Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF says this is a "challenging economy"

Railroad employee count in the US is down 32,000.

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/05/24/a-railroad-recession/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/16 19:10 by fbe.

      Oh no! Can't be . . . . . the mis fits in DC say all is well and we are all employed. Well, except the gobs of people they no longer count.

They count the ones on walfare as employed since they receive money!

Many economic measures show the economy doing ok, not great, but not bad either.

Maybe it's more of an internal thing to the railroads; maybe they should've diversified their traffic/customer base by providing the service that business want, many whom are smaller and ship more variety of goods.  For decades now, the railroads have been treating their carload type customers like the proverbial "cash cow", milking as much cash out of that business as they can, but not really caring about those small customers or providing them the service that they require - meanwhile, this traffic has been moving over to our over crowded highways.  These highways and interstates are still filled with trucks, more so than ever - the business is out there. 

Unfortunately, at least in the recent past, the railroads could care less about the smaller customers, or didn't want to put in the effort to provide the services they needed.  Hell, even on the much touted by the railroads' intermodal businesses, most Class One railroads (if not all) are merely a subcontractor of sorts to trucking, logistical, and intermodal marketing companies; it's these guys who actually go out and work for the business.   Railroads just haul their containers/trailers and fight amongst each other by using the lowest rates to try to be that truckers (etc) transport contractor.

The railroads have put most of their "eggs" in the easy money commodities traffic business "basket", great when it was booming, not so good now that it has gone bust (and for some, like coal, it might be at the very least, a very long term bust at that).  Can't totally blame the "economy" for poor business decisions...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/16 21:12 by cpn456.

Look at the continued low price of natural gas versus coal. Until gas prices begin to rise much higher coal is too expensive.

And will always be dirty...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

So if the company hires you it's private enterprise at its best, but if the company lays you off it's the government's fault? Please to explain.

The head of the Illinois Association of Manufacturers was on CNBC last week.  He said one of their big problems is the lack of people with vocational education training who can read and work with computer assisted drafting / blueprints. There are lots of manufacturing jobs for people with these skills.

Their other problem is finding people who can pass the 90 drug screening test. That's a big problem in many places.  I've been told a significant number of people in railroad job open houses get up and leave when that's mentioned.

And the way it is reported by the government is never the true figures. They do not count the ones who gave up trying to find a job they were qualified for and ran out of benefits. That is the governments fault for not giving the true figures good or bad for ever which administration is in office.
-------------------------------------------------------
> So if the company hires you it's private
> enterprise at its best, but if the company lays
> you off it's the government's fault? Please to
> explain.

Drug testing for employees has been bad for quite a number of years now.  The lack of hands on skills to do jobs is also another reason they cannot fill jobs as the Community Colleges which were put in place to teach these skills have moved away from tech hands on programs such as auto body, auto truck repair, machine tool and other tech jobs. They now cater to computer skills and more college level learning.
-------------------------------------------------------
> The head of the Illinois Association of
> Manufacturers was on CNBC last week.  He said one
> of their big problems is the lack of people with
> vocational education training who can read and
> work with computer assisted drafting / blueprints.
> There are lots of manufacturing jobs for people
> with these skills.
>
> Their other problem is finding people who can pass
> the 90 drug screening test. That's a big problem
> in many places.  I've been told a significant
> number of people in railroad job open houses get
> up and leave when that's mentioned.

BAB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And the way it is reported by the government is
> never the true figures. They do not count the ones
> who gave up trying to find a job they were
> qualified for and ran out of benefits. That is the
> governments fault for not giving the true figures
> good or bad for ever which administration is in
> office.
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So if the company hires you it's private
> > enterprise at its best, but if the company lays
> > you off it's the government's fault? Please to
> > explain.


The Bureau of Labor Statistics  publishes a series of unemployment rates, measuring different aspects of the problem.  One of the more interesting is the discouraged workers. That counts people who have given up looking, and have expired their eligibility for unemployment benefits, etc. There's another report which looks at workers who want to work full time, but are restricted to just part time.

One of the more interesting is what's called the QUIT rate. That's people who quit their jobs without having another one lined up. Changes in that rate measure employee confidence that they can find a new job.

The rabble rousers on both sides of the political aisle like to point to the headline number (national unemployment) without looking at the pieces which underlie it.  Actual hours worked, hourly rate, overtime offered but refused, new want ad listings, bonuses paid, etc.

The NY Times has a piece this morning on the difficulties in getting unemployed people in MT WA ID to accept jobs in places with low unemployment rates like NC VA. The intractability of some people with the right skills is creating spot shortages elsewhere. Of course, why would an unemployed union worker at Boeing in Renton take a job that paid half the money in North Charleston?

 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BAB Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > And the way it is reported by the government is
> > never the true figures. They do not count the
> ones
> > who gave up trying to find a job they were
> > qualified for and ran out of benefits. That is
> the
> > governments fault for not giving the true
> figures
> > good or bad for ever which administration is in
> > office.
> >
> -----------------------------------------------
> The Bureau of Labor Statistics  publishes a
> series of unemployment rates, measuring different
> aspects of the problem.  One of the more
> interesting is the discouraged workers. That
> counts people who have given up looking, and have
> expired their eligibility for unemployment
> benefits, etc. There's another report which looks
> at workers who want to work full time, but are
> restricted to just part time.
>
> One of the more interesting is what's called the
> QUIT rate. That's people who quit their jobs
> without having another one lined up. Changes in
> that rate measure employee confidence that they
> can find a new job.
>
> The rabble rousers on both sides of the political
> aisle like to point to the headline number
> (national unemployment) without looking at the
> pieces which underlie it.  Actual hours worked,
> hourly rate, overtime offered but refused, new
> want ad listings, bonuses paid, etc.
>

Didn't someone just say the government doesn't track all the various differrences in unemployment, like the government doesnt track the true unemployment rate, etc??? Oh, wait, it does, you just have to actually LOOK FOR IT! 

cpn456 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
(snip)
>
> Didn't someone just say the government doesn't
> track all the various differrences in
> unemployment, like the government doesnt track the
> true unemployment rate, etc??? Oh, wait, it does,
> you just have to actually LOOK FOR IT! 


The differences in regional unemployment, the skills gaps, jobs offered / refused, and average earned wage are all closely watched by experts for exactly the reasons you mention.  And, it is one reason why politicians diverting revenue to pet projects and away from basic education and training is a problem. Even the sources of tax revenue can be examined.

During the recent tech boom, California has derived more and more income from state taxes on capital gains. Specifically from 25 year old zillionaires working in the tech industry who are exercising options. They agreed to work for peanuts in return for options, now they're cashing out. Paying taxes on the huge gains

That makes California's income tax collection look better than it really is on a long term basis. These options exercise revenue flows won't last forever, and they died completely, as in zero, during the 2000 and 2008 crashes. So, politicians spening the money as if it is recurring annual revenue is extremely interesting to people who price state and local bonds for transactions.