How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

[rj1]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

Boat industry: Sales very weak but people at the very high end (superyachts) of the market still bragging about good business. Boat & fishing charter business fell off a cliff. One friend who owns a yacht keeps it parked right now. he can afford to operate it but given that he is laying off people from his business, he feels it looks bad to go yachting.

One business segment that is doing the worst for my company currently is the marine market, and by marine I'm talking the yachts. I think the biggest we sell to is a Hatteras 44-footer. Our plant that does that has had the most layoffs throughout the company. Of course we're talking down sales to the companies that build the boats, not the yacht sellers themselves.

Some other information I've been passed along this week:

-Sales for power generation and mining are holding up well
-Chinese truck sales are down 60%

[Nicolasd]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

I'm a big race fan and an engineer as well. I helped design a sportscar chassis to race and plan on racing USAC and other assorted events in the Midwest starting next year. Welcome to the forum.

NASCAR was heavily way oversaturated. You're right it's an unnecessary industry, but part of the problem is treating it like an industry to start with. It's just a bunch of guys entering cars to race a set distance. All racing orgs throughout the world would be in better shape if they remembered that.

I too race , albeit less frequently and at vet pace (Motocross)

Motor sport are expensive by nature and popular among contractors and small entrepreneurs.(My theory experienced first hand is that some black money is being recycled there , but that for another thread).

From 1995 to 2005 ,there was a steady increase in spending in non essentials like deluxe motorhomes, pit bikes, expansive Ti and carbon fiber parts, lot's of bling , etc . A good friend blew over 400K in a summer to set-up his family in comfort in the middle of nowhere every week-ends with a ''decent rig''.

Now it seems that with construction reaching a plateau in my neck of the wood, we see more often 2 or 3 year old bikes on the starting grid ,box vans instead of motor homes ,promoteur programs designed more for the grass root enthousiast than for the elite to entice more entries , alternative racing circuits for the locals,etc.

All the fun has been retained but the segregation between the 'haves' vs 'have not' has narrowed and the sport is alive and well.

[Basil]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

I work at a major university in the states. A dean told me it is the worst they have seen it financially at the university since they started here. There are rumors that one of the larger colleges at the university will be laying people off next year. They are currently doing things that will save them money during holidays. Like shutting the university down for a week here, half day there etc.

Students are no longer getting as much money as they once did for student loan, so I figure that's going to start to hurt after awhile. For example, if a student goes full time in masters they cant work. So they generally use part of their loan to live. Well, if that dries up (which it has) then they are going to start dropping out or going to cheaper schools. I figure it will be the cheaper school route or schools that offer tuition assistance before dropping out. I mean, where are these people going to go find jobs at in this economy?

Have not heard any rumors of faculty layoffs yet. I think they will cut staff jobs at my university before even thinking about touching faculty. One university near us is cutting its work force by 20% and they have frozen raises until 2011 or 2012, I forget which. They also went to four day work weeks over the summer. I think we will be doing the same next year.

Next year is going to be interesting.

*PS*

Endowment, state government funding and donations are WAY and I mean WAY down. Unfortunately the school I work for counts on this heavily. Also, student body growth is down pretty significantly as well.

I am in academia as well and we are getting hit hard. Many of the job searches that were advertised this year have been canceled. From what I have heard, I would guess close to 40% overall. Considering that many universities were advised that their endowments would begin to recover, rather than continue to decline, many more searches are likely to be canceled in the coming months.

We are eliminating 10% of staff and have begun to eliminate language instructors by simply not renewing their contracts. I imagine that there will be no raises for next year. I think that in a few years, we are looking at heavier teaching loads to compensate for retiring faculty members that are not replaced.

My university has spent less of the earnings from its endowment per year than many others, so we are in decent shape. But I know of some Universities that may be demolished. The George Washington University has a debt larger than its endowment and much of that is in real estate. They were already in a jam and have been slowly increasing class sizes to compensate. Boston University also played fast and loose to increase their endowment rapidly. It will be interesting to see if some large universities go under. I am almost certain that many small colleges will. Most of my colleagues have no idea how bad this is.

[hoodoo]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

Corporate R&D scientist in the biomedical sector.

Currently business revenues are holding up and we're catching a big break on reduced fuel costs required to transport samples across the US. I expect the business to remain stable as most of the revenue comes from managed care contracts and government healthcare programs. However, I do expect a reasonable amount of belt tightening and fully expect that open positions will remain unfilled for the foreseeable future.

Hoo

[Judas]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

I work in the small business sector (under a hundred employees), and we do primarily specialized Navy contracting (technical illustration, photo, tech editors in support of engineering; project management, ILS, etc.), with state contracting (mostly IT) second and a little private sector work wherever our services can fit the requirements of some company looking for help.

Fed work: The US will need sonars, tracking ranges, weapons, etc. even in hard times and we will support engineering programs as long as they keep running, and we use overlapping multi-year contracts so that should hold up for now.

