Who's hiring

[Mrs. Sharon B. Hodge]

Who's hiring


In the current economic crisis, it's just another day when more layoffs are announced. But January 26 is likely to go down in history as the job market's "Black Monday" — more than 50,000 jobs lost in a single day. Now the question is: Who is hiring?

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While some companies that offer inexpensive products are seeing profits rise in these down times (McDonald's, anyone?), even discount chains like Wal-Mart and Target are having a hard time keeping ahead of the ever-shrinking economy.

However, there are companies and industries that are hiring, some expected, some
not. Here's a roundup of the hottest employers:

- Uncle Sam: Just inaugurating a new president created up to 4,000 political appointee positions in the new administration. The U.S. Customs Department alone is hiring 11,000 people to help patrol the U.S. border.

In the long-term, President Obama's stimulus plan hopes to create more than 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010 — if it passes, of course.

- Census Bureau: Like to count? With the national "once-a-decade" head count coming in 2010, the Census Bureau is hiring thousands of temporary part-time workers.

- Unemployment offices: No, that's not a typo — yes, the place where you pick up a check for being unemployed needs people to hand out those checks. Unemployment offices across the nation are being overwhelmed by the waves of layoffs.

Pennsylvania and North Carolina are hiring hundreds of temporary and full-time workers statewide to help with the crush.

- H&M: The Swedish retailer, which has stores in 33 countries, including more than 100 locations in the U.S., was among the few bright spots on the earnings front last week when it announced "strong" profits and the creation of up to 7,000 new jobs.

It plans on opening 225 new stores this year, "most of them in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States."

- Tesco: The British supermarket chain, which has locations in the U.S., Asia and Europe, also reported strong sales and announced it would be creating 10,000 new jobs.

Other industries that are expected to be hiring, not firing: health care, hospitals, bio-tech firms, IT and environmental technologies.

At the end of the day, one important lesson seems to be: Find a "safe" job. It may seem counterintuitive to leave your job voluntarily when so many are being shown the door, but Reuters reports it's a growing trend these days — and a smart one:

"Some organizations use downturns to go out and capture the top talent in the industry from competitors that are hurting," said Peter Stark, business consultant and author.

Ironically, it's the jobs that are sometimes seen as dead-end or poorly compensated (government jobs, teaching) that are now considered the hottest — and safest — to have. AP reports that this recession is sparing few industries; blue-collar workers, white-collar workers and everyone in between continue to get hit.

Here's hoping that the folks on Capitol Hill who are still battling over the stimulus package remember that the clock is ticking.

- Lili Ladaga