March 6, 2009

Unemployment Rate Rises to 8.1 Percent

The February labor report was released today, revealing an unemployment rate that surpassed economist’s predictions and revised previous month’s numbers to be even worse than originally reported. The new unemployment rate at 8.1 percent is a significant jump from January’s reported numbers of 7.6 percent. According to NPR, the unemployment rate has not matched this level since 1983.

The new number reflects that the continuous economic downturn may now be longer than originally predicted. December’s unemployment was revised by 104,000 job losses and January’s numbers were revised by 57,000 additional losses.

So you may be wondering as a job seeker where to go from here. According to the report, the only industries that either added jobs or maintained them were education, health services, and government. There are lots of opportunities within these broad sectors and All Star Resumes encourages job seekers to think “outside of the box” when it comes to these jobs. You don’t necessarily have to be a professor or dean to be employed in education. For example, you can be use your human resources skills as a recruiter or your talent for advertising as a marketing professional for a school.

However you need to communicate your talents to a new industry, we can help you. We have experience with not only career changers but also those who may not necessarily want to change job titles but do want to change industries. Give us a call at 888.553.3487 and we can help assess your profile and create a resume and cover letter that will effectively market your talents and aspirations.

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