was about to embark upon “a period of non-growth.”

Hubbert used a statistical approach to project the kind of decline curve that one might encounter in some—but not all—oil fields, and he assumed that the U.S. was one giant oil field. His followers have adopted the same approach to assess global supplies.

Hubbert’s original projection for U.S. production was bold and, at least superficially, accurate. His modern-day adherents insist that U.S. output has “continued to follow Hubbert’s curve with only minor deviations.”

But it all comes down to how one defines “minor.” Hubbert got the date exactly right, but his projection on supply was far off. He greatly underestimated the amount of oil that would be found—and produced— in the U.S.

By 2010, U.S. oil production was 3½ times higher than Hubbert had estimated: 5.5 million barrels per day versus Hubbert’s 1971 estimate of no more than 1.5 million barrels per day. Hardly a “minor deviation.”

A History Of Black Gold: Boom and Panic

1859

“Colonel” Edwin Drake (foreground, right)

The modern oil industry was born when “Colonel” Edwin Drake struck oil near the small timber town of Titusville in northwest Pennsylvania. Other production centers arose during this era in the Russian Empire and around Baku, on the Caspian Sea. But Pennsylvania was the Saudi Arabia of its day.

1918

World War I was the first mechanized war, complete with tanks and airplanes.

World War I was the first mechanized war, complete with tanks and airplanes. As oil went to Europe to ensure the mobility of Allied forces, 1918 saw the highest gasoline prices (adjusted for inflation) ever recorded in the U.S. “Gasolineless Sundays” were instituted to encourage people to drive less.

1973

In October 1973, Arab countries launched an attack on Israel, initiating the Yom Kippur War. In response to U.S. resupply of armaments to Israel, Arab exporters embargoed oil shipments. Within months, petroleum prices quadrupled. Fear of a permanent shortage spurred oil development in Alaska and the North Sea.

“Hubbert was imaginative and innovative,” recalled Peter Rose, who was Hubbert’s boss at the U.S. Geological Survey. But he had “no concept of technological change, economics or how new resource plays evolve. It was a very static view of the world.” Hubbert also assumed that there could be an accurate estimate of ultimately recoverable resources, when in fact it is a constantly moving target.

Hubbert insisted that price didn’t matter. Economics—the forces of supply and demand—were, he maintained, irrelevant to the finite physical cache of oil in the earth. But why would price—with all the messages that it sends to people about allocating resources and developing new technologies—apply in so many other realms but not in oil and gas production? Activity goes up when prices go up; activity goes down when prices go down. Higher prices stimulate innovation and encourage people to figure out ingenious new ways to increase supply.

The idea of “proved reserves” of oil isn’t just a physical concept, accounting for a fixed amount in the “storehouse.” It’s also an economic concept: how much can be recovered at prevailing prices. And it’s a technological concept, because advances in technology take resources that were not physically accessible and turn them into recoverable reserves.

In the oil and gas industry, technologies are constantly being developed to find new resources and to produce more—and more efficiently—from existing fields. In a typical oil field, only about 35% to 40% of the oil in place is produced using traditional methods.

One example is the “digital oil field,” which uses sensors throughout the field to improve the data and communication between the field and a company’s technology centers. If widely adopted, it could help to recover an enormous amount of additional oil worldwide—by one estimate, an extra 125 billion barrels, almost equivalent to the current estimate reserves of Iraq.

New technologies and approaches continue to unlock new resources. Ghana is on its way to significant oil production, and just a few days ago, a major new discovery was announced off the coast of French Guiana, north of Brazil.

As proof for peak oil, its advocates argue that the discovery rate for new oil fields is declining. But this obscures a crucial point: Most of the world’s supply is the result not of discoveries but of additions and extensions in existing fields.

When a field is first discovered, little is known about it, and initial estimates are conservative. As the field is developed, more wells are drilled, and with better knowledge, proven reserves very often increase substantially. A study by the U.S. Geological Survey found that 86 percent of oil reserves in the U.S. were the result not of what was estimated at the time of discovery but of revisions and additions from further development.

Estimates for the total global stock of oil keep growing. The world has produced about one trillion barrels of oil since the start of the industry in the 19th century. Currently, it is thought that there are at least five trillion barrels of petroleum resources in the ground, of which 1.4 trillion are deemed technically and economically accessible enough to count as reserves (proved and probable).

Based on current and prospective plans, it appears that the world’s production capacity for “oil and related liquids” (in industry jargon) should grow from about 92 million barrels per day in 2010 to over 110 million by 2030. That is an increase of about 20%.

But this is no done deal. There are many “buts,” having to do with what happens above ground. The policies of governments around the world—especially concerning taxes and access to resources—have a major impact on whether and when oil is discovered and developed.

Wars and civil wars, social turmoil and political upheavals, regional conflict, corruption and crime, mismanagement of resources—all of these can affect not only current production but also investment and future prospects. Environmental and climate policies can alter the timing and scale of development, as can geopolitics and politics within oil-producing countries.

In short, in a world whose $65 trillion economy depends greatly on oil, energy security will be a lasting and critical preoccupation.

Meeting future demand will require innovation, investment and the development of more challenging resources. A major reason for continuing growth in petroleum supplies is that oil previously regarded as inaccessible or uneconomical is now part of the mix, such as the “presalt” resources off the coast of Brazil, the vast oil sands of Canada, and the oil locked in shale and other rocks in the U.S.

In 2003, the Bakken formation in North Dakota was producing a mere 10,000 barrels a day. Today, it is over 400,000 barrels, and North Dakota has become the fourth-largest oil-producing state in the country. Such “tight” oil could add as much as two million barrels a day to U.S. oil production after 2020—something that would not have been in any forecast five years ago.

Overall U.S. oil production has increased more than 10% since 2008. Net oil imports reached a high point of 60% in 2005, but today, thanks to increased production and greater energy efficiency (plus the use of ethanol), imports are down to 47%.

Things don’t stand still in the energy industry. With the passage of time, unconventional sources of oil, in all their variety, become a familiar part of the world’s petroleum supply. They help to explain why the plateau continues to recede into the horizon—and why, on a global view, Hubbert’s Peak is still not in sight.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904060604576572552998674340.html?mod=wsj_share_in_bot

China’s Soaring Costs could help American Jobs

By: Ian Williams

For Bill Green it was more than just a routine visit to his Dongguan factory. The thuds, bangs and sparks of the factory floor were the same; the metal cut, twisted and welded in the usual shower of sparks. It had all become very familiar from five years of visiting factories in China, outsourcing his production of industrial cabinets, chasing lower costs.

For years he had generally been happy with the results, but no longer.

“If they don’t sand the stuff down, that will come back through the damned paint and we’ll have an issue here,” he said, running his finger along the edge of one unfinished cabinet.

Later, hunched over a laptop, the factory boss at his side, his frustration came pouring out.

“This is unacceptable, we can’t have this,” he complained. “This is rust coming out from here.”

The factory boss looked to his chief engineer who became defensive, “We can’t fix every problem. It takes too much manpower,” he complained.

The boss said Green was being too demanding.

“None of these problems are hard to fix,” Green shot back. “We work to these standards all the time in the United States.”

Green owns a metal-processing factory in Mobile, Ala., where his workforce shrunk from 60 to just 25 as more work, on cabinets and also on lamps, was outsourced to China.

But after this trip he made a decision – to bring at least some of that work back home.

“Everybody knew you could get anything made in China, and make money on it back in the United States. But things are changing,” he told me later. “Prices are going up, and its making it harder to import stuff from here.”

More than that, attitudes were changing. “Used to be when you’d come over here everyone wanted your business. Now it’s harder and harder to get them to cooperate with you.”

So Green is planning to shift the final assembly of cabinets back to Alabama, and will divide much of the lamp production between India and the U.S.

Is China as the ‘world’s factory’ done?

The area Green was visiting, around Dongguan in southern China, has been called the workshop of the world, China’s export powerhouse.

