A pair of articles in the Buffalo News this morning has bleak and bleaker pronouncements to make on the upstate economy as we head into the holiday season. While economists have yet to declare the big 'R' word at the national level, researchers at one local university have no trouble making such a statement about our own home turf. From one article: "University at Buffalo researchers are declaring a recession in New York."
Not only have we taken off with a head start, but it looks like we'll be huffing and puffing out on the track field of troubled economies even after the nation has made its laps and gone:
“Given that the current decline has been precipitated by the implosion of the real estate bubble that created a serious financial crisis for major Wall Street investment banks and insurance companies, New York state’s economy is again likely to be hit harder than the national economy,” said Isaac Ehrlich, a UB economist. Wall Street accounts for about 20 percent of the state’s tax revenues.
In another article, picked up from the Associated Press, holiday job seekers are found to be too many for too few open slots.
The odds of landing a part-time job at department store operator Bealls Outlet Stores this holiday season are slimmer than getting into Harvard University: It’s one out of every 45.
It's much the same across the nation. In California, one 7-Eleven received more than 100 applicants in a week for a position that pays $8.50 per hour.
The national trends are being borne out locally as department store, convenience chain and call center managers who only a year ago had to scramble to fill holiday jobs are seeing a surge in the number of seasoned applicants — many of them laid off in other sectors and desperate for a way to pay the bills.
That was the case with Tracey Gibbs, a Buffalo resident who landed seasonal work at keepsake store Things Remembered in the Boulevard Mall. She said last month that she accepted a seasonal job because full-time positions were scarce.
What have you seen here locally? A few weeks back, the Daily News published a handful of stories on the economy that all sounded the note of cautious optimism. Since then, it seems things have only gotten worse. We've heard about troubles with several downtown businesses, and whether that's linked to the general economic downturn or not, it doesn't bode well. Are you a local retailer? Have you seen more applicants than usual looking for a part-time holiday gig? Have you cut back your positions?