State work: An absolute mess. Problems getting paid, existing clients getting POs held up in the system, submitting bids that were supposed to be awarded but are now in limbo, etc. I am going to a pre-bid conference tomorrow, and wonder if after I spend the weekend writing furiously the project will even get awarded as the state budget implodes.

[JOELBG1]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

Well, enough of the bad news...I am fortunate enough to work in the Bicycle biz, and business is pretty good right now. I suppose selling one of the cheaper forms of transportation while gas climbed to $4 this summer helped...where I see a real weakness is in the upper end-$3000 and up. Business is off fairly significantly.

Where business is going bonkers is in repair (folks dusting off that old forgotten bike) parts and accessories (folks updating to new lights, bags, fenders, tires etc) and utilitarian type bikes-bikes that can carry groceries, or kids, electric assist bikes, or commuter bikes that just get you around town.

Although business is good for us, I cannot say that is the case for everybody. Most shop owners in the industry have a fairly unsophisticated view and these changing times will be rough on many of them. For example, last Spring and Summer we saw tremendous price increases because the crashing dollar and increasing import costs (most of our stuff comes from Asia) and sky rocketing energy inputs. The better retailers saw this coming and started to hedge and gobbled up a lot of the inventory early in the season causing significant shortages industry wide. When the less savvy could finally get the stuff they needed, they did not raise the retail prices enough to compensate soon enough. I hear rumors of the small mom and pop shops not paying their invoices on time right now.

As an industry I see significant opportunity-if you're smart and can read the dynamics of the marketplace soon enough. However, 20 years of FIRE economy bubble has warped the industry into a very enthusiast driven "sport" where I continue to see manufacturers bullish on high dollar bikes. I fear their will be some upper end bike companies that will not make it much longer. As an industry we are way over capacity on $3000 Full Suspension Mountain bikes and $5000 Carbon Roadbikes-which have been the main stays of bike shops the past few years. As Americans wake up in 2009 and realize they are a lot poorer, I believe that you will see less people buying these "toys" and more buying bikes that are suitable for just getting around.

I am grateful that I-Tulip has been here the past year as I have gained a deeper understanding of what is really going on in the world...with this understanding I feel I have been able to anticipate and make good decisions and help run a successful business that continues to grow and seek expansion opportunities. As a 20 year veteran in the bike industry, at times I am frightened-other times excited by what is going on lately...I find A daily dose business and I-tulip can elicit both! Although there are minefields to navigate, I think with every threat there is an opportunity...and that is what keeps my head up and looking down the road.

[Wild Style]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

I am in academia as well and we are getting hit hard. Many of the job searches that were advertised this year have been canceled. From what I have heard, I would guess close to 40% overall. Considering that many universities were advised that their endowments would begin to recover, rather than continue to decline, many more searches are likely to be canceled in the coming months.

We are eliminating 10% of staff and have begun to eliminate language instructors by simply not renewing their contracts. I imagine that there will be no raises for next year. I think that in a few years, we are looking at heavier teaching loads to compensate for retiring faculty members that are not replaced.

My university has spent less of the earnings from its endowment per year than many others, so we are in decent shape. But I know of some Universities that may be demolished. The George Washington University has a debt larger than its endowment and much of that is in real estate. They were already in a jam and have been slowly increasing class sizes to compensate. Boston University also played fast and loose to increase their endowment rapidly. It will be interesting to see if some large universities go under. I am almost certain that many small colleges will. Most of my colleagues have no idea how bad this is.

demolished, wow ! How can I look into different universities financial positions? I am currently trying to find employment at another university (I don't think my current one is going to fair to well in this mess). But don't want to jump from the fire into the pan. Also trying to get a business started on the side.

I am an executive at a Real Estate Development Company we have had one round of layoffs and will most likely layoff more from our construction division next year. I am not so worried about myself because as luck may have it I am also a licenced commercial broker with extensive experience in distressed property transactions so if I get layed off I will go hang up a shingle work like a dog and make deals again. To crashandburn hang tight and keep an eye out for the opportunities that will present itself. There will be some great RE assets on the cheap.

Other stories:
Cousin layed off after 22 years in a wall street bank.
I know two title closers who just went into sales and someone who's entire division of a title abstract company just got layed off.
I know two architectural firms who just let go of 60+ architects each.
Lawyers. One of our lawyers firms just folded with 90 attorneys out of work.
Friend of mine in the Energy Infrastructure Business just lost two major orders and is now scared of layoffs.
Friend of mine in a local government job just lost all 6 of his p/t workers. He now runs the program alone.
Friend of mine who works for the Federal Government said they had a job fair and the line was two blocks long and they had to turn people away.


Unforturnatley at 6.5% unemployment I fear this is just the begining.

My school teacher friends are not worried. One person I know who was a wall street employee is spending the next year getting her nursing licence.

my wife is going back to med school. More job security than what she does now (she was pre med). Also for teachers in grade school not worrying they should really look into population movements in their area. Example, where I am (south florida) people are pouring out of here. Schools are being hurt and so are budgets. Miami Dade has seen lay offs of teachers and staff. I am in Broward County and people are leaving here too. Student enrollment in grade school k-12 is WAY down. With the huge hit to property taxes its just a matter of time before the school board starts laying off.

