Posted on Mar 8, 2010 | Tagged in: economy
Money Magazine's Senior Writer Chris Isidore covered a surprising feature this week; wages are actually rising in the job market. While America has had eyes glued to the unemployment rate and lack of jobs on the market, paychecks have been getting bigger, which means personal income is rising.
This increase in consumer pockets, however slight it may be, can help boost consumer spending and create a demand that would trigger a resumed hiring status quo.
The U.S. government's monthly job report for February found the average hourly earning rose by 1.9 percent over the past 12 months.
Sung Won Sohn, economics professor at Cal State University Channel Islands said strong gains in productivity are also allowing employers to pay their skilled workers more. According to the U.S. government, productivity rose at nearly a 7% rate in the fourth quarter.
With a combined push to put 8 million citizens back to work, America's spending power could indeed restore.
Posted on Mar 1, 2010 | Tagged in: healthcare
Houston companies simply have more wealth to share on average, which reflects in home-based EOG Resources' taking the number eight spot in Fortune Magazine's 25 Top-Paying Companies. Sitting smugly well above companies like Adobe Systems and Microsoft, EOG pays its Engineers an average of $171,943 a year.
The Enron spinoff has overcome any bad stigma the industry may have left lingering, by becoming on of the nation's leading independent drillers of oil and gas. Despite low prices in 2009, the company continues to hire new staffers, promote employees, and managed no layoffs.
EOG offers excellent pay and benefit packages with stock options for all employees. In addition, several locations sponsor health fairs; the Houston headquarters even has a walking club and Weight Watchers program, where 64 employees lost a combined 754 pounds in less than a year.
Search available EOG Resources career opportunities. http://www.cytiva.com/cejobs/templateEogri.asp
Source: http://money.cnn.com/
Posted on Feb 24, 2010 | Tagged in: Lone Star College
Lone Star College System, the second largest and the fastest-growing community college system in Texas, celebrates the opening of its newest campus, LSC-University Park, on Jan. 19 with the beginning of the spring semester.
"This represents a promised fulfilled," said Dr. Richard Carpenter, LSCS chancellor.
"Community leaders approached Lone Star College in 2007 requesting that a new university be established in the northwest Harris County area. The opening this month of LSC-University Park is another step toward fulfilling that vision," Carpenter said.
Posted on Feb 15, 2010 | Tagged in: Houston , homebuyers
Houston home prices have stayed steady, meaning when you buy a home in the Houston area you can be confident it will hold its value.
According to ZipRealtyInc., a residential real estate firm, Houston homeowners trying to sell their homes during the month of January reduced their home prices less than many other sellers across the U.S. Among 27 U.S. housing markets, housing price reductions ranged from an average of $10,000 in Houston to $44,901 in San Diego.
Posted on Feb 11, 2010 | Tagged in: events
Mardi Gras has begun! And what better place to experience the culture, life and festivities than throughout the Houston area. Here is just a sample of the area festivities highlighting the coming days and culminating on February 16th with Fat Tuesday. Whether you choose one, two or all, take some time to celebrate and enjoy these lively local events!
What: Mardi Gras! Galveston When: February 5 -16 Where: Galveston Island
Come celebrate as Galveston Island comes alive for Mardi Gras! Galveston - the 99th annual event since 1867. With 11 parades and over 50 galas and festive events this will be a week featuring festivities for everyone. There will be a beachfront carnival, shopping, and a nightlife featuring music from salsa and jazz to rock’n roll.
Posted on Jan 29, 2010 | Tagged in: travel
Houston is not only home to area residents it also serves as a hub for many who travel regularly for work, for pleasure and those who visit Houston. Despite being a major hub, travel in and out of Houston airports had decreased in 2009, but made a comeback at the end of the year.
At both major Houston airports, George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) and William P. Hobby (HOU), airline passenger counts rose during the end of the year. At IAH passenger totals rose 2% from 3.4 million passengers in December 2008 to 3.5 million in December 2009. International travel was also on the rise, with 715,451 passengers travelling in 2009 compared to 661,462 passengers the year before, a rise of 8.2%.
Posted on Jan 20, 2010 | Tagged in: economy
The Lone Star State is far from lonely, amid the economic crisis in 2009 Texas had the biggest growth in population compared with any other state. Whether it is the stable housing market or lower unemployment rates, or the numerous activities and resources, more and more people are deciding to call Houston their Home.
“There’s no place to move other than Texas” - the sentiment of Karl Eschbach, Texas State Demographer of the University of Texas at San Antonio. While California, Nevada, and Florida populations increased due to immigration they had more of their residents relocate to other states than move in from other states. “In certain respects, Texas was the only state left standing during the last recession, so the competitors for migration kind of all went away,” said Eschbach.
Posted on Jan 19, 2010 | Tagged in: Houston , economy
A leading job search engine, JuJu.com, has recently ranked 50 of America’s Major Cities to determine how difficult or easy it is to find a job. For those looking in the Houston area the prospects are better than good. For every job posted there are only 5.96 unemployed people, helping Houston to rank at #24 on the list – leading as one of the best places to find a job in America.
JuJu is a job search engine that allows prospective employees to easily search a comprehensive list of job postings based on category, location, or company. This list is updated continuously from thousands of job postings, job boards, employer career portals and recruiter websites from all over the internet.
Posted on Jan 19, 2010 | Tagged in: community , charity
Ty Pennington and the cast from ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ surprised one Houston Bay Area family on January 7th with the news that they had been chosen as the finalists in receiving a brand new home. This was more than a nice surprise; this was an overwhelming birthday present for Melissa Beach as she turned 40 that day. The family of 15 had been displaced from their home when Hurricane Ike made its way through the area on September 13, 2008. In seven short days , from January 7 to January 14, hundreds of volunteers and vendors worked together to create a new space this family could call home.
The Beach family has stood strong in the face of odds and challenges. Over the past 12 years the Beach family has fostered approximately 85 children, and after seeing that many of them could not be placed in permanent homes they decided to start adopting. The original Beach family which started with Larry and Melissa on the day they were married 23 years ago, has grown to include four biological children and nine adopted children: Chris (23), Michael (21), Jose (20), Cody (19), Mikala (18), Paul (14), Faith (13), Hope (9), Justin (8), Jacob (4), Grace (4), Jeremiah (23 months), and Mercy (22 months). They took in children that adoption agencies were not able to place and gave them a home full of love.
Posted on Jan 13, 2010 | Tagged in: education
Mischer Development prides itself on shaping communities to enrich the lives of its residents. This goal is achieved through careful planning and execution of the master plan of each of its communities. To help Cy-Fair ISD enhance its revenue stream and in turn enhance school programs throughout the district, Mischer Development will participate in a school bus advertising program.
In a time where the state of Texas is in a education finance crisis, many school districts are developing creative ways to increase revenue so they will still be able to provide top notch educational programs and activities to its students. Cy- Fair ISD has contracted Steep Creek Media to put together ads to be placed on school buses. Steep Creek Media is a turn-key operation with no direct cost to the school district. Local businesses can take advantage of this opportunity to showcase their business at a low cost to a very targeted audience and benefit local schools at the same time.
