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(New) New York Governor's Initiative

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By Michael Baxter on February 28, 2012 3:09 PM
On February 15th, 2012, New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced a new program, called New New York Leaders Initiative.  This iniatiative is designed to groom the talented leaders of tomorrow, ensuring diversity and bonding the public and state government.  

The program has two primary area's of interest.  

One is a leadership program called the Empire State Fellowship Program.  This program is looking for young talented professionals who are interested in a career as a New York State Policy Maker.  The program will pair an individual with a commissioner, deputy-commissioner or other high ranking official in a state agency.  This is a full-time paid leadership opportunity and this years class will be from 8 to 12 people. All applications are due by June 1, 2012.  
For more information please check the following link: 

The second part of this Initiative is the: Student Intern Program
This program is designed for undergraduate or graduate students from colleges and universities around New York State.  These talented interns will be assigned to a particular area within the executive branch and will receive hands on training while interacting with government officials and policy makers. This program rolls along a fall, spring and summer calendar.  
For more information please check the link below:

Both of these programs have restrictions and will feature talented people.  If you are interested or know someone who might be, make sure they follow the directions on the respective website.  

Good luck!


2012 Job Fairs

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By Michael Baxter on February 17, 2012 3:38 PM
Tis the season for Job fairs to begin heating up.  
Here is the information for two coming in March.

Hudson Valley Community College Job Fair
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M. at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy N.Y.
So far their are 32 companies signed up for this event. 

Job Discovery
Thursday, March 15, 2012 from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. at the Suny Adk College Gym in Queensbury N.Y.

This event tends to be one of the bigger events in the Northern Capital Region.
For more information check:

As more finalize their dates, I will continue to post information.

Good luck

Notice for Employees, Employers beware

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By Michael Baxter on February 4, 2012 12:32 PM
The "wage theft prevention act" which passed in 2010, has gained state attention in the last week.  The "wage theft prevention act" requires that employees receive yearly pay notices, proper wage statements, and be free from retaliation for complaining about possible violations of the labor law.  
It has been highly discussed because all employers were supposed to have all current employees sign the form by Feb 1, 2012.  The LS form is supposed to be signed by all employees between Jan 1- and Feb 1 each year. If an employee's pay changes during the year, they would then be required to file a new form.  Also, at the time of hiring a new employee they would be required to fill out a new form.
You can find these forms at:   

The law serves a very good purpose in providing employees greater protection in regards to wages and retaliation.  New York State has spent the past 5 years chasing companies who have mis-paid employees either for overtime or taken out allowances improperly.
The problem is that most employers are having a rough time getting these forms signed during this time period since most companies have year-end work to do at that time, such as distributing W-2 forms.
Employers: Good news may be on the horizon.  A bill to ditch the mandate passed out of the senate labor committee this past week.  The committee sites that employers must post all information on pay slips and also that employees are able to discuss any problems with their HR contact.  The redundancy of these forms, the burden it places on companies and the costs associated with these forms has a bi-partisan backing to get rid of the new mandate.
A full description of the law can be found here:
More to come on this topic.

Minimum Wage

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By Michael Baxter on January 30, 2012 8:40 AM
This morning, Monday January 30, 2012 it is expected that New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will introduce a bill to raise the minimum wage in NYS from $7.25 to $8.50.  This is one part of Sheldon Silver's 2012  projects. At this time there is no timeline given for the increase. 
Currently NYS uses the federal guidelines of Minimum Wage.  There have been some states who recently have raised their minimum wage in the very recent past.  Delaware is one such state which increased the minimum wage from $7.25 to $7.75 which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013 and then another .50 cent hike on Jan 1, 2014. 
Proponents of this bill, believe this economy is the wrong time to add more expense to business.  They believe the government should be trying to create jobs, not introduce bills which may very well stymie any progress made.  Also they believe the after effects are people who are making $8.00 or $9.00 an hour will be requesting a raise, which in turn will cost companies more money.  
This bill will probably be hotly contested and should be watched in the coming days.

Global Foundries Job Fair

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By Michael Baxter on January 11, 2012 3:58 PM
Tomorrow, January 10th, 2012, Global Foundries will be holding a job fair looking for up to 400 employees.  The Job Fair is scheduled from 4 to 7 PM at the Saratoga County Administrative Offices located at 40 McMaster St. in Ballston Spa.  
Many of the job positions are in the experienced technician realm, but there are also some that require no previous experience.  To learn more about the available job positions, search the Global Foundries website located at globalfoundries.com.

Good Luck!