There are tens of thousands of factories, sprawling for miles from the Hong Kong border, their stained peach and white tiled walls lining the motorways. Laundry hangs in the windows of the adjacent dormitories that have been home to millions of migrant workers, the foot-soldiers of China’s export machine.

For 17 years, Tao Dong, now chief Asia economist with Credit Suisse, has been covering its breakneck growth. But when I met him in Hong Kong recently, he told me, “China as the world factory, the best time is behind us.”

Labor costs are soaring by 40 percent a year, as migrant workers are becoming pickier, since there are more job opportunities at home. Also China’s one-child policy means there is no longer such a huge pool of young, dexterous workers. Bank lending is tightening and China’s currency is also appreciating by around 6 percent a year against the U.S. dollar, not quickly enough for US and European policymakers, but sufficient for factories on low margins to feel the pain.

“This is the first time I’ve seen so many Chinese exporters collectively turning down orders from the U.S., from Europe,” Dong told me. “They’re bleeding,” he said. “Costs are rising so much. They are just not profitable. They are actually dying.”

As Green discovered, it wasn’t the costs alone. Labor shortages, and what he suspected to be corner-cutting by the factories were impacting quality, and he found himself paying as much to have a cabinets put right in the U.S., as he was paying for the original product in China.

“We’ve reached a point where the risks are not worth the rewards,” he told me.

‘Poor quality is expensive’
Green’s agent in Dongguan is Ben Schwall, a veteran import-export man, and one of the most astute observers of the local economic scene as you could hope to meet. He’s become a regular point of call when I visit the area, and this time Schwall told me his job was becoming much more complicated.

Factories are responding to cost pressures by demanding bigger orders or larger down payments, he told me, or abandoning exports and looking to the growing domestic market.

“A lot of the problems we have now are delivery times and the cutting of corners. It’s more than just price. All these things end up having a cost, though. Poor quality is expensive, angry customers are expensive. Missed shipments are expensive,” said Schwall.

But he thinks it’s too early to write an obituary for China Inc. The supply chain is still second to none, he said, and the latest trade figures show exports from China overall still to be strong.

That said, Schwall’s just got himself a five-year visa for India. “I’m also planning to go to Vietnam in the near future to look at some factories. Offshoring, outsourcing, no longer means just China. There are other places we need to look, and, yes, there’s also the
American solution of bringing some products back to the U.S.”

Exporting U.S. goods to China?
Before he returned to Alabama, Green was faced with an intriguing offer.

One factory boss said he wanted to re-orientate his production of lamps towards China’s domestic market. “We’ve got a lot of rich people now,” he said, “and we want to offer them a complete American flavor.” He explained that middle-class Chinese associated American products with higher quality, and asked whether Green would work with him to bring U.S.-style lamps to the Chinese market.

The proposal was short on detail, but Green found it tantalizing all the same. “It’s a fantastic idea,” he said. “I didn’t realize the market was ready at this point. We are going to pioneer it.”

Back at my hotel, there was an unusual sight from my 26th-floor window. I could actually see the factories of Dongguan, sprawling for miles below me. I’d never seen it so clear. Usually it’s just a smudge through a thick miasma that hangs over the factories.

The lobby too was different, almost empty. Usually it’s packed with buyers from every corner of the planet on their phones and iPods, waiting to be whisked away to factories by a fleet of mini-buses. The pianist was still there half way up a spiral staircase, but serenading just two or three lonely buyers beneath the lobby’s artificial palm trees.

Further evidence of a slowdown at the factories? Schwall warned me not to read too much into it. The summer’s always quieter. The Christmas buyers hadn’t yet arrived.

But something was certainly changing. “Five years ago it was a no-brainer. If you wanted variety and low costs on a whole range of goods, you’d come here. Now it’s a lot more complicated,” Schwall told me.

For American business people like Green, it’s no longer a one way street. There are new opportunities. And Green returned to Alabama preparing for the first time in years to create new jobs – in America.

http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/19/7763968-chinas-soaring-costs-could-help-american-jobs

Continental to build tire plant in S. Carolina

Germany’s Continental AG (CONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plans to build a plant in South Carolina capable of making 5 million tires a year by 2017 and 8 million tires by 2021, its Americas arm said on Thursday.

To meet growing tire retail and automotive demand, the plant will be built in Sumter County, South Carolina, Continental Tire the Americas LLC said.

Continental plans to invest $500 million and create 1,600 jobs at the Sumter plant. The jobs will be filled by 2020, the company said.

“In 2011 alone, we have announced manufacturing investments of nearly $1 billion which are dedicated to increasing our production capacity in the Americas region,” said Jochen Etzel, chief executive of Continental Tire the Americas, in a statement.

Earlier this year, Continental announced plans to invest $224 million to substantially boost output and add 444 jobs at its Mount Vernon, Illinois, tire plant, which will increase capacity at that plant to 4 million tires annually.

Also, the company, which markets tires under the Continental and General brands, said it would invest $220 million to expand production capacity at its plant in Brazil.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/06/continental-plant-idUSN1E79519420111006

Eric Cantor Says Republicans Looking for Common Ground

By: Melanie Starkey

House Republicans are looking for common ground between the jobs plan they introduced in the spring and President Barack Obama’s proposal, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Sunday.

“We want the president to work with us. We want him to stop campaigning. Let’s go find the things that are in common between this plan and his,” the Virginia Republican told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace. “And, in fact, Chris, I think you’ll see within the next month, we will take portions of this plan that match up with his, put them across the floor to help small businesses.”

However, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, shot down the GOP plan during her appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“The so-called Republican jobs bill would just allow corporate America to write their own rules again,” the Florida Democrat said today. “And it’s been analyzed to conclude they would create no jobs now. There isn’t even a certainty it would create any jobs at all.”

A modified version of Obama’s jobs plan was blocked last week on a procedural vote in the Senate, causing the administration to break down the bill to its individual elements for votes.

David Axelrod, Obama’s campaign strategist, said Sunday that the bill had a “setback” as “one entity,” but that the administration would keep pushing for it.

“Now we’re going to take it apart and we’re going to go piece by piece,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” “The American people support every single plank of that bill, and we’re going to vote on every single one of them.”

Cantor also discussed the efforts by a super committee to identify at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction in the next month.

He said he was confident that the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction would reach its goal by its Nov. 23 deadline. “I am. I think folks in this town on both sides of the aisle know that we can’t fail. There has to be success and an outcome here,” he said.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/Eric-Cantor-Says-Republicans-Looking-for-Common-Ground-209513-1.html?pos=hln

First iPhone launch after Steve Jobs’ death turns into another remembrance of Apple visionary

By: Chip Cutter

NEW YORK, N.Y. – It wasn’t just the latest iPhone that drew people to Apple stores Friday.

Many consumers waited in lines for hours — sometimes enduring chilly temperatures and overnight thunderstorms — to remember Steve Jobs, Apple’s visionary who died last week.

The company’s first iPhone release since Jobs’ death turned into another tribute. Some customers even joked that the new model 4S stood “for Steve.”

Tony Medina, a student from Manhattan, stood outside Apple’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue for nine hours, waiting through rain. He had originally planned to order the phone online but decided to join a crowd of about 200 people to honour Jobs.

“For loyalty, I felt I had to do the line,” he said. “I had to say thank you.”

The new phone, which went on sale Friday in seven countries, is faster than the previous model and comes with better software and an improved camera. Yet the unveiling comes at a time when Apple is finding it difficult to maintain the excitement of previous iPhone introductions.

For starters, the phone is more widely available than in the past. In addition to Apple stores, it’s also sold by three wireless carriers: AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless. Some Best Buy, Target and Walmart stores also carry the phones, as do authorized resellers.

Buyers were also able to preorder the phone on Apple’s website and have it shipped to their homes or offices.

Many die-hard Apple fans and investors were disappointed that Apple did not launch a more radically redesigned new model — an iPhone 5. It’s been more than a year since Apple’s previous model was released.

That also may have contributed to smaller gatherings at some Apple locations.

