How are things going in your area with jobs

I felt I had to post this because beings I’ve worked in the construction trades all my life, eigther welding, union carpenter and a drywaller and finisher, I’m wondering what the diffrent areas are doing and how busy people in those trades are. I’ve got my own personal things I look for as indicators as a guide in seeing what the economy is doing.

Here in town everybody in the trades are busy and there no one in the union halls looking for a job unless thier job has come to an end. Theres atleast 8 to 10 cranes up and working here in town on downtown buildings and the grain processing companies such as Cargill with thier 4 plants, ADM, General Mills, all of them have something going on with thier building.

A friend of mine is down here deer hunting again from the U.P. of Michigan and he said he can’t believe how much is going on here with the plants building and the amount of new homes going up, especially new homes which theres dozens being built right now and have been for the last 5 years, its been steady building and thier starting more new homes then they were 2 years ago, litterly dozen of them with plans for hundreds more. I have heard that the banks here are full of money and are financing full and big developements of new homes and many new business buildings. The roads here are constantly being worked on with detours everywhere along with the standard road repair and new road construction. My friend from Michigan said its hard to find a vehicle with rust on it and it seemed like eveyone is driving newer autos and trucks. Things are going and doing very well here with everybody being employed, low to fair rents and costs of living. Utilities and gasoline are are on the upper end of costs but where aren’t they. I know a welder at one of the rock crusher manufacturing plants and hes been on overtime for so long he forgets how long its been, which theres 3 companies here that build them and ship them around the world. One of those companies also builds asphault pavers and everybodys busy there with new orders.

One thing I have to say about the union halls here is if any illegals try to work here, wheather its roofing, or any construction the union halls will turn them in to immigration in a second to keep the local guys working. The legals can stay and thats the way it should be and they mainly work on the road crews during warmer weather. Things are good here and I’m just wondering how it is in your area, are you seeing any improvments?

Great !! You don’t say where your at.

I would guess Cedar Rapids Iowa, look over by his name.

Williston, North Dakota home of the freakin’ engine that is driving the economy. $17.00 dollars an hour to work at McDonalds here. And a certain somebody who would love to take the credit for the biggest oil boom in the country’s history can’t because it took place in spite of all the deterents in place to prevent it from happening. He tried to take credit the other night; but was immediately reminded that this is all happening on private property. Drilling permits allowed on Federally owned lands has steadily declined over the laast few years.

dd

I remember as well Dan, how I was impressed by the activity in your area when I hunted with Mike there a few years ago.

According to the US Dept of Labor

Cedar Rapids Unemployment rate ave 5.3%
National Unemployment rate ave 8.0%
Iowa Unemployment rate only 5.5% that is low, partially because Iowa has a lot of farming vs industrial jobs

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in Cedar Rapids peaked in April 2010 at 9,344. There are now 1,418 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 7,717 in June 2012, the number of unemployed has now grown by 209. Cedar Rapids employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in Cedar Rapids, Iowa) is also available.

Michigan Unemployment rate 9.7%
Change in Payroll Employment from 388 to 436.6…
we are down over 48,000 jobs since April

I also recall that there was a large influx of work after the flooding some years ago, of federal and insurance monies for rebuilding. Cedar Rapids is doing better than Michigan, but statistically your unemployment is rising like most of the country.

I am a welder for a overhead sprinkler company, in Wausau, WI, and our sprinkler fitters are all working their tails off this year. This year has been pretty busy. It has been building up more and more over the last three years, when we did almost no work. Every industrial welder I know that wants to work, is working.

In Moorhead we seem to be doing well, last year we built a new overpass over I94 about 100 yards away from an existing one. With that we tore up the old on and off ramp to the old bridge. This fall we decided it was stupid to rip it up so we are rebuilding it. Talk about creating more work than necessary.

3M in Prairie du Chien will be hiring a butt load of people over the next 12 months as over 100 employees are eligible for retirement..

Plenty of jobs out there. The real problem is finding people who actually want to work. If our welfare systems werent as great as they are youd see the unemployment rate drop drastically

Get your head out of the sand Jesse. Sure a few will take advantage of “entitlements”, but there are many honest hard working Americans struggling to find work because of losing a job through no fault of their own. I know a few that are looking harder for employment than you realize.

Unless they are being “selective” or are not willing to relocate they shouldnt have any problems finding work. I am fully aware that it may be harder or take longer to find a job in a particular field i get that however i have had to take jobs outside of my field to get through until a job opened up. Thus the reason I say plenty of jobs out there the problem is finding people that actually want to work.

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3M in Prairie du Chien will be hiring a butt load of people over the next 12 months as over 100 employees are eligible for retirement..

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I was talking with Dean Z this A.M. and he told me there are very few temp jobs, mostly permanent hires now. I also heard this morning that Ashley Furniture is hiring 30-40 new people per week in Arcadia.

Record amount…currently 117,000,000 Americans on Assistance as of Sept 30, 2012…According to the US Govt.

Minnesota is doing very well at 6 % unemployment, Wisc is currently at 7.5% but lots of others aren’t…California nearly 11%, Illinois, Mich, New York and others close to 10% unemployment.

I have little empathy for those that say there is no work out there. I have been living/working away from my wife and son four days/week for the last 6 months because that is where the money/work is (Fargo/Moorhead).

It appears to be tough out there for a lot of people.

My bro got lucky (it helps to be good though) and was only laid off for 3 weeks before he had 2 competing offers in his local area.

They aren’t being selective if they are looking for a 15-20/hr. job that they need to feed their families,rent-mortgage,etc. and relocation is not an option for some. Can you live with half the income you need to pay your bills?

