Competition for jobs will be tougher: Twenty-three percent of employers surveyed by CareerBuilder.com say they plan to hire summer workers this year, in line with last year’s numbers. But competition for the jobs will be tougher because of the national recession and high unemployment. Of the more than 2,500 employers that participated in the survey, 77% of hiring managers say they will pay summer workers the same as last year, while 9% are offering higher salaries. The biggest demand for seasonal workers comes from the hospitality industry, where 38% plan to hire this year, and retailers, where 34% will look for more help in the summer.
Time to get locked in? The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage increased slightly last week, according to Zillow.com, an online real estate community. The average rate was 5.07%, compared with 5.05% the week before. The 15-year rate was the same at 4.7%, while 5-1 adjustable rate mortgages were down, from 4.3% to 4.27%.
How are they doing? The financial health of the government’s two biggest benefit programs may have slipped over the past year, reflecting the deep recession that has already bitten into other areas of the budget. The trustees for Social Security and Medicare are scheduled to provide their annual report on the finances of both programs today. In advance of the release, many private analysts said they expect both programs could run out of cash sooner than last predicted. A year ago, the trustees projected that the Social Security trust fund would start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2017 and that the trust fund would be depleted in 2041. For the Medicare trust fund, which pays for hospital care, the situation was more urgent. It was projected to start paying more in benefits than it collects in taxes within a year, and the trustees forecast that it would be depleted by 2019. But many analysts said the worst recession in decades will produce a bleaker forecast for both Social Security and Medicare in the new trustees’ report.