“People are not as excited about this version as they might have been” if an iPhone 5 came out,” said Charles Prosser, a retired teacher and computer technician from Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Even so, hundreds of buyers camped out in front of stores for hours to be among the first to get an iPhone 4S.

Steve Wozniak, who created Apple with Jobs in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was first in line at a store in Los Gatos, Calif., having arrived on his Segway the afternoon before.

Wozniak, who typically waits in line for new Apple products, said he barely slept Thursday night as he was busy chatting with Apple fans, taking photos and giving autographs. Wozniak pre-ordered two new iPhones. He bought two more Friday.

“I just want to be part of an important event, so I feel it more deeply,” he said.

Many said the event resembled a remembrance to Jobs, who died a day after Apple Inc. announced the new phone.

Emily Smith, a Web designer, checked in to the line in New York on the location-centric social network Foursquare. She got a virtual Steve Jobs badge that read: “Here’s to the crazy ones. ThankYouSteve.”

In Chicago, Nicole Pacheco dragged her brother and a friend out to buy Apple’s latest gadget.

“I wanted to see how it was, to come out here for once,” she said as she looked at the line that stretched past her. “We’re kind of a memory for Steve Jobs. It’s one of his last inventions. It kind of motivated me to get the next one.”

Apple and phone companies started taking orders for the iPhone 4S last Friday. Apple said Monday that more than 1 million orders came in, breaking the record set by last year’s model, which was available in fewer countries and on fewer carriers.

And a representative for AT&T said Friday that as of 4:30 EDT, it had activated a record number of iPhones and was on track to double its previous single-day record for activations.

Jobs’ death could be helping sales. Marketing experts say products designed by widely admired figures such as Jobs usually see an upsurge in sales after their death.

The base model of the iPhone 4S costs $199 in the U.S. with a two-year contract. It comes with 16 gigabytes of storage. Customers can get 32 gigabytes for $299 and 64 gigabytes for $399. The phones come in white or black.

The phones also debuted Friday in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain. They are coming to 22 more countries by the end of the month.

Besides a better processor and camera, the new phone has a new operating system that allows users to sync content without needing a computer. It also includes a futuristic, voice-activated service that responds to spoken commands and questions such as “Do I need an umbrella today?”

The new features appealed to Dina Nguyen, who came to the Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif., the same location where Jobs was known to show up on sale days. She and her brother, Kennedy, picked up four iPhones for their family.

The siblings said it was a bit sentimental to get the phones now, right after Jobs’ death.

“He left a good legacy. He had a good life. He wanted to make people happy,” Kennedy Nguyen said. “It’s good to support that.”

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/50850–first-iphone-launch-after-steve-jobs-death-turns-into-another-remembrance-of-apple-visionary

Please visit our Candidates page and click on Search Career Opportunities to see our currently open positions.

Human Capital Solutions, Inc. (HCS) www.humancs.com is a Global Executive Search and Recruiting firm focused in Energy / Power Generation, Life Sciences, Multinational Lean Manufacturing and Technology. HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

1437 Military Cutoff Road | Suite 201 | Wilmington, NC 28403 | o. 910.338.2790

f. 910.256.4036 | www.humancs.com | info@humancs.com | Prosperity at Work

September Prosperity at Work E-Tip

intern — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:20:13 +0000

September Prosperity at Work E-Tip

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) August Employment Situation

Automotive Industry Bringing jobs to the Carolinas

Halliburton Oilfield Services creating 11,000 new jobs

Yahoo for Sale

Monster’s Future Looking Optimistic for Investors

Tips to Keep Executive Candidates a Secret

How a Start-Up Changed Health Care

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — AUGUST 2011

Nonfarm payroll employment was unchanged (0) in August, and the unemployment

rate held at 9.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Employment in most major industries changed little over the month. Health

care continued to add jobs, and a decline in information employment reflected

a strike. Government employment continued to trend down, despite the return

of workers from a partial government shutdown in Minnesota.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons, at 14.0 million, was essentially unchanged

in August, and the unemployment rate held at 9.1 percent. The rate has shown

little change since April. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (8.9

percent), adult women (8.0 percent), teenagers (25.4 percent), whites

(8.0 percent), blacks (16.7 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) showed

little or no change in August. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.1 percent,

not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was

about unchanged at 6.0 million in August and accounted for 42.9 percent of the

unemployed. (See table A-12.)

The labor force rose to 153.6 million in August. Both the civilian labor force

participation rate, at 64.0 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at

58.2 percent, were little changed. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes

referred to as involuntary part-time workers) rose from 8.4 million to 8.8

million in August. These individuals were working part time because their

hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

(See table A-8.)

About 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in

August, up from 2.4 million a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally

adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were

available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.

They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work

in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 977,000 discouraged workers in

August, down by 133,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally

adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work

because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6

million persons marginally attached to the labor force in August had not

searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as

school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment, at 131.1 million, was unchanged (0) in

August. Employment changed little in most major private-sector industries.

(See table B-1.)

Health care employment rose by 30,000 in August. Ambulatory health care

services and hospitals added 18,000 and 8,000 jobs, respectively. Over the

past 12 months, health care employment has grown by 306,000.

Employment in mining continued to trend up in August (+6,000). Since reaching

a trough in October 2009, employment in mining has risen by 144,000, with

mining support activities accounting for most of the gain.

Within professional and business services, computer systems design and related

services added 8,000 jobs in August. Employment in temporary help services

changed little over the month (+5,000) and has shown little movement on net so

far this year.

Employment in the information industry declined by 48,000 in August. About

45,000 workers in the telecommunications industry were on strike and thus off

company payrolls during the survey reference period.

Manufacturing employment was essentially unchanged in August (-3,000),

following a gain of 36,000 in July. For the past 4 months, manufacturing has

added an average of 14,000 jobs per month, compared with an average of 35,000

jobs per month in the first 4 months of the year.

Elsewhere in the private sector, employment in construction; trade,

transportation, and utilities; financial activities; and leisure and

hospitality changed little over the month.

Government employment continued to trend down over the month (-17,000).

Despite the return of about 22,000 workers from a partial government shutdown

in Minnesota, employment in state government changed little in August (+5,000).

Employment in local government continued to decline. Since employment peaked

in September 2008, local government has lost 550,000 jobs.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged

down by 0.1 hour over the month to 34.2 hours. The manufacturing workweek

was 40.3 hours for the third consecutive month; factory overtime increased

by 0.1 hour over the month to 3.2 hours. The average workweek for production

and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down to 33.5

hours in August, after holding at 33.6 hours for the prior 6 months. (See

tables B-2 and B-7.)

In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm

payrolls decreased by 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $23.09. This decline

followed an 11-cent gain in July. Over the past 12 months, average hourly

earnings have increased by 1.9 percent. In August, average hourly earnings

of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees decreased by

2 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $19.47. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised from

+46,000 to +20,000, and the change for July was revised from +117,000 to

+85,000.

Cars to bring jobs to N.C.

By: John Murawski Published in: Economy

North Carolina’s automotive sector is poised to add jobs as the U.S. auto industry shifts toward higher fuel efficiency as well as hybrids and electric vehicles to meet public demand and federal mandates.

This state already ranks among the nation’s top 10 automotive clusters, according to state data, and many of those companies are expanding into electronics, components and materials recycling used in the next-generation cars.

A study issued Tuesday by the United Auto Workers union and environmental groups ranked North Carolina 13th in the nation for jobs in clean and efficient auto technologies. Statewide, 19 facilities employ nearly 5,300 workers in those fields, the study estimated.

The local benefits are impossible to quantify, but those in the industry describe the changes in sweeping terms.

“It will take tens of thousands of jobs just to make the anodes for the U.S. automotive industry,” said Albert Bender, CEO of Tec-Cel inCary. “Those jobs will come from somewhere – it could be India or China or wherever – and we are trying to get a piece of that market.”