Latest Unemployment Figures Released

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By Michael Baxter on December 23, 2011 4:00 PM
The NYS Dept. of Labor has recently released it's most recent unemployment figures for November 2011.  Taking a look at these figures in comparison to 2010, here are some keys to look at:

United States:  2011: 8.2%  2010  9.3%
NYS:  2011: 7.9% 2010 8.2%

Albany, Schenectady, Troy:  2011: 6.7%   2010: 7.2%
Glens Falls: 2011 7.7%  2010 8.3%

Saratoga County is tied for the second lowest unemployment rate at 6.1%.
Fulton County has the third highest unemployment rate at 9.4%

So what do these statistics tell us?

Well, we all know that 2010 was a bad year, so decreasing the unemployment rate is a good thing.  As you can see the decrease is more dramatic nationally than in NYS.  The main reason for this, is that the unemployment rate increased more nationally than in NYS.  
The main point in these statistics,  THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS GOING DOWN.  Now most people would like to see it drop as fast as it went up four years ago, but our economy hasn't quite stabilized just yet.  Most analysts see 2012 as the year for the economy to truly begin stabilization and with that the unemployment rate will drop even more.  

Saratoga County:  Now Saratoga County is doing very well.  Why?  Most of this can be attributed to Global Foundries full out hiring effort.  The plant is expected to be up and running in 2012.  Also some of the manufacturing and distributing companies in Saratoga County began their Holiday seasonal hiring in November.  Saratoga County always seems to be on the leading edge of good news when discussing the job market.  

Fulton County: Fulton county has taken a couple of big hits over the past couple of years.  Many of the large manufacturing companies have relocated or shut down operations.  I did see a recent report showing there is new interest by companies to begin relocating or starting up in Fulton County.  I don't believe Fulton County will be on the bottom of this list next year at this time. 

Breaking News - Federal House Approves Payroll Tax Cuts

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By Michael Baxter on December 23, 2011 11:01 AM
Within the past hour the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to continue the payroll tax cut for two months.  This will keep money in the pocket of current working people and will extend the unemployment benefits to millions of people.  
Extending the current system was a good idea.  The Federal Government needs more time to discuss the situation.  Pay close attention to this after the holiday season.  It could change dramatically early next year!

San Francisco leading way in Minimum Wage

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By Michael Baxter on December 13, 2011 10:43 AM
So I was perusing the net this morning when I ran across an article explaining that the voters of San Francisco approved a law in 2003 that will increase the minimum wage as of Jan 1, 2012 to $10.24/ hour!  
This is nearly $2.00/hr above the California State Minimum Wage and nearly $3.00/hr above the federal minimum wage.
The state of New York's minimum wage is in accordance with the Federal Minimum wage at $7.25/ hour. 
Now I believe it is good that people are gaining traction in the wage category, but I am interested to see what types of small businesses end up out of business due to the latest increase.   I think many states and cities around the country are watching the guinea pig of San Francisco to see what type of expected/unexpected results come from this drastic change in payroll.  Remember each of those companies now need to shell out about $1.15/ hr more in payroll taxes for this increase.   I will track this over the next year or so to see what happens. 

Vacation Days

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By Michael Baxter on December 8, 2011 11:12 AM
Expedia.com just released it's Vacation Deprivation Survey.  They surveyed 7,083 adults from 20 countries around the world.  

Here's some of the results that I found interesting:

The average working person earns 14 days of vacation in the US.  
In Germany and Brazil the average person earns 30 days of vacation.

In the U.S. the average person only uses 12 of those 14 days.
In Singapore and France people don't let vacation days go to waste.

Reasons for not using those 2 vacations days:
34% - Money
15% - Poor planning
10% - Work is my life


Employment Search Tip

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By Michael Baxter on November 15, 2011 7:38 PM
When searching for a job, most people focus on those who they know, for example personal and professionals contacts.  Using friends, family members and former co-workers or business associates is good, but don't forget to think about those people who know you.  These could be former clients, customers, association members, community service volunteers, classmates or teachers.  These people may have idea's or be able to open doors to your next job!
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Michael Baxter

Michael Baxter is a native of the Saratoga/Glens Falls region. He is a third generation manager of the family business Heber Associates, Inc. Heber Associates, Inc. is a provider of Staffing Solutions since 1961. Michael earned his Bachelors Degree from Florida State University. He has been mentored by his grandmother (Antoinette Heber) in the employment field for more than eight years. Michael Baxter has a detail oriented mentality which allows him to track trends and offer informative discussions. It's his business to know what is going on in the human resources industry in Northeast New York.

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