With summer upon us, so is the summer vacation. As one of the largest household expenses this time of year, this is one area in which many people are cutting back according to a survey commissioned by the career website Glassdoor.com and conducted by Harris Interactive^®.

More than half of U.S. adults (52%) say they are modifying their summer travel plans in certain ways compared to last year. While nearly three-quarters (74%) say they traveled last summer only 60% say they plan to travel this summer. Of those who do plan to travel, nearly half (49%) are planning to travel less or take more work with them, one-third (35%) will spend less money and nearly one-fourth (22%) will take shorter vacations and travel shorter distances.

It’s not surprising that people unemployed might be cutting back on travel more than others, but we noted even employed adults who have watched others be laid off at their companies in the past six months were cutting back on travel more frequently than those who work for companies that haven’t had layoffs. As you can see from the chart below, nearly half (46%) of those who plan to travel this summer and work for companies that have laid off/communicated plans to lay off employees in the past 6 months plan to spend less money on holiday travel than they did last year, nearly one third (32%) plan to take a shorter break and nearly 29 percent plan to travel shorter distances.. 

Only 7 percent of U.S. adults who plan to travel this summer plan to spend more on summer vacations this year, and just 10 percent plan to take longer vacations than they have in the past.  While this is good news for those who fall into this category, it’s also interesting to note that only 1 percent say that they will not bring work along. Does this mean 73 percent will?  Hardly sounds like a vacation, and after the last economic year, we can all probably use a real break. 

We’ll be releasing the full results of the Glassdoor.com Employment Confidence Survey next week.  For full results and survey methodology for this portion of our findings, please contact pr@glassdoor.com  

Layoff Effect Dampening Already Depressed Summer Travel Planning is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Employed Layoff Survivors & Unemployed Cutting Back On Gifts, Travel & Parties This Season
2. College Students Face Summer Job Gap: Unconventional Tips To Landing A Summer Pay Check
3. Keep The Heat On Your Career Or Job Search This Summer

In addition, the economy has shed 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, with almost half of those losses occurring in the last three months alone. Unemployment is lasting much longer. As of last month, 2.9 million people were unemployed more than six months, up from just 1.3 million at the start of the recession. And based on a CNN report “That’s the largest six-month job loss since the end of World War II.” 

Per the BLS, here are the highs and lows by industry: 

Highs

• Health care payrolls rose 26,900
• The government added 9,000 jobs
• The average workweek was unchanged at 33.3 hours

Lows

• For many industries including manufacturing, construction, business services and leisure, the jobless rate is already in double digits
• Hiring last month in goods-producing industries fell by 276,000. Within this group, manufacturing firms cut 168,000 jobs bringing the total since the recession began to 1.3 million
• Construction employment was down 104,000 last month. The unemployment rate in that sector is now 21.4%, almost double where it was this time last year
• Service-sector employment tumbled 375,000
• Business and professional services companies shed 180,000 jobs, the fourth-straight six-figure loss
• Financial-sector payrolls were down 44,000.
• Retail trade cut almost 40,000 jobs
• Leisure and hospitality businesses shed 33,000
• Temporary employment, a leading indicator of future job prospects, fell by almost 80,000

If you have been recently laid off, check out advice from Glassdoor.com’s  career and workplace expert Rusty Rueff on how to get the most from severance and address some of the typical F.E.A.R.s that can result:

• Financial Fear
• Esteem Fear
• Achievement Atrophy Fear
• Rejection Fear

Or if you are an employer trying to navigate through these tough times, Rusty – who has run global HR departments – offers some advice on how to handle job cuts:

• What size is the first shoe? Make sure it’s big enough!
• Do you use ‘The Standing in the Shower Talking to Yourself’ Test?
• Attention In House Recruiters: Extra Grace Required
• Layoff Lessons: Are Companies Learning?

So regardless of your current employment status, now is the time for more information and a whole lot of support.  There are millions of people out there looking for work and we can all offer some help to those trying to find their next job by sharing information about our own past or current work experiences and compensation.

Job Numbers Are Out: Unemployment rate reaches 8.1% is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Unemployment Rate Falls To Lowest Since March 2009
2. May Job Numbers Released; Unemployment Rate Rises to 9.4%
3. Is No News Good News With Unemployment Rate?