Michel Cournoyer

Sierra Leone / Strategies to promote employment

The current world-wide recession has focused the spotlight, once again, on the need to redouble our efforts to find new and creative ways of boosting employment in Sierra Leone, one of the countries hardest hit by the economic downturn. Party manifestoes have been published ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday November 17. … Continue reading →

Ohio / Timken / Between 300 and 400 employees are facing temporary layoffs

Between 300 and 400 Timken employees are facing temporary layoffs, after a poor third-quarter showing by the company. In a statement to Fox 8 News, a spokesperson says Timken Steel has experienced lower customer demand across its market sectors. As a result, operational schedules have been adjusted over the last few months, resulting in 160 employees … Continue reading →

Kentucky / L’Oreal to add add 211 jobs

L’Oreal will invest $42 million and add 211 jobs over the next two years to expand its Florence facility on New Buffington Road. Gov. Steve Beshear and the judge-executives of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties broke ground Thursday morning on the expansion at L’Oreal in Northern Kentucky that will double the workforce at the plant and … Continue reading →

Michigan / Chrysler / To add 1,250 jobs in

Chrysler Group LLC will announce new investments and jobs Thursday at one of its Detroit facilities. A Chrysler spokeswoman would not comment on the details of the announcement, but the Detroit Free Press reports the Auburn Hills-based automaker invest $238 million in three Michigan plants and add about 1,250 jobs so it can ramp up … Continue reading →

Pension Plan / Less than a third of Fortune 100 Companies offer a defined benefit plan to newly hired salaried workers

In 2012, the number of Fortune 100 companies offering new salaried employees only a defined contribution (DC) plan rose, as it has for many years. Today, less than a third of these companies offer any DB plan to newly hired salaried workers, and only 11 still offer a traditional DB plan to new hires. Large … Continue reading →

US | Jobless claims | At 439,000, and 78,000 up, Thx to Sandy

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending November 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 439,000, an increase of 78,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 361,000. The 4-week moving average was 383,750, an increase of 11,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 372,000. The advance seasonally … Continue reading →

UK / More than 1 in 3 will work past 65 and 35% will work past retirement age

Thirty-five per cent believe they will work past retirement age, but this could have a negative impact on employers. Workers are planning to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the abolition of the default retirement age, according to new research by insurer Canada Life Group. Over a third of employees think they will work … Continue reading →

(UPDATE) Saskatchewan – Potash Corp – layoffs

Potash Corp. is temporarily laying off workers at mines in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick because of a slump in demand. The Saskatoon-based company says the Allan mine in Saskatchewan won’t operate between Dec. 16 and Feb. 9… Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from via Potash Corp. issues layoffs. Longer than normal layoffs are coming a … Continue reading →

The American Job Gap

We face a 9 million jobs gap between the number of jobs we have and the number we need, and this doesn’t even address the low quality of the jobs being created. The chart below, taken from an Economic Policy Institute blog post, illustrates the gap. As Heidi Shierholz, the author of the post, explains: The … Continue reading →

Ireland / More than 850 seasonal retail jobs for Christmas

MORE than 850 retail jobs were announced today as stores hope for the busiest Christmas period in years. Some 650 of the positions were announced by two of the country’s top retailers Boots and Heatons. Boots Ireland will create 400 temporary full- and part-time positions in its Irish stores to cover the festive celebrations. “Customer … Continue reading →

HR / Personality Assessments / Best Performed by Outsiders

Human resource departments often have people complete a self-administered personality profile as a method to match a person to job tasks or to assess job performance. A new study finds that businesses will get more accurate assessments of potential and current employees if they do away with these self-rated tests and find an outside observer … Continue reading →

Manitoba / Hiring teachers to reduce class sizes

The Manitoba government says 79 new teachers have been hired by school divisions over the past year, as the province works to reduce classroom sizes. Hiring the 79 teachers, who are working in 31 school divisions, has resulted in 20 per cent fewer Kindergarten to Grade 3 classes that have 24 or more students, the … Continue reading →

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Cover Letters / Tools, Tips and Free Cover Letter Templates for Microsoft Office

Next time you’re preparing to fire off a resume and your cover letter template… don’t. Instead, take 15 minutes to find out who’s on the receiving end of your inquiry.
So, how do you create cover letter that is not tossed? Continue reading →

Vocational educational / Not an option for losers

If the perception that vocational education is an “option for losers” persists, unemployment and social instability will continue to escalate. This argument emerged as a major focus in the first day of the World Innovation Summit for Education (Wise) held in Doha, Qatar this week. The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development launched … Continue reading →