Tracy Davidson

Syndi Blatt and Gail Fine from UnemployedWoman.com tell us about what their website does for out of work women.  

For the second month in a row, the number of jobs in New Jersey increased, and so did the unemployment rate, according to numbers released today by the state Department of Labor. The state unemployment rate rose to 9.3 percent, up .10 percent, despite the addition of 4,600 jobs, most of them in the areas [...]

Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that layoffs are dropping and companies may be stepping up hiring. The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of people seeking benefits dipped by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000 for the week that ended March 26. That’s the second decline in three weeks. [...]

Legislation that proponents say would close loopholes in New Jersey’s law regarding mass layoffs may soon go before the full Assembly. The measure began gathering steam about three months ago, after the company that operates Charlie Brown’s Steakhouses abruptly closed 47 restaurants in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania and filed for federal bankruptcy protection. [...]

Are some companies weeding out job applicants just because they are unemployed? After news accounts about the practice and requests from concerned lawmakers, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has jumped in, trying to figure out whether it’s a widespread tactic that could violate federal job discrimination laws. Commissioners at an EEOC hearing Wednesday said they [...]

The job market started 2011 on solid footing, according to two separate reports released Wednesday. Payrolls among private employers rose by 187,000 in January, payroll processor ADP said. Analysts polled by Briefing.com were predicting 145,000 jobs added for the month. A separate report showed planned job cuts increased in January, which is not unusual for [...]

Financial services company HSBC is laying off 500 people at its main Delaware center, leaving 700 on staff at the New Castle facility, a company spokesman said Thursday. The company is “discontinuing” credit-card customer service and collections work at the center, but its insurance-related functions — underwriting and customer service — will remain. “The decision [...]

The government is expected to report Friday that businesses stepped up hiring in December, a trend likely to gain momentum in 2011. Economists are predicting that employers added a net total of 145,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate dipped to 9.7 percent. Some are even more optimistic after a private payroll firm [...]

Acme Markets told workers this week that it will close five unprofitable Philadelphia-area stores by the end of February, three in South Jersey and two in Pennsylvania – locations that union officials said had been hurt by Wegmans and other competing chains. The decisions “were made only after careful evaluation and were guided by what [...]

fter three years of economic pain, a growing number of economists think 2011 will finally bring what everyone’s been hoping for: More jobs and a self-sustaining recovery. “We’re looking at some leading indicators on employment, and they’re all flashing green lights,” said Bernard Baumohl of the Economic Outlook Group, a Princeton, N.J. research firm. Though [...]