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Thursday, August 31, 2006 |
In another Labor Day report, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) says its report is good news for manufacturers but soaring energy costs are hurting manufacturing workers at the pump and in their paychecks. According to NAM's President and CEO John Engler, "It illustrates the need for energy reform to become a national policy."
Manufacturing production increased at its fastest pace in six years and jobs on the factory floor have poted their strongest gains since 1998. "Healthy productivity growth, combined with a tightening labor market, has continued to boost workers' real, inflation adjusted wages," said David Huether, the NAM's chief economist.
"But while workers' total compensation has continued to outpace inflation, wages have not," Huether said. "Surging energy prices have propelled inflation at a faster pace than workers' take-home pay and have resulted in declines in real wages for working Americans."
"Over the past year energy prices have risen 23 percent due to increased global demand, limited domestic supplies, natural disasters and global instability," Engler said. "As a result, real wages have fallen by 0.5 percent over the past year when they should have gone up by 1.2 percent."
7:55:55 AM 
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Labor Day is coming and so are the surveys about the status of the labor force. The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) conducted a survey of IT workers and found that 60% are looking for new jobs. Just 7% of those surveyed work in manufacturing though.
The survey of nearly 1,000 IT workers found 58% are looking for new jobs and 80% of those say the search is somewhat or very active. Why are they looking? Higher pay tops the list cited by 73% of those seeking new positions.
But 66% cited no opportunity for advancement where they are now with 58% noting they are looking for a new challenge.
CompTIA represents the business interests of the IT industry.
7:44:09 AM
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Expertune says it is so confident that its product PlantTriage will deliver lower costs that it will provide software and services for free, in exchange for a 25% share of the savings. It expects savings in the form of such things as energy reductions, production increases and waste/scrap reduction.
I thought this sales method might become a trend, but companies that I've talked to say that in the end customers would rather just pay a flat, known fee and pocket all the savings. It'll be interesting to see how this plays in Expertune's market. Just making the ploy shows the company's confidence.
I also see that the company has a new CEO, Kevin Gibbs.
7:19:02 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Gary Mintchell.
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