What's the job market like in Seattle? (sales, incomes)

[Anders15]

How about health field? I'm a lpn.

[eskercurve]

Do yourself a favor and get a master's. Job market will eventually improve and what better time to ride through a recession than in school?

[happiestever]

Almost anyone can find a job here. It may take a while, a looonng while, but there are opps out there.

And I think I just saw that the un -emp rate is now 9.2. And obviously not representative of the TRUE number, but I see all kinds of job posts on craigslist, so just keep your eyes peeled. Best of Luck

[seattlenextyear]

Originally Posted by RonMaverick804

How about health field? I'm a lpn.

Its seems like the ONLY jobs in Seattle are in the health field.

[MichaelinWA]

And that's worse than the national rate of 8.5%. On the other hand, Oregon is an even more horrible 12.1%.

9.2% unemployment "troubling" for state

The April 13 Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on nursing jobs. It began:

Finding a job as a nurse isn't as easy as it used to be.

Tiffany Hamilton will graduate in May from West Virginia University with a bachelor's degree in nursing, but can't find a job in critical care. "We were always told we'd have no problem getting a job," she said, "and here I am, senior year, having a horrible time trying to find one."

Not sure if the article is representative of local conditions.

Originally Posted by happiestever

And I think I just saw that the un -emp rate is now 9.2.

[dpgtfc]

Originally Posted by MichaelinWA

The April 13 Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on nursing jobs. It began:

Finding a job as a nurse isn't as easy as it used to be.

Tiffany Hamilton will graduate in May from West Virginia University with a bachelor's degree in nursing, but can't find a job in critical care. "We were always told we'd have no problem getting a job," she said, "and here I am, senior year, having a horrible time trying to find one."

Not sure if the article is representative of local conditions.

More than likely it isn't representative of anything. For this one (1) article, there are about 20 that say the exact opposite, and are relatively recent. RNs have a HUGE turnover, and are highly in demand. More so, I'd say, than any other profession in the medical field.

More than likely she can't find a job because she is overly picky. Nobody told her she would be working 50+ hour rotating shifts, or weekend graveyard shifts. I just did a search for RN jobs in Pittsburgh and 96 of them were listed. Compare that to the 27 jobs I found in my field, or the 29 jobs listed for Physical Therapists. Only 43 listed for LPNs.

That is just the ones advertised on Monster.com. Check Career builder or any of the other myriad job sites out there, and you will find there are plenty of jobs out there. There MAY be only 1/3 of those jobs that are willing to hire a fresh graduate, but most don't care in the health field. Even so that leaves 32 jobs out there.

[MichaelinWA]

It sometimes seems like it , and I'm sure it's still an area of "relative" strength in the Puget Sound area. But my wife works in finance for one of the larger healthcare groups locally, and she has to deal with revenue concerns, budget cuts, etc., on a daily basis. Clearly the industry isn't quite as recession resistant as once thought. Many of the 9% unemployed - or whatever the number really is - are putting off treatment to some degree.

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

Its seems like the ONLY jobs in Seattle are in the health field.

[Sonnenwende]

Originally Posted by dpgtfc

More than likely it isn't representative of anything. For this one (1) article, there are about 20 that say the exact opposite, and are relatively recent. RNs have a HUGE turnover, and are highly in demand. More so, I'd say, than any other profession in the medical field.

More than likely she can't find a job because she is overly picky. Nobody told her she would be working 50+ hour rotating shifts, or weekend graveyard shifts. I just did a search for RN jobs in Pittsburgh and 96 of them were listed. Compare that to the 27 jobs I found in my field, or the 29 jobs listed for Physical Therapists. Only 43 listed for LPNs.

That is just the ones advertised on Monster.com. Check Career builder or any of the other myriad job sites out there, and you will find there are plenty of jobs out there. There MAY be only 1/3 of those jobs that are willing to hire a fresh graduate, but most don't care in the health field. Even so that leaves 32 jobs out there.

How more recent do you want than two days ago?

[dpgtfc]

Originally Posted by Sonnenwende

How more recent do you want than two days ago?

I didn't say that the posted article wasn't recent. I was saying that the articles to compare it to are also recent.

Edit: For example:

April 7th - Nursing Shortage

April 12th - Nursing Shortage makes administrators think globally

I can go on and on. Texas is having a HUGE nursing shortage right now, and have even talked about lowering standards just to fill the positions.

If you can't find a nursing job even in this economy, you aren't trying, IMO.

The news (except for the Wall Street Journal apparently) agrees. This isn't caused by the recession though. This shortage has been building and building in the entire health care field for some time. And many sources have dire predictions for the future. The problem is that we can't get enough educators and programs in place fast enough to fulfill the demand.

[jenlion]

So why is Oregon's rate so high? And why is Washington's suddenly so high? What happened to make the unemployment rate "worse" in Oregon than the average?? That is a shockingly high number. Are they counting differently or did some extra-bad stuff happen there??