Tec-Cel was spun off from a N.C. State University research project in May 2010 after initial funding of $1.35 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. Tec-Cel is now trying to raise money from investors. Staffed with a handful of volunteer students and a pair of unpaid directors, Tec-Cel is developing a technology that could boost the energy storage capacity of lithium ion batteries tenfold, Bender said.

Companies in advanced auto technology span a wide range, from the development of long-range batteries to the manufacturing of efficient fuel valves and diesel-electric trucks. The technologies will be used in long-range all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles now entering the market, as well as in gasoline-powered models that will have to meet the fuel efficiency standard of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

The new standard was announced last week by President Barack Obama. On Tuesday, the president announced the first ever fuel-economy rules for tractor-trailer trucks. The big rigs will have to get 20 percent more miles per gallon by 2018.

Eaton, an industrial conglomerate that employs nearly 3,000 statewide, has already announced it plans to create 120 jobs in Roxboro over four years as it ramps up production of components for efficient fuel valves. The company also makes diesel-electric systems in Kings Mountain, about 200 miles west of Raleigh, for delivery trucks used by FedEx, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and internationally.

Battery business zooms

Umicore USA, a Raleigh-based subsidiary of Germany’s Umicore, foresees growth at its Umicore Autocatalyst Recycling business unit that currently employs about 20 people in Maxton, about 80 miles south of Raleigh.

That unit collects used catalytic converters and extracts rare metals for reuse in new converters. The unit will also recycle cathode materials from used electric car batteries that will start entering the recycling market in the coming years, said Umicore USA executive vice president Mark Caffarey.

Because electric cars have about 500 pounds of batteries, compared to a 50-pound battery in a conventional car, the recycling business is poised to take off, Caffarey said.

Likewise, Durham LED lighting maker Cree’s Power Business stands to gain from manufacturing silicon carbide products used in electric car recharging stations, which are just now being adopted in public parking decks and lots in this state.

ABB, a Swiss energy conglomerate, employs 1,500 statewide at six sites, including about 600 in Cary and Raleigh.

ABB specializes in transmission systems, power grids and electric substations, but the company is also involved in a research project to recycle used Chevy Volt batteries for secondary uses, such as electricity storage from solar panels.

“The electrification of the transportation sector is going to imply an enormous investment in the power grid, and we’re the largest grid supplier in the world,” ABB spokesman Bob Fesmire said.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/08/10/1402208/cars-to-bring-jobs-to-nc.html

Halliburton adding 11,000 jobs, mostly in North Dakota

By: Annalyn Censky

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Halliburton is on a hiring spree this year, planning to create as many 15,000 jobs globally, including 11,000 in North America.

It’s great news for the unemployed, especially those without a college degree, who — says one company executive — can often earn six figures a year after just two years of on-the-job training.

But here’s the catch. You’ll probably have to move to North Dakota if you want to snatch one of the positions.

Jim Brown, president of Halliburton’s (HAL, Fortune 500) Western Hemisphere division, said the company has a need for everyone from MBAs to unskilled workers, as it builds its presence in the oil-rich Bakken shale region of North Dakota.

He broke the news in an interview with “Mad Money” TV show host Jim Cramer on CNBC Wednesday.

“If you have a willingness to work and an aptitude to learn with a high-school education, within a year and a half, two years, you can become a front-line supervisor. That job will pay $125,000, $130,000 a year,” Brown said. “It’s a tremendous opportunity. You got to come to North Dakota.”

How North Dakota outpaced the U.S. economy

Out of all the 50 states, North Dakota had the fastest growing economy last year, because of oil exploration in its Bakken shale region.

Granted, the state’s rural economy was starting from a small size to begin with, but in 2010 alone, it surged 7.1% — much faster than the anemic 2.9% growth seen by the country as a whole.

2 months, and the unemployment rate in the state is the lowest in the country — at 3.3%.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/25/news/economy/halliburton_north_dakota_jobs/

Yahoo’s for Sale – Why Would Anyone Buy It?

By: Erik Sherman

Stuck in the middle of the WSJ story on Yahoo (YHOO) firing CEO Carol Bartz was a telling line from a source: “One of these people said Yahoo is open to selling itself to the right bidder.” Yup, the company has all but planted a for-sale sign on the front lawn, as Henry Blodget put it.

Not that it should be a surprise. Bartz herself said she’d sell Yahoo for “the right price” in March 2010 when asked if someone had offered to buy the company then. And making the CFO the temporary CEO? It’s the board saying, “Come buy us. Please?” Only, no one in their right mind would want to buy the company as it’s currently structured, any acquisition of the good pieces will be at fire sale prices.

Forget a white knight rescue

Yahoo is stuck. At this point, it seems unlikely that anyone with the skills, experience, and training to pull the company out of its rut would be too smart to work there. The problem isn’t just the company, which is such a hash of different businesses as to make an old-fashioned conglomerate look coherent in comparison. Someone could spin off or sell some aspects and find a focused core.

The problem is the board, which has been inept. First it watched the company sink into a malaise and then spurned the $44.6 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft (MSFT) because a 62 percent premium to share price wasn’t enough for either the directors’ greed or their egos. It set the company’s losing strategy and then hired Bartz and made her the most overpaid S&P 500 CEO.

Why would a good executive take on a challenge like Yahoo given the likelihood that the board would handcuff him or her? A no-win situation is no way to advance a career. Taking the Yahoo CEO job would be an act of charity.

About that price

Realistically, that leaves an acquisition as the only option. Only, who would bid on the company as it now stands? Microsoft, which already has what it wanted through the original search deal? Apple(AAPL), which is focused and would have no use for Yahoo? Google(GOOG), which, even if it wanted Yahoo, wouldn’t get antitrust regulators to sign off on that size of a deal? AOL, which probably needs a buyer itself? A newspaper like the New York Times?

Given Yahoo’s size, spread of businesses, and the proven ridiculous expectations of the board, there’s pretty much no one out there who’d offer enough to satisfy the directors. Eventually, I suspect, you’ll see the board succumb to desperation as the company’s revenue keeps dropping and its stock price slumps further.

At that point, the board will have no option but break the company up into its component parts, hold a yard sale, and hope that they get enough to keep the shareholders from a lawsuit — or a barrel of tar and sack of feathers.

Monster Stock Soars as Execs Buy and Investors Turn Optimistic

By: John Zappe

Consumers may be pessimistic about jobs, but investors clearly were not today, bidding up the stock of the three publicly held career sites.

So aggressive was the action on Monster in particular that its stock soared 21.45 percent today, leading the gainers on the S&P 500 Index. Monster’s shares closed the day at $9.91.

LinkedIn rose 6 percent today, closing at $87.49. Monday, LinkedIn was up 7.5 percent. Dice Holdings was up 2.16 percent to $10.40.

All three companies had a tough few days last week, with LinkedIn sinking on Thursday to $70.05, its lowest price since going public in May. It closed its first day of trading back then at $94.25, after hitting a high of almost $123 a share.

Monster, which has been drifting in the mid teens for months, started heading south in late July, closing on August 22 at a low of $7.13. Friday, the stock began inching up, and Monday, despite news the company had replaced its CIO Darko Dejanovic, it continued to rise. Today, after the company reported that three of its senior executives cumulatively bought more than 87,000 shares, the stock took off.

That news helped boost the stock price, giving the three — Chairman, President and CEO Sal Iannuzzi, CFO Jim Langrock, and EVP Tim Yates — a one-day profit of more then $152,000. Keep in mind that all three men are holding other Monster stock bought or granted at a higher price.

Bloomberg’s take on the rise is that investors have more confidence than the population generally that the economy is improving, and that the President and Federal Reserve will encourage job growth.

Bloomberg quoted William Blair & Co. analyst Tim McHugh as saying of LinkedIn and Monster in particular, “The stocks had embedded a high probability of entering a recession, but have been rebounding along with the market on the hopes that we will be able to avoid the recession … The companies could benefit from economic stimulus or a jobs program.”

