College Courses.com Education & Career Blog

Colorado daily newspaper Denver Post has an article on workers cashing in on high energy costs that are fueling a boom in oil fields across America:

At the urging of an oil-worker friend, Bryant, 37, switched from being a dairy manager earning $14.21 an hour to a water-truck driver making $19.50. He started working 60 hours a week rather than 40.

His new job means getting up at 4:30 a.m. and commuting nearly 100 miles a day. He drives remote dirt roads in all weather and slogs knee-deep in muck at times. But Bryant has paid off credit- card debts and is looking forward to the day he can buy a new home for his wife and three children.

“I have no regrets whatsoever,” Bryant said.

He is part of an odyssey - a wave of workers leaving other jobs and heading to the oil fields.

…

In a story repeated often by local officials but not confirmed by Wendy’s management, an energy company new to the area recently went into the Fruita Wendy’s and hired away the counter help on the spot.
…

The energy industry, which is drawing more oil-field-support companies into the area to keep up a groundswell of drilling, has added 1,400 - or 75 percent - of all jobs created in Mesa County last year. Unemployment has dropped to about 3 percent, and less in the energy counties of western Colorado, while it stands at 4 percent statewide.

The Mesa County Workforce Center has 2,500 job openings listed but only 1,000 people in search of jobs. Twenty-five to 30 new job openings are posted each day.

Young, single workers in particular should take the opportunity to make money in the oil fields right now. Opportunities like this don’t come around very often and they certainly don’t last. Taking advantage of the boom, however, doesn’t mean makin’ it and spendin’ it. That’s just wasting time. Taking advantage of it means using the money to get rid of debt, in particular credit card debt, and then saving as much as possible. When the ride comes to an end, and I can almost guarantee that it will have come to an end two years from now, it’ll be time to launch a more durable career, perhaps by going to a college or a trade school. The worst hangover you’ll ever experience will be the one you suffer when you wake up the morning after the boom has ended and you realize you blew it. Don’t let it happen. Work hard, save hard, play later. That’s how you take advantage of a boom.

The economy added 97,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate remained at 4.5%, unchanged from January, according to the Bureau pf Labor Statistics. The January payroll growth was revised upward to 146,000, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the January number will also be revised up.

Payroll growth came from the usual suspects last month. Health care added 33,000 jobs, professional and business services 29,000, and food services and drinking places 21,000. Those three industries together have added more than 1.1 million jobs over the past year.

All three industries offer many different career tracks that require different skills. The health care sector probably brings to mind jobs like medical doctor or registered nurse, but many more job opportunities are available when the group of occupations known as “allied health,” which includes jobs such as ambulance driver, administrators and medical technicians who operate and or maintain advanced devices used for diagnosing or treating patients.

Similarly, business and professional services is a grouping that spans accounting, financial services, marketing, sales, business consulting and many other other professions and occupations.

The job market grew briskly in New York City by the end of last year, according to Crain’s New York Business and the number of jobs increased by 62,300 for the entire year. Another 17,500 were added in January of this year, keeping the unemplyment rate below 5% for six straight months. In all, the city’s labor market grew by 1.7% in 2006, according to the state Labor Department.

The sectors with the biggest additions were construction, which was revised up by more than 2%; and business and professional services, up 1.65%. Despite high fuel costs and financial problems in the airline industry, the number of aviation jobs in the city was revised upward by 6%, Mr. Brown says, showing the industry locally is “benefiting as the local and national economy grow.”

Times Union reports the job market is a bit tougher in New York’s Capital Region, the area around Albany, where the unemployment rate was 4.4% in January 2007, slightly higher than the 4.3% recorded a year earlier. The area’s labor market did grow by 0.5% and jobs were created in education and health services, leisure andhospitality, and construction and mining. Manufcturing, business and professional services, nd the government sector all saw a decline in number of jobs.

The unemplyment rate for the entire state of New York was 4.9% last January compared to 5.2% in January 2006.

The Texas Workforce Commission reports today that Texas is seeing very strong job growth. The state’s economy added 243,700 jobs in 2006, the unemployment rate fell to 4.5% last January from 5.2% in January 2006. Professional and business services grew by 50,000 jobs last year, leisure and hospitality by 40,000.

The Conference Board reported three days ago that online job ads grew by 622,000 from January to February. Last month there were 3.8 million online job ads, 18% more than in February 2007.

The U.S. Labor Department reports that initial jobless claim fell 10,000 to 328,000 for the week ending March 3 (ie, last week).