Redsplur.com

For anyone making a donation and you don’t know how to or to what organization.  _Current has provided this list…please feel free to view their video online.

Red Cross – http://redcross.org
You can also text ‘HAITI’ to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross via your phone bill.

UNICEF – http://unicef.org

Oxfam – http://oxfam.org

Doctors Without Borders – http://doctorswithoutborders.org

Mercy Corps – http://mercycorps.org

Internal Medical Corps – http://imcworldwide.org

Americares – http://americares.org

Well…Colorado is the first state to drop it’s minimum wage by 3 cents per hour.  It’s minimum wage was set last year at $7.28 and will be reduced to $7.25 this week.  Colorado is one of ten states that the minimum wage is directly tied to state inflation and the goal was to protect low income workers from getting hit on their paychecks as cost of living rises. 

But this change in minimum wages has some side effects…such as the this would allow state wide wage decreases.  Many people that are unemployed or have been working part time jobs to make ends meet have already been struggling on a daily basis. 

There are 13 states including Alaska that offer higher minimum wages than the federal minimum wage.  We have attached a couple of links to help you take a closer look at your wages in comparison to other states. 

Fact Sheet on Fair Wage Act 2007 – http://www.vtlivablewage.org/Fact_Sheet-FEDMINWAGE.pdf

Overview of Minimum Wages – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_States

Salary Comparison – http://www.salary.com/

PayScale – http://www.payscale.com/

Cost of Living Calculator – http://www.bestplaces.net/COL/

We hope that this information is helpful and useful. 

In a recent news article published by Business Week from the Bloomberg website on January 09, 2010, it talked primarily about the current unemployment rate and discouraged workers.  It was noted that the current unemployment rate was actually higher than the official published numbers. 

This article actually brought up a great point.  The point was about discouraged workers and how the number has been increasing to 929,000 last month.  This number is the highest since 1994.  So as I continued to read the article it discussed how many unemployed workers felt disillusioned with the possibility of finding employment.   This feeling is partially created by the length of time it is taking to find employment and the stress associated with on a monthly basis with employment. 

It was believed that things would change in 2010 due to the belief that the economy was changing and that it would become easier to find jobs.  While the economy is stabilizing, economist feel that the unemployment will continue at a rate of 10.5 over the next year which has kept the Federal Reserve at a stand still reflected in the near zero interest rates.

We suggest that you read the entire article on your own…

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-09/shrinking-u-s-labor-force-keeps-unemployment-rate-from-rising.html

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.4 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending
September 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Both components of compensation–wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation) and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation)–increased the same amount, 0.4 percent.

Civilian Worker Data
Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 1.5 percent for the 12-month period ending September 2009. This
was smaller than the 2.9 percent increase for the 12-month period ending in September 2008. Wages and salaries increased

1.5 percent for the current 12-month period, slowing from a 3.1 percent increase for the 12-month period ending in
September 2008. Benefit costs rose 1.6 percent, down from a 2.6 percent increase for the 12-month period ending September
2008.

Private Industry Worker Data
Compensation costs, wages and salaries, and benefit costs decelerated for private industry workers for the 12-month
period ending September 2009, registering the smallest increases since each series began, but the differences were not
statistically different from last quarter.  Compensation costs increased 1.2 percent, the smallest percent change published since the series began in 1980. The wage and salary series, which began in 1975, increased 1.4 percent for the current 12-month period.  The cost of benefits, which have been measured since 1980, increased 1.1 percent for the 12-month period ending September 2009. Employer costs for health benefits increased 4.7 percent for the 12-month period ending September 2009. In September 2008, the 12-month percent change was 3.9 percent.

Among occupational groups, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the 12-month period ending
September 2009 ranged from 0.8 percent for sales and office workers to 2.1 percent for service occupations.

Among industries, compensation cost increases for private industry workers for the current 12-month period ranged
from 0.7 percent for information to 2.1 percent for education and health services.

The Employment Cost Index for December 2009 is scheduled to be released on Friday, January 29, 2010, at 8:30 a.m. (EST).

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until                           USDL-09-1303
8:30 a.m. (EDT) Friday, October 30, 2009

Technical information:
(202) 691-6199 

NCSinfo@bls.gov  

http://www.bls.gov/ect

Media contact:
(202) 691-5902 

PressOffice@bls.gov

The U.S. Small Business Administration said Wednesday it launched its own channel at video sharing site YouTube to broaden its audience promoting the agency’s programs.

SBA is using the channel, online at www.youtube.com/sba, to post informational videos, starting with an overview of programs and services available to help small-business owners growing their companies.. The channel also features a 10-part “Delivering Success” series, which was co-produced with the U.S. Postal Service.

SBA said it plans to produce more in-depth videos about its programs to assist entrepreneurs, including government contracting, taking advantage of loan programs and counseling.

E-mail João-Pierre Ruth at jpruth@njbiz.com

Lou Dobbs, take note: immigrants are good for our economy. The most skilled create jobs in technology and engineering, says Duke professor Vivek Wadhwa, who estimates that in 2005 immigrant-founded engineering and tech companies employed 450,000 people and generated $52 billion in sales. But even the least skilled more than repay their costs in schools and health care. Two highly respected Australian economists, Maureen Rimmer and Peter Dixon, studied the issue for the libertarian Cato Institute. “The net impact on U.S. households from tighter border enforcement is unambiguously negative,” they found, because even low-skilled immigrants expand the economic pie and create jobs farther up the ladder. Cato’s Dan Griswold says the study shows a $250 billion difference between the most and least restrictive immigration policies.

The ACCION USA Microfinance Council hosts an engaging discussion on the challenges faced by domestic microfinance providers and how they will move forward. Distinguished panelists included: Gina Harman, President and CEO of ACCION USA; Lisa Servon, Dean of the New School for Management and Urban Policy; and Jonathan Morduch, Professor of Public Policy and Economics at NYU and Managing Director of the Financial Access Initiative.

ACCION USA Domestic Microfinance Panel, 7/27/09 from Erica Dorn on Vimeo.

A new survey reveals that many employees want to leave their current jobs.  Here is the video from ABC News based on the survey.   It is very interesting finds in the survey.  Watch the Video!

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7932529