Archive for October, 2007
October 30th, 2007
Ever hear of the Rule of 72? That’s the mathematical formula that determines how long it will take for a sum to double based on its annual percentage growth. You divide 72 by the percentage rate and find out the number, in years, it will take to double. So if your wages grow by 3 percent each year, then it will take you 24 years to double your salary (72 / 3 = 24). If your stock portfolio grows by 8 percent every year, it will take 9 years to double it (72 / 8 = 9). You get the idea.
A newsletter from the Economic Research Institute, a research firm that does salary surveys for human resources benchmarking, points out an obvious mathematical consequence of this axiom: If health care premiums continue to rise at 10 percent a year and wages rise at 3 percent, it’s only a matter of time before all the money that a company spends on employee compensation will be eaten up by paying for benefits.
Of course, it isn’t certain that employer-sponsored health care costs will rise at the same explosive rates we’ve seen since 2000, but it is certain that the current growth and its impact on employers will make paying for health care the biggest domestic issue in next year’s presidential election.
October 29th, 2007
With November approaching, human resources directors are getting ready for their most special time of year: open enrollment. That’s when we employees sit through presentations about benefits and try to decipher pages information to discern which insurance plan is best for us.
I’ll be writing a story about this annual event sometime next month. But what I want to know is: What kinds of things are changing with your company’s benefits? New consumer-directed health plans? Fewer choices? Atrocious premium increases for employers or employees?
Send me an email at nlegue@rrstar.com or post a comment and let me know what your company is doing.
October 26th, 2007
Once a month, I write a story reporting the local unemployment rate for the previous month. And almost as often I get a call from a reader who disputes the percentage of jobless workers reported by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Some people believe that the rate comes from the number of people filing unemployment claims. But that number’s usefulness would be limited because eventually those benefits run out, even if the recipient is still not working.
But the local number is actually gained from a national survey of about 60,000 people by the Census Bureau. Every month, the bureau conducts interviews with people in this sample group. They’re asked if they’re working (employed), not working and looking for a job (unemployed) or not working and not looking for a job (not in the labor force). They’re also asked about everyone else in their household who is over 16 years old.
The bureau builds continuity into this sample so that respondents stay in it for several months before they’re removed.
The rate for the Rockford region is determined by algorithms that factor in the particulars of the local job market, such as the Rock River Valley’s heavy reliance on manufacturing employment, and weight the national data based on local demographics, such as ethnic identity.
For a full explanation of the unemployment rate from the federal agency that determines it, visit this site.
October 25th, 2007
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Illinois labor force but were afraid to ask is right here.
This is a Web site by the Illinois Department of Employment Security that I go to to dig up statistics on the local workforce. It has data like the unemployment rate over time, average wages, job employment by sector, you name it.
October 24th, 2007
This is my first post on what will be a blog about working, whether it’s in the cubicle, on the shop floor or in the car. My job is to talk about things that happen to us at our jobs, places to get jobs, job-related benefits and losing jobs.
Just hope I can get the job done. Feel free to comment with ideas, criticism and feedback.
–Nate Legue
