Bradley report shows stability in area economy
- Details
- Published on 19 August 2016
- Written by Paul Gordon
The Peoria area economy showed stability in the second quarter, but indicators show little change should be expected in the short term, according to the quarterly Composite Index of Business and Economic Indicators for the region produced by Bradley University.
The second quarter index for the Peoria metropolitan statistical area (Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, Stark and Marshall counties) was 98.9, little different from the first quarter index, said the report from Bradley’s Center for Business and Economic Research. Some areas showed improvement in the quarter and offset those that showed decline.
The Composite Index for the Peoria-Pekin MSA reflects business activity on a seasonally adjusted basis, with an Index score of 100 corresponding to local business conditions in the first quarter of 2000.
The Center for Business and Economic Research, which is part of the Foster College of Business of Bradley University, reviews more than 30 diverse business indicators in its quarterly assessment, which is funded by the Peoria Journal Star.
“The data show overall stability in local business conditions, as area residents and employers cope with a changing business environment, with declines found in some areas offset by growth in others,” said Bernard Goitein, executive director of the Center for Business and Economic Research. “In the short term, local leading indicators for the economy are mixed, signaling little overall change in business conditions in the short term.”
Among the findings in the report, the number of unemployment filings went down in the second quarter by 3.5 percent compared with the first quarter, contributing to a decline of 0.4 percent in the unemployment rate.
However, the number of jobs also dropped, by 0.9 percent, which Goitein said signifies people leaving jobs and not taking other work. When that happens, he said, it reduces the number of people who are working, which it did by 1.5 percent from the first quarter to the second.
The job declines were in three of the six industries studied – construction, manufacturing and health care. There were job increases in professional and business services and in hospitality/entertainment.
In manufacturing, there was a 3.5 percent decline in the second quarter, bringing manufacturing employment down 7.4 percent from a year earlier. Employment in Professional and Business Services was up 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, but remained 3.0 percent below the year before.
The report showed little change since the first quarter in the overall number of advertised job openings by employers, with the number of new job openings remaining 3.3% below the year before.
Estimated retail sales were up 3.5 percent from the same period a year earlier and hospital revenues increased 4.2 percent. However, Goitein said, when accounting for inflation seasonally adjusted retail spending showed little change from the first quarter.
The supply of homes up for sale locally was 6.5 percent higher in the quarter, helping put the number of homes for sale 7.4 percent above the year before. The increase in number of homes available for sale was not associated with change in number of homes sold since the year before. With more homes available for sale than last year and no change in the number of purchasers, sold prices were off 6.8 percent from last year, the report said.
The number of single family building permits taken by area builders was down 41.6 percent from the previous quarter, leaving permits 17.9 percent below last year. Declines in construction employment were also found, with these jobs down 1.5 percent from the previous quarter and off 3.7 percent from the year before.
Goitein noted that the oldest of the baby boomers have reached retirement age or will do so, with many leaving the labor force. “The increased number of those retiring should open up jobs for younger labor force members, even as those retiring continue to purchase goods and services, place their homes for sale and create demand for their next homes,” he said.
Cat makes more restructuring moves; no local jobs affected
- Details
- Published on 18 August 2016
- Written by Paul Gordon
Caterpillar Inc. announced Thursday it will discontinue production of one item made in Pennsylvania, repurpose one plant and sell off other products manufacturing as it continues restructuring to withstand the current down cycle.
The changes in the mining products division will cause the loss of some jobs and the possible closure of a Pennsylvania plant but also will mean the relocation of some work to Caterpillar’s Decatur, Illinois facility, the company said in the announcement.
"These moves, which align with Caterpillar's ongoing restructuring, will allow us to focus resources on those areas of the business that provide the highest, sustainable growth and best long-term returns," said Denise Johnson, group president responsible for Resource Industries, including mining.
To attain that objective, the company said it will focus on those products with the greatest growth potential by pursing strategic alternatives, including possible divestiture, for its room and pillar products that serve a segment of underground soft rock mining customers. The company will also discontinue production of track drills within its Resource Industries portfolio.
“The company and its dealers remain committed to existing customers and will support those room and pillar and track drill fleets currently in operation,” the news release said.
The room and pillar underground mining products under strategic review include continuous miners, feeder breakers, coal haulage systems, highwall miners, roof bolters, utility vehicles and diesel vehicles. While under review, Caterpillar will stop taking new orders for those products.
Production of track drills will be discontinued, and no new orders will be taken, the company said.
"Caterpillar remains committed to an extensive mining product portfolio. We firmly believe mining is an attractive long-term industry, and we continue to invest in a broad range of products, both surface and underground. We are targeting our investments within the mining product portfolio to concentrate on those areas with the highest profitability potential," said Johnson. "At the same time, we continue to manage through the longest down-cycle in our history. We know these ongoing restructuring actions are not easy on our workforce; I'm grateful for our team's ongoing dedication."