Dice, which sold for as much as $18.75 a share as recently as April, didn’t fall as much last week as either LinkedIn or Monster. Its lowest point was $8.51.

Friday, the Labor Department releases its August employment numbers. Economists expect only about 75,000 new jobs will have been created during the month, a sharp drop from July’s 117,000.

5 Ways to Keep Executive Candidates Secret

By: Caroline McClure

While running the executive recruiting department for a Fortune 50 company, I once overheard a conversation between two people at a well-known coffee bar. Based on their dialog, they were executives from my company’s main competitor and were discussing a candidate they had just interviewed. Said candidate was a high-potential executive at my Fortune 50, and like many executive candidates, this person was a valued employee and not an active job seeker. The indiscretion of the two leaders from the competing company could have put their candidate’s career at risk, or at the very least, jeopardized his interest in continuing conversations with them.

The experience reminded me how much responsibility hiring entities have to maintain the confidentially of the executives they interview. There are at least five areas where exerting caution is imperative.

The first is illustrated in the above story. Talking about candidates in public may cause undue vulnerability. While this may seem obvious to ERE readers, it may be so obvious that we forget our clients often need cautionary reminders. External to the company, someone from the press, the candidate’s current staff, their boss, a customer, or a variety of other interested parties could be within ear shot. Regardless of the motivations, many categories of eavesdroppers could benefit by exposing the candidate’s employment discussions. More than likely, that exposure would damage the candidate’s relationship within their current employer and adversely impact their career within that company.

There’s risk within hiring entities as well. One time, an employee within a hiring organization was friends with one of the external candidates. The current employee learned of a competing external candidate through the hiring executive’s imprudence and leaked that candidacy to the press. The exposure caused the individual to withdraw from the search; the friend lost a competitor, and the hiring executive lost his lead prospect.

The second and third areas of risk have to do with visibility of candidates’ resumes. Companies often make the mistake of putting executive candidate resumes in applicant tracking systems. Once a resume is in an ATS, it is visible to a host of people: human resources, hiring managers, varieties of recruiters. Rarely do these constituents understand or remember the sensitivities typical of passive executive candidates. I have known staff recruiters to call the office of an executive whose resume they found in their system, and announce to the receptionist that they have the executive’s resume and would like to discuss a job opportunity with him or her. These risks can be mitigated by tracking executive recruiting activity within a separate, restricted-access system; there are several specific to the profession that serve our needs better than traditional ATSs.

Third, limit the distribution of executive candidates’ resumes. Too often, when debriefing after a series of interviews, I learn that candidates saw the resumes of competitors on the interviewer’s desk. When feasible, distribute biographies instead of resumes during the search process — they do not scream “candidate” as loudly. Additionally, when sharing executive resumes, remove names and contact information. Not only does it add a layer of anonymity, but it also hinders others from calling the candidates without your knowledge.

The final two areas of caution have to do with visibility of candidates during the interview process. If your company requires visitors to sign a guest ledger, work with the receptionist or security to ensure that each of your candidates signs a blank ledger which is then removed from the stack of other sign-in sheets. This is especially important if you have multiple candidates interviewing for the same job on the same day. Further, limit your candidates’ time in the reception area. Otherwise, subsequent visitors may see your candidate’s sign-in. Additionally, I’ve known employees to scan visitor sign-ins to glean company intel; segregating executive candidate visitor registrations limits exposure to others both internally and externally.

Lastly, limit your candidates’ vulnerability during interviews. Refrain from hosting their meals in the company cafeteria or the company’s favorite nearby restaurant. Also, instead of having candidates move from one interview to another, keep them stationary (in a room that has opaque walls and doors) while your interviewers go to the candidates. This limits the candidates’ visibility to other employees in your company hallways. Also, if you are interviewing more than one candidate for the same search on the same day, make sure the interviews are in different areas, and the candidates use different dining and comfort facilities. Further, if they are overnighting, house them in separate hotels and recommend different restaurants to them. Each of these cautions will decrease the likelihood that your candidates encounter each other during your interview processes.

The bottom line is that you never know who knows who, you never know who is listening or watching, and you never know who is friend or foe with accordant agendas within the political and competitive realms of corporations. Exercising these basic cautions will help protect your reputation as well as those of your candidates’ and their interest in continued engagement with your company.

How a $1,500 Start-Up Changed Health Care

By: Nicole Carter

Jay Parkinson is on a mission to simplify health care.

Impossible? He doesn’t think so.

He’s co-founded two health and wellness companies,HelloHealth and The Future Well, and speaks to businesses and health professionals around the world.

His method for each company he’s helped create has been simple: Use the plentiful supply of technology available to streamline, well, everything about the health care experience.

But it was his first start-up, a modest neighborhood medical practice, that launched the blueprint for these larger companies, and what some call the future of health care. And it cost him only $1,500 to launch.

“What I’ve done isn’t rocket science, it’s just business basics applied to an overly complicated industry,” he says.

It all started in 2007. After working for years in preventative medicine and pediatrics, the then-31-year-old Parkinson had just finished a residency at Johns Hopkins Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care.

“I got to see the back end of health care, why it is the way it is and why it costs what it costs,” he says. “I saw how broken everything is.”

He watched doctors treat up to 40 patients a day and have at least four staff members each to handle the nitty-gritty paperwork.

“It’s around 70 percent overhead,” he says. “It wasn’t like this decades ago. Doctors served their neighborhoods, took cash, and didn’t charge a lot because there was so little overhead. So I designed a process that went back to this model, looking at it from the patient’s perspective, and just injected a little technology.”

With $1,500, he set up a house-call-only practice in his Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood, serving only two zip codes. He created a website through Apple‘s iWebthat featured his resume, and posted his schedule on a Google Calendar so patient’s could enter in an appointment time online.

He also opened a PayPal account for payments, and used Formstack to create forms for gathering patient medical histories and to create specific questionnaires for particular ailments. (Get tips on super-charging your documents suite.)

Whereas most practices deal with significant costs in office management, Parkinson’s start-up costs went to getting his license and buying tools, such as an otoscope and doctor’s bag.

The community’s response was immediate. Within six months, Parkinson had 400 patients, paying him from $100 to $200 per visit. (Read more on mobile payment tools for business.) In addition to old-fashioned face-to-face visits, Parkinson used whatever technology was convenient to keep in touch with his patients: e-mail, video chatting via Skype, or phone.

“About half of my patients actually had insurance. They just didn’t want to deal with the hassle of the process, so they came to me instead,” he says, adding he typically treated patients for minor chronic illnesses such as asthma and acne.

He garnered a significant amount of press from local bloggers (to the tune of seven million hits to his website in the first month), and he was soon touted by mainstream magazines like Esquire as the man who could revolutionize health care.

“You couldn’t do something like this 20 years ago,” Parkinson says. “But we live in a time now where we can go back to traditional face-to-face business practices, but use technology to augment the experience on both sides.”

Soon veteran entrepreneur Nathaniel Findlay, the CEO of Canadian software company Myca, asked Parkinson to help him build a savvy patient-doctor web platform similar in concept to his Brooklyn house-call service. They later founded HelloHealth, in 2008, which aims to do what Parkinson did on a national level via more secure technology.

Parkinson’s latest venture is The Future Well, a consulting firm for health and wellness, which he co-founded with Grant Harrison in 2010. So far, he says, the company has worked on various projects for the Freelancers Union and Paris-based pharmaceutical company Sanofi.

Though he doesn’t practice medicine anymore, Parkinson is still amazed at the low start-up costs associated with The Future Well.

