Hiring prospects improve

Judging from the slant given the Dispatch/Argus article on recent job fairs at St. Ambrose and Black Hawk College, one would think we've entered a new dawn in the Quad Cities in which jobs are plentiful for all.

However, a closer look reveals that it's not exactly all sunshine. In fact, the entire rosy scenario seems to be based on the fact that organizers didn't have to beg employers to show up as was the case in the past.

The scene was a far cry from a few years ago, when Black Hawk career counselor Sandy Sullivan recalls begging local employers to attend the annual job fair. Now, slowly but surely, business is starting to hire again. They found hundreds of prospects looking for work.

Needless to say, a huge amount of people looking for work doesn't exactly translate into a great employment climate for the area.

But Manpower, a company which is reaping the benefits of the rising trend towards hiring temp workers sees things improving. Companies are increasingly using temp services to hire everything from unskilled laborers to positions requireing doctoral degrees, with those hired receiving lower wages, no job security, and next to no benefits.

Last week's turnout reflected a trend in the most recent Manpower Inc. survey that nearly half of the Quad-Cities employers surveyed expect to hire at a brisk pace this spring. The long-awaited hiring trend is not just a Midwest phenomenon, but is expected nationwide, Manpower said.

Jobs in manufacturing, transportation, public utilities, services and public administration are the most likely prospects, Manpower said.

The piece gives a representitive sample of jobs employers were seeking to fill.

They included unions looking for people with strong backs, health care positions, CNC (computer numeric control) operators for Caterpillar, girl scout camp counselors, and salesmen for financial schemes.

Not exactly the cream of the crop, but at least some jobs are available. Contrast this with the number of jobs lost and you end up with a net loss of jobs.

Just as Bush spent months pushing the point that at long last, he'd actually created some jobs, but neglecting to note that he was still vastly short of creating as many as were being lost. Bush still stands to go down in history as the first president since Hoover to preside over a net loss of jobs.