The company said it expects to reduce the workforce in Houston, Pennsylvania, where the room and pillar products are manufactured. While the company intends to sell the room and pillar products, it will also assess other options, including a possible closure of the Houston facility.
Total workforce reductions of up to 155 positions associated with the room and pillar business are expected, with some occurring immediately. These actions will more closely align employment levels with current end-market demand.
In Denison, Texas, where track drills are produced, approximately 40 positions will be eliminated as a result of the track drill exit and other facility restructuring.
In addition, Caterpillar said it continues to evaluate the most efficient and effective use of its manufacturing footprint. To that end the company announced it will repurpose its Winston-Salem, North Carolina, facility, transitioning it from a mining to a rail facility beginning later this year. Operations will transfer to Progress Rail, a wholly owned Caterpillar subsidiary.
As a result, the company will relocate the manufacturing of some components used in large mining trucks from its facility in Winston-Salem to its existing facility in Decatur. The company did not say whether additional jobs would result.
Nielsen will measure social media activity
- Details
- Published on 12 August 2016
- Written by PRNewswire
Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) recently announced the launch of Social Content Ratings, the most comprehensive measure of program-related social media activity across both Facebook and Twitter.
This marks the first time social TV insights across Facebook and Twitter will be measured with a standardized, third-party methodology and shared with the industry. Social Content Ratings plans to incorporate Instagram insights at a later date.
Social Content Ratings is an expanded service that will replace Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings in all markets, includingAustralia,Italy,Mexicoand the U.S.
In addition to providing total social TV measurement for TV networks and over-the-top (OTT) streaming providers, Social Content Ratings includes social TV advertising solutions and engagement tools to help TV networks, agencies and advertisers maximize the social impact of their cross-platform strategies.
"With social media playing an increasing role in consumers' lives and TV experiences, its value for the media industry continues to mature," said 
Sean Casey, president ofNielsen Social. "We are excited to introduce Social Content Ratings as the first standardized measure for Social TV that networks, agencies, and advertisers can trust for TV planning and informing strategies across social networks."
Nielsen uses an evolving set of over 1 million classifier combinations to measure organic and owned activity on Facebook and Twitter in a standardized way. Classifiers are program-related terms, including accounts, handles, hashtags, talent names and other phrases associated with programs, and are systematically identified and applied tocomprehensively measure relevant social activitywhen a program is airing, and on a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week basis.
Nielsen receives aggregated anonymous topic data directly from Facebook and accesses full-fidelity APIs from Twitter in order to measure total social TV activity across social networks while respecting privacy. Both public social media activity and activity taking place between friends is measured. Facebook Messenger data is not available to Nielsen and will not be included in measurement.
Social Content Ratings metrics are designed to adhere to thesocial media measurement guidelinescreated by the Media Rating Council (MRC), breaking down total activity into original "authored" content, such as posts and Tweets, and "engagement" with that content, such as comments and Retweets. Social Content Ratings also provides age and gender demographics for Facebook. Unique audience and impressions for Facebook, planned for a later date, will quantify the number of people seeing program-related activity.
Social Content Ratings will also support the analysis of "owned" media strategies by measuring the engagement with content posted by official accounts associated with a program or network. Nielsen currently measures more than 44,000 owned Twitter accounts for casts and athletes in addition to program and network accounts. This tracking enables engagement with these accounts to be precisely attributed to programming when relevant. At a later date, a break-out of engagement with owned properties will quantify how owned content contributes to total program engagement.
"The media industry has needed a standardized way to analyze how TV audiences respond to events and programming across social networks,"said David Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision. "Nielsen is delivering this measurement to the market today with the launch of Social Content Ratings. We welcome this first-of-its-kind solution, and look forward to leveraging this data to maximize the reach of our properties and bring new value to advertisers."
"Measuring the social media response to TV programs holistically across social networks is critical to connecting with audiences week after week,"said Tom Ziangas, SVP of Research,AMC Networks. "We commend Nielsen for bringing a standardized cross-platform measurement for social TV to the market today with Social Content Ratings."
Millennials more likely to forfeit vacation time
- Details
- Published on 17 August 2016
- Written by The Peorian
Millennial workers are the most likely generation to forfeit time off, even though they earn the least amount of vacation days. Millennials stay at work because they feel more fear and greater guilt about taking time away from the office than any other generation.
These findings, from Project: Time Off's new report, The Work Martyr's Cautionary Tale: How the Millennial Experience Will Define America's Vacation Culture, provide a closer look at who work martyrs are and the negative consequences of their behavior to the individual, business, and broader economy.
Project Time Off's research makes clear that work martyrs – employees who skip vacation to show complete dedication to their job, are worried they will be seen as replaceable, feel guilty for using time off, and believe they alone can do the job – are overwhelmingly Millennials. In fact, more than four in ten (43%) work martyrs are Millennials, compared with just 29