“The beauty of it all is that the cost of starting The Future Well was around the same cost as starting my practice,” he says. “I paid for the website, organized everything we needed online, and that’s about it.”

http://www.inc.com/articles/201108/jay-parkinson-how-a-start-up-is-changing-health-care.html

1437 Military Cutoff Road | Suite 201 | Wilmington, NC 28403 | o. 910.338.2790

f. 910.256.4036 | www.humancs.com | info@humancs.com | Prosperity at Work

August Prosperity at Work E-Tip

intern — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:04:06 +0000

August Prosperity at Work E-Tip

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) July Employment Situation

HCS Announces new Managing Director of Technology Division and additional Recruiter & Business Consultant

The Increased need for Oil & Energy resources fuels hiring

U.S. Shale extractions may reduce Iran & Russia’s influence

Opportunities in Healthcare

Best Hospitals for 2011-2012

Employment situation looking brighter

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — JULY 2011

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 117,000 in July, and the unemployment

rate was little changed at 9.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, retail trade, manufacturing,

and mining. Government employment continued to trend down.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.1

percent) changed little in July. Since April, the unemployment rate has shown

little definitive movement. The labor force, at 153.2 million, was little

changed in July. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men(9.0 percent),

adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (25.0 percent), whites (8.1 percent),

blacks (15.9 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) showed little or no change

in July. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

(See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks declined by 387,000 in

July, mostly offsetting an increase in the prior month. The number of long-term

unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over), at 6.2 million, changed little

over the month and accounted for 44.4 percent of the unemployed. (See

table A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate edged down in July to 63.9 percent,

and the employment-population ratio was little changed at 58.1 percent. (See

table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred

to as involuntary part-time workers) was about unchanged in July at 8.4 million.

These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back

or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In July, 2.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little

changed from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) These

individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work,

and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted

as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding

the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in

July, about the same as a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally

adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work

because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.7 million

persons marginally attached to the labor force in July had not searched for

work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance

or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 117,000 in July, following little

growth over the prior 2 months. Total private employment rose by 154,000 over

the month, reflecting job gains in several major industries, including health

care, retail trade, manufacturing, and mining. Government employment continued

to decline. (See table B-1.)

Health care employment grew by 31,000 in July. Ambulatory health care services

and hospitals each added 14,000 jobs over the month. Over the past 12 months,

health care employment has grown by 299,000.

Retail trade added 26,000 jobs in July. Employment in health and personal care

stores rose by 9,000 over the month with small increases distributed among

several other retail industries. Employment in retail trade has increased by

228,000 since a recent low in December 2009.

Manufacturing employment increased in July (+24,000); nearly all of the

increase was in durable goods manufacturing. Within durable goods, the motor

vehicles and parts industry had fewer seasonal layoffs than typical for July,

contributing to a seasonally adjusted employment increase of 12,000.

Manufacturing has added 289,000 jobs since its most recent trough in December

2009, and durable goods manufacturing added 327,000 jobs during this period.

In July, employment in mining rose by 9,000; virtually all of the gain (+8,000)

occurred in support activities for mining. Employment in mining has increased

by 140,000 since a recent low in October 2009.

Employment in professional and technical services continued to trend up in July

(+18,000). This industry has added 246,000 jobs since a recent low in March

2010. Employment in temporary help services changed little over the month and

has shown little movement on net so far this year.

Elsewhere in the private sector, employment in construction, transportation

and warehousing, information, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality

changed little over the month.

Government employment continued to trend down over the month (-37,000).

Employment in state government decreased by 23,000, almost entirely due to a

partial shutdown of the Minnesota state government. Employment in local

government continued to wane over the month.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged

over the month at 34.3 hours. The manufacturing workweek and factory overtime

for all employees also were unchanged at 40.3 hours and 3.1 hours, respectively.

In July, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on

private nonfarm payrolls was 33.6 hours for the sixth consecutive month. (See

tables B-2 and B-7.)

In July, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls

increased by 10 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $23.13. Over the past 12 months,

average hourly earnings have increased by 2.3 percent. In July, average hourly

earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased

by 8 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $19.52. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised from +25,000

to +53,000, and the change for June was revised from +18,000 to +46,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Human Capital Solutions Inc. Announces New Additions to the Team

Charlie Kessler – Vice President of Business Development

Charlie Kessler is our new Vice President of Business Development. Charlie brings over thirty years of extensive business and market development, sales and general management experience in selling profitable business and infrastructure solutions. His expertise stems and spreads across consultative services and software, including Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft, Siebel, Ariba, Seebeyond, Checkpoint, NEON, Web Methods, etc. to the Global 1000.

Charlie has led and managed major and international accounts in providing total solutions and single point of contact in IT systems integration, architecture and design.

He has been employed with high growth technology companies such as Hewlett Packard, The ASK Group, System Software Associates and Qwest Communications. Charlie is a native of New York and received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. John’s University.

He resides in Southport, NC where he enjoys golf, boating and spending time with his family.

Sonja Krueger – Recruiting and Business Consultant

Sonja Krueger was born and raised in Lower Michigan and spent much of her life and
professional career in Human Resources and Operational roles in the Midwest. Sonja has
managed three WorkOne Centers – Employment Security Commission Offices in Indiana with
a professional career spanning over 25 years as an entrepreneur, a trainer, and a career coach often assisting challenged individuals with barriers to employment. There she developed and maintained professional working relationships with multinational corporations, labor unions, world class training organizations, educational institutions and area service providers. Sonja is an expert at identifying, developing and implementing assessment criteria, workflow management, along with training tools that include certifications and credentials for leadership development.

Prior to her employment at the Indiana Employment Security Commission, Sonja represented
Goodwill Industries for nine years managing and directing client services within a regional
five county service area. Sonja has a passion for assisting people providing specific career
development plans and key resources.

Sonja brings to Human Capital Solutions, Inc. a strong development and training background in
advanced interviewing, career and competency development, and behavioral based interviewing
techniques for selection. Sonja also has experience in personality profiling assessments that
strengthen the business and the employee’s performance.

Sonja has a Bachelor of Science in Management and Leadership from Kennedy-Western
University.

In the spring of 2010, Sonja relocated to the Wilmington, North Carolina area and now lives in Kure Beach, North Carolina. Sonja is enjoying her new home at the beach, walking, cycling, and enjoying fresh seafood. Sonja is quite active volunteering in the community and participates on two not for profit boards.

U.S. Oil Field Services and Extraction Employment at Two-Decade High

By : Ryan Dezember

Oilfield services companies are doing a booming business amid the rush to tap North America’s newfound troves of crude oil and natural gas. The discoveries are pushing U.S. energy employment to its highest level in two decades.

Baker Hughes Inc. on Monday said its income in North America doubled last quarter from a year-ago to $440 million, despite weather-related disruptions in Canada that weighed on results. Last week, Halliburton Co. said its second quarter North American profit more than doubled from a year earlier. Schlumberger Ltd. on Friday said its North American profit jumped six-fold to $673 million, from $116 million a year ago.

Some companies worry there may be a shortage of oil field workers. Above, a Halliburton recruiter at a job fair in Dallas earlier this month.

Those gains translated into at least 17,200 new U.S. oilfield jobs during the quarter, according to federal employment data. In May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were 413,500 jobs in the oil and gas extraction and support businesses in positions ranging from roustabout to tax accountant. Oil and gas extraction added jobs in June; corresponding data is not yet available for support positions. All the hiring, however, hasn’t moved the needle on the nation’s unemployment rate, now at 9.2%, due to weakness in construction and other industries.

Schlumberger Chief Executive Andrew Gould worries that a shortage of skilled workers will become a pinch point as the company responds to global demand for its services.”The ability to provide both North American and international markets with required people in a continued growth phase will be a challenge,” Mr. Gould said.

Schlumberger, Halliburton as well as smaller rivals Baker Hughes and Weatherford International Ltd., are watched closely because of their global reach and their linchpin position between equipment makers, rig owners and energy producers. Their profits are a good barometer of the industry’s job growth. On Tuesday, Weatherford is expected to report profit rose 36% from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters.

Baker Hughes has been on a hiring spree, adding 2,200 employees in the U.S. in the last 12 month, said Vice President Adam Anderson. “We plan to continue to do so this year,” he said. Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. hopes to add as many as 450 workers this year to a U.S. payroll that tops 3,300 and could repeat that level of hiring in 2012, said Frank Rudolph, the company’s top human resources executive. “These are typically well-paid people,” he said in an interview.