[Penguin]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

Thanks for the welcome guys, it is much appreciated.

I lurked on itulip for a long, long time prior to registering and then lurked a long, long time before finally posting. I was pretty sure that a guy who specializes in thermodynamics and fluid dynamics had a lot more to learn than to offer when it comes to finance and economics. Learning how it all works has become almost a hobby with me.

I've learned a ton by reading the comments and articles and am extremely grateful.... so it my 401k.

Will

[we_are_toast]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

A neighbor of mine's son is a railroad engineer. He says much of his department have lost their jobs and he's been cut back to part time. He drives a freight train and he says there are no shipping containers coming from the coasts.

An American on the east coast stops buying products made in China, that are then shipped to the U.S. and railroad workers in Wyoming loose their jobs.

What a tangled web we've weaved.

[jpatter666]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

IT Technical Sales for one of the big computer companies.

Things have slowed down for us, but we're still driving in business.

I believe the corporate thinking is that there was a big pullback in 01-04 and that the upgrade cycle has come again (invest money to save money :-)). Also, several smaller competitors are falling out or people fear they won't survive -- so we win by default.

No layoffs yet, but we're on guard. Thanks to iTulip even if the roof fell in we'd survive for several years -- knowing what was coming we lived well under our income.

[Master Shake]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

I work for a large, private (non-profit) university/medical center in the regulatory compliance field (OSHA/EPA/Joint Commission). We 're a large decentralized organization and my office is one of the few that provide service to all divisions -- undergrad, professional schools, hospital, satellite campuses --and we've been understaffed for years (have the bench-markng to prove it). Past downturns have resulted in institution wide hiring freezes and minimal salary increases. I think my job is fairly secure, but you never know. My wife teaches high school Spanish in a government school, but doesn't have tenure yet. I figure she's fairly secure, too. I could see salary cuts and furloughs happening to both of us, but can't see us both losing our jobs.

Only debt is our mortgage and we're way above water (owe $142K on a, worst case, $250K house.

[sunskyfan]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

Housing market is suprisingly strong in the University area where I live. Very slow else where. Economy is slowing down as the Linens & Things and Circuit City closes. Foot traffic in malls is down. Just look at the parking lot. I am guessing 50%.

I am an Independent Consultant/Software Engineer in Defense Research in the Southwest. Business has gone down 50% each year for the last three. Just trying to let my kid finish High School where he started. He is done in May.

Have zero debt.

Don't own a house.

Luckily pulled 401k out in June.

Would love to sell my 2005 BMW but doubt that I can.

Where should I go in June when he is done? What would the world look like? Any suggestions?

[Moe_Gamble]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

I own a company related to advertising. Last year was down about 20%. I think advertising has been in recession for over a year.

My brother-in-law owns a company related to advertising (in Detroit). His original business had started stalling out early in 2008, so he expanded to a new line. The new line was doing well until about the start of October. Now the bottom has completely fallen out. Customers cancelling in droves on all lines. He has filed for bankruptcy, and his house is in foreclosure.

I'm a professional gambler. (Poker tournaments, futures trading, some other stuff.) Turn-out at the big buy-in poker tournaments is down by about 50% from last summer. A month ago, turn-out was at all-time highs for $500 buy-in deep stack events. Now turn-out for even the $500 buy-in events is falling sharply. I'd say down by roughly 50%. So the crash seems to be getting worse really fast.

Re: futures trading, volume is way off.

[Guest]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

Welcome back to the tulip, Moe. What do you think of this punt: Oil has bottomed, right here at $49.00 - $50.00? I think it's bottomed.

[ASH]

Re: How the Economic Crisis/Recession has Affected Your Job and Your Employer

I work for a very small (~25 employee) optical sensing R&D company. Most of our business comes from federal R&D spending through the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Program, and the remainder is subcontract R&D work for prime government contractors and direct non-SBIR contracts from the government. Our fortunes are more closely tied to the R&D priorities of the government than to the immediate health of the economy, although my guess is that federal R&D spending is likely to get squeezed by other budget priorities. On the one hand, we recently added a permanent hire (analog CMOS design engineer) to our staff in order to bring more of the IC design work we do in-house; on the other hand, we are seeing fewer SBIR solicitations in the areas of our technical expertise, and there may be gap coming up about a year out if we don't line up more business. (I have recently spent more time boning up on polymer electronics with alternative energy applications, and less time studying laser radar for defense applications.)

Locally, I read that Oregon's unemployment rate is rising. Triquint Semiconductor, a local company which makes high-speed transistors for cell phones, recently laid off all its temporary employees. Also, I hear that Intel (which is Oregon's largest employer) has a hiring freeze in place. ...and yet the malls remain crowded.

I have been watching undeveloped land prices in the rural area outside the local high tech zone, and they have finally started to come down. That said, the asking prices are still much higher than prior to the bubble.