Plenty full time jobs. Personally i would do what I would have to do to make ends meet so I would work 2 20 hr per week jobs or one full time job. And yes i have done it for less money. Some income is better than none . I want to work.

Your young Jessie, you work those 2 20 hr. jobs without insurance then.

Ya Tom I know what your saying. You should see it now from just when you were here, alot more new homes and major construction and is almost soild homes from North Liberty to Cedar rapids, that was thew prediction 10 years ago. Kevin Bestick is a friend of mine and is a civil engineer and he just told me an hour ago that theres a big shopping center going to be built on the N.E. side and the developers bought 18 acres from Aegon investments to build it on. I drove down a road that I haven’t been on in 3 years and on two diffrent gravel roads theres now dozens of new homes with new ground and streets in for more new homes. I know its because of farming and the grain processing plants which are major employers here plus all the hevy industrial plants working at full bore. For the last three years I’ve seen the Union Pacific rails lines near my house pull many John Deere tractors and combines and other ag equipment on thier flat cars coming from waterloo.

Except for a few places I think any area that has skilled labor and has something thats in demand is doing good. On a bad note I heard this morning on C-Span when a guy called in from Florida that theres alot of work there on roads and other building projects but thier bringing in Brazilians to do the work for minimum wage. He said when the guys there ask for a decent wage that they can support themselves and familys on, every company he applied at he was told that they weren’t hiring. I don’t know about you guys but I’m tired of companys here in America bringing in outside help that will work for nothing, and let Americans go without work. To me these companies are a disease on America and all for the buck and too heck with everyone else. I can see it some if labor prices are too high but why can’t they pay a living wage and its the same way in Texas. Unemployment in these states is high for construction workers, I wonder why. My cousin moved to Alabama to get a construction job and because they don’t like the cold, and was back 2 months later. She said her husband looked for any construction job and they didn’t even offer a wage good enough to pay the rent. I’ve heard other stories about the south not wanting to pay what they should, its no wonder they aren’t as developed as the northern states. This may sound kinda hard but its the truth, make all the money and squeeze people to do it…

You know what Tom and I might be wrong but maybe the reasons why theres high unemployment in those states is because of the labor coming in from out of this country illegally and are taking the jobs at a lower wage. A friend of mine moved back from Brooklyn New York a couple years ago. He said the amount of Illegal workers from other countrys is mind boggeling, he said there everywhere. Id almost bet two cents that those states have a immigration problem taking jobs away from our citizens. Maybe I’m wrong but Id bet thats some of the reason. California=illegal mexicans= high unemployment. New York area=people here from the mid east and the islands=high unemployment, Florida= central americans=high unemployment, maybe I’m wrong but that sounds like part of the reason. You hire an illegal and you get a major fine and not a slap on the wrist they can just write off.

Waterloo area is doing good… I work for John Deere and they have been hiring steadily for the last 5 years Still hiring record sales and profits for the last 4 years…working 12 hour days and loving every minute of it

We are an hour and a half noth or CR and our manufacturing company is expanding three of our buildings and adding more CNC equipment. Just having trouble finding people that will are willing to work. One of our buildings is going to machine parts for the wind energy industry. So things are not so bad here.Except for the 50$ a week gas bill getting back and forth to work.

Good to hear. Terex is struggling to keep it’s “Bobcat/ASV” style units factory afloat. My friends who work there have a lot of time for hunting this fall.

I hear Monticello is the same as you Aleb, pretty good. Does your company advertise for machineists in the Cedar Rapids area.

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I have little empathy for those that say there is no work out there. I have been living/working away from my wife and son four days/week for the last 6 months because that is where the money/work is (Fargo/Moorhead).

It appears to be tough out there for a lot of people.

My bro got lucky (it helps to be good though) and was only laid off for 3 weeks before he had 2 competing offers in his local area.

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x2… My once local company has expanded its area to keep us busy, I havent slept in my own bed on a weekday for 5 yrs.. Sucked at first but it beats the alternative

Unemployment rate in North Dakota is 3%. That is basically no unemployment because there are always some folks on unemploymet. Businesses are begging for employees here and starting wages are unreal. The cost of living is high and finding housing can be a challenge. However, if you are making 3X the money you were making back home, that will make up for a lot of cost of living expenses.

dd

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Unemployment rate in North Dakota is 3%. That is basically no unemployment because there are always some folks on unemploymet. Businesses are begging for employees here and starting wages are unreal. The cost of living is high and finding housing can be a challenge. However, if you are making 3X the money you were making back home, that will make up for a lot of cost of living expenses.

dd

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DD, I understand that things are nuts out there. I work with a gal who owns a trucking company and they run three rigs out in the fields. They have 2 complaints. #1. They are working to hard. #2. They are working to hard because the last three truckers they hired to run a rig couldn’t handle it.

I have also heard the companies out there are being selective as they have a large worker pool to draw from.

It is different from company to company. There are a lot of places where the #1 requirement for getting a job is having a pulse.

dd

A smart kid coming out of high school could get an oil field job and put away a boatload of money and save for college or buy a house and not have to take out a loan. that kid would have to be disciplined nd not buy a brand new monster truck and blow all their money on booze and dancing girls.

dd

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that kid would have to be disciplined nd not buy a brand new monster truck and blow all their money on booze and dancing girls.

dd

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Not impossible but how many of them do you know? Of course “If I only knew then what I know now.”

I/We have been trying to hire a few good individuals here at the Dealership and it is slim pickings in St Cloud… not even looking for experience, just somebody that can comprehend and learn. It’s pretty tough right now in this area