After shedding jobs for much of the previous two decades, steady job growth returned to the U.S. industry in 2004, about the same time that U.S. energy producers began extracting natural gas from shale-rock formations. The industry combined horizontal drilling with a rock-cracking process called hydraulic fracturing to release huge quantities of gas once thought to be out of reach.

U.S. oil and gas explorer Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Monday posted net of $562 million compared to a year-ago loss of $28 million.

The ensuing drilling frenzy fed a flurry of hiring. The run was curtailed by recession in 2009, but recovery has come swiftly. The sector has added an average of 5,920 jobs a month this year through May and preliminary data suggest that trend continued in June. Through May, there are 13.6% more jobs tied to drilling than at the end of last year. By contrast the number of construction jobs in the U.S. has only grown 0.8% in that span.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424053111904772304576468152124650950-lMyQjAxMTAxMDIwNjEyNDYyWj.html

Study says U.S. shale may weaken Iran, Russia

By : Tom Fowler
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

The natural gas boom in the U.S. has weakened Russia’s influence on European energy supplies and could keep Iran’s influence in check for years to come, according to a new study from the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

The study, “Shale Gas and U.S. National Security,” says the surge of drilling in shale formations will have an impact on global supply for years to come and limit the need for the U.S. to import liquefied natural gas, or LNG, for at least 20 to 30 years.

That means more LNG shipments from the Middle East will be available for Europe, which has been beholden to Russia for a large portion of its gas, supplied by pipelines.

The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, predicts that Russia’s share of the natural-gas market in Western Europe will drop to as little as 13 percent by 2040, down from 27 percent in 2009.

“By increasing alternative supplies to Europe in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) displaced from the U.S. market, the petro-power of Russia, Venezuela and Iran is faltering on the back of plentiful American natural gas supply,” writes Amy Myers Jaffe, a fellow at the Baker Institute and one of the authors of the study.

The study challenges the notion that the U.S. natural gas shale is a short-lived phenomenon. It concludes domestic production will more than quadruple by 2040, from 2010 levels, and account for more than half of all U.S. gas production by the 2030s.

‘Game changing’

“The idea that shale gas is a flash-in-the-pan is simply incorrect,” writes Kenneth Medlock III, another Baker Institute fellow and study co-author. “The geologic data on the shale resource is hard science and the innovations that have occurred in the field to make this resource accessible are nothing short of game changing.”

A decade ago, U.S. companies were making massive investments to build LNG-import terminals based on the assumption that domestic natural-gas production would continue to decline and the country would need to draw on supplies from Africa, Russia, the Middle East and Australia.

But U.S. supplies did a U-turn over the past five years as companies perfected the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing – a process of injection millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals into the ground to crack open shale formations – to economically access more gas reserves.

LNG terminals

U.S. gas production from shale has risen from virtually nothing in 2000 to more than 20 percent of domestic production today. That’s left the handful of new LNG import terminals – such as the Freeport LNG terminal southwest of Houston and Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana – seeking permits and funding to build the capacity to export U.S. natural gas.

Help for Europe

By freeing up LNG shipments that might otherwise have been destined for U.S. consumption, Europe will be able to draw more heavily on Middle Eastern and other future LNG sources, cutting its dependence on Russian gas.

“A more diverse energy supply for Europe enhances U.S. interests by buttressing Europe’s abilities to resist Russian interference in European affairs and help border states in the Balkans and Eastern Europe assert greater foreign policy independence from Moscow,” Medlock writes.

Trouble for Iran

Cutting U.S. dependence on LNG imports would also delay for another 20 years the need for other countries to import LNG from Iran, the study says. That would diminish Iran’s economic influence and increase make it easier for the other countries to support U.S.-led sanctions against Iran for its nuclear weapons development.

“In addition, the long delay in the commerciality of Iranian gas means that Tehran will have trouble moving forward with the development of pipelines to India or Pakistan until at least the mid-2020s,” Medlock writes.

Shale gas production could also lower natural gas costs globally, making it less costly for the U.S. and other countries to meet long-term goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the study says.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/7662475.html#ixzz1SkIGeZM9

Health care jobs a bright spot for hiring

By Parija Kavilanz @CNNMoney

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — As the pace of hiring slows and job opportunities dry up, one industry will remain the rare bright spot in an otherwise dismal job market: health care.

The health care field is one of the few industries that sustained steady growth, even through the recession, adding jobs every month for the last eight years. And that growth should continue. Two factors — an aging population and health reform — guarantee that health care jobs will be there for the taking, experts said.

“Health care jobs are driven by demand. An aging population simply needs more medical care,” said Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director with Moody’s Economy.com.

“The leading edge of baby boomers are now 65. They are needing more health care,” she said. “But the biggest bulk of baby boomers are still 10 years behind.”

That means the industry will need to ramp up fairly quickly to meet a surge in demand for health care service in the coming years, she said.

Others see health care reform as another catalyst for more jobs in the field.

“The big provisions of health reform, such as the health exchanges, won’t kick in until 2014. When they do, it will bring give millions more access to health care,” said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist with IHS Global Insight.

Gault anticipates this will result in more demand for health care services and more jobs.

“There’s some concern in the industry about whether there’s enough qualified health care professionals to meet this demand,” he said.

Still, this uncertainly bodes well for health care hiring. According to the government’s June jobs report, health care hiring rose by 14,000 jobs last month while hiring in most other industries dramatically slowed to a crawl.

More bragging rights: In the past 12 months, health care has added an average of 24,000 jobs per month. But that trend goes back even further. Health care jobs have increased every month going back to July 2003, according to the government.

Since 2001, health care’s workforce has grown 28% to about 17 million in 2011, according to the government.

Over the next decade, Koropeckyj expects health care will remain a fertile area for hiring and forecasts a 24% growth in health care jobs, or 4.3 million additional jobs until 2021.

Dr. Joseph Kim, founder of nonclinicaljobs.com, tracks shifts in health care jobs.

Kim said one recent trend contributing to an uptick in physician jobs are hospitals adding more physicians and specialists to their in-house staff instead of contracting with them.

He said hospitals are doing this through new hires as well as acquiring independent practices and groups practices.

Kim also expects ancillary health care jobs such as nursing assistants, medical assistants and health IT jobs to be hot growth areas as hospitals and health clinics expand into suburban areas and health providers rush to meet health reform’s deadline to update technology and transition patient records to Electronic Health Records.

The government provides its own projection of fastest growing health care careers. Here are top 8 health care jobs expected to see rapid growth through 2018:

– Bill and account collectors are forecast to increase 66%. Industry experts peg the growth to an increase in billing as more Americans get access to insurance and health care under reform.

– Cardiovascular technologists and technicians jobs are expected to grow 52%. Kim said as boomers age, they will need more stress tests and cardio scans, which will require experienced technicians to operate the equipment.

– Public relations specialists are forecast to rise 52%. “The interesting phenomenon happening right now is hospitals and health centers embracing social media,” said Kim. As a result, he said hospitals are hiring people who are “social media” or public relations “specialists.”

– Physician assistants are expected to see a 52% increase. Kim said the current shortage of primary care physicians means many health centers in areas facing doctor shortages are using physician assistants to fill the gaps.

– Pharmacy technicians are forecast to grow 52%. This trend may be fueled by the rapid growth of retail pharmacies and support staff needed to work with pharmacists.

– Customer service representatives are expected to rise 52%. Kim said more hospitals are changing their models and adopting a more customer-centric approach, which includes conducting customer satisfaction surveys.

– Massage therapists are expected to increase 52%. An aging population is boosting demand for this type of service, said Kim, as well as a slow shift away from conventional drug therapy.

– Clinical, counseling, and school psychologists are forecast to rise 43%. Again, Kim points to the aging population and more instances of depression and anxiety as the reasons behind the projection.

– Registered nurses are forecast to also increase 43% as health care centers boost their medical staff in anticipation of rising demand for services.

Best Hospitals 2011-12

By Avery Comarow, US News

For clinical excellence, these 17 hospitals possess a rare blend of breadth and depth

A place on the Best Hospitals Honor Roll is reserved for medical centers that demonstrate unusually high expertise across multiple specialties, scoring at or near the top in at least six of 16 specialties. Just 17 of the nearly 5,000 hospitals evaluated for the 2011-12 rankings qualified. Hospitals with the highest scores in a given specialty received 2 Honor Roll points; those with slightly lower scores received 1 point.* Honor Roll standing was determined by the total number of Honor Roll points across all 16 specialties.

Rank	Hospital	Points	Specialties
1	Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore	30	15
2	Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston	29	15
3	Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.	28	15
4	Cleveland Clinic	26	13
5	Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles	25	14
6	New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, N.Y.	22	12
7	UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco	20	11
8	Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston	18	12
9	Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.	18	10
10	Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia	17	12
11	Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis	16	11
12	UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center	14	8
13	University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle	13	9
14	University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, Ann Arbor	10	6
14	Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville	10	6
16	Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York	8	6
17	Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Stanford, Calif.	7	6

* 2 points for scores 4 or more standard deviations above the mean, 1 point for scores from 3 to 4 standard deviations above the mean.

The Methodology

Our intent when we published the first Best Hospitals annual rankings in 1990 was to help people who find themselves in need of unusually skilled inpatient care, and that mission hasn’t changed in Year 22. The Best Hospitals rankings judge medical centers on their competence in exactly such high-stakes situations. For example, a hospital ranked in cardiology and heart surgery—one of 16 specialties in which centers were evaluated—likely has the expertise and experience to replace a faulty heart valve in a man in his 90s. Most hospitals would decline to perform major surgery on elderly patients, as they should if they aren’t up to speed on the special techniques and precautions required and don’t see many such patients. A ranked hospital in gastroenterology can probably offer the most appropriate care to a patient whose inflammatory bowel disease flares up. At hospitals ranked in neurology and neurosurgery, surgeons face more spinal tumors in a couple of weeks than most community hospitals see in a year.

By contrast, other hospital ratings and rankings for the most part examine how well hospitals treat relatively unthreatening conditions or perform fairly routine procedures, such as hernia repair and uncomplicated heart bypass surgery. The majority of hospital patients need such ordinary care, so for them that approach to evaluating hospitals works fine. But it falls short for patients who are especially at risk because of age, physical condition, infirmities, or the challenging nature of the surgery or other care they need.

A good way to determine how well a hospital deals with a medical challenge is to evaluate its performance across a range of challenges within the specialty. U.S. News ranks hospitals in 16 different specialties, from cancer to urology. This year, only 140 of the 4,825 hospitals that we evaluated performed well enough to rank in even one specialty. And of the 140, just 17 qualified for a spot on the Honor Roll by ranking at or near the top in six or more specialties.

In 12 of the 16 areas, whether and how high a hospital is ranked depended largely on hard data, much of which comes from the federal government. Many categories of data went into the rankings. Some are self-evident, such as death rates. Others, such as the number of patients and the balance of nurses and patients, are less obvious. A survey of physicians, who are asked to name hospitals they consider tops in their specialty, produces a reputation score that is also factored in.

Hospitals in the four remaining specialties—ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and rheumatology—were ranked solely based on their reputation among specialists. Most of the care in these specialties is delivered on an outpatient basis, and so few patients die that mortality data, which carry heavy weight in the 12 other specialties, mean little.

To be in the running for a ranking in any of the 12 data-driven specialties, a hospital had to meet any of four criteria: It could be a teaching hospital, it could be affiliated with a medical school, it could have at least 200 beds, or it could have at least 100 beds plus four or more of eight key medical technologies, such as a PET/CT scanner and certain precise radiation therapies. This year, 2,196 hospitals, or 46 percent of the initial number, met that test.

Eligibility in a particular specialty required hospitals to meet a volume requirement. The threshold was a specific number of Medicare inpatients, different for each specialty, who were discharged in 2007, 2008, and 2009 (the three most recent years for which data are available), based on a defined set of specialty-related procedures and conditions. The minimum number of cancer discharges, for example, was 254, of which 48 had to have been surgery patients; in neurology and neurosurgery the corresponding numbers were 341 total and 86 surgical. A hospital that fell short still could make it through the gate if nominated by at least 1 percent of the physicians in a specialty who responded to the 2009, 2010, and 2011 reputational surveys. That left 1,879 hospitals eligible in at least one specialty. But only slightly more than 7 percent of them performed well enough to be ranked in any specialty.

In each specialty in which a hospital was a candidate, it received a U.S. News Score from 0 to 100 that was based on four elements: reputation, patient survival, patient safety, and care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. The 50 top performers were then ranked. Scores and data for all qualifying hospitals in each specialty are also posted. (Use of electronic health records did not factor into any specialty ranking. But see our separate list of Most Connected Hospitals.) The four elements and their weightings, in brief:

Survival score (32.5 percent). A hospital’s success at keeping patients alive was judged by comparing the number of Medicare inpatients with certain conditions who died within 30 days of admission in 2007, 2008, and 2009 with the number expected to die given the severity of illness. Hospitals were scored from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating the highest survival rate relative to other hospitals and 1 the lowest rate. A software program used by many researchers in the field, 3M Health Information Systems MS-DRG Grouper, took each patient’s condition into account.

Patient safety score (5 percent). Harmful blunders occur at every hospital; this score reflects how hard a hospital works to prevent six of the most egregious types. A 3 puts a hospital among the 25 percent of those that were best in this regard, a 2 in the middle 50 percent, and a 1 in the lowest 25 percent. Examples of the six kinds of medical episodes factored in are deaths of patients whose conditions should not have put them at significant risk and surgical incisions that reopen.

Reputation (32.5 percent). Each year, 200 physicians per specialty are randomly selected and asked to list hospitals they consider to be the best in their specialty for complex or difficult cases. A hospital’s reputational score is based on the total percentage of specialists in 2009, 2010, and 2011 who named the hospital. This year some physicians were asked to list up to five hospitals, the rest to list up to 10.

Other care-related indicators (30 percent). These include nurse staffing, technology, and other measures related to quality of care. The American Hospital Association’s 2009 survey of all hospitals in the nation was the main source.

In the rankings based only on reputation, hospitals were listed on the basis of responses to the most recent three years of physician surveys. Ranked hospitals were cited by at least 5 percent of responding physicians.

The rankings were produced for U.S. News by RTI International, a leading research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Be sure to add your own fact-gathering to ours; no hospital is best for every patient.

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/healthcare/best-hospitals-2011-12

July jobs report: Hiring picks up

By Chris Isidore @CNNMoney

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The job market strengthened in July, a welcome piece of good news that sharply contrasted other recent readings pointing toward an economic slowdown.

Employers added 117,000 jobs last month, well above the 46,000 jobs added in June, and easily topping the 75,000 gain predicted by economists surveyed by CNNMoney.

Weak job reports for both May and June were revised higher, adding a combined 56,000 jobs for the year.

Businesses were busy hiring, adding 154,000 workers in the month, topping forecasts of 100,000 new jobs. But those gains were tempered by a loss of 37,000 government jobs, mostly from state and local governments, where budget shortfalls led to layoffs in July, especially in Minnesota where the government was briefly shut down.

The unemployment rate ticked down to 9.1%. The Labor Department said the improvement was mostly due to people leaving the labor force.

Still, 13.9 million Americans remain unemployed, 44% of which have been out of work for six months or longer.
After a shockingly weak jobs number from June and a spate of other negative economic readings that followed, many economists had been bracing for the worst from Friday’s report.

In just the last week, data on consumer spending, manufacturing, job cuts and gross domestic product have all raised concerns that the slowing economy could fall back into recession. Major stock indexes have lost 10% of their value in the last two weeks amid growing worries.

Stock futures turned significantly higher immediately following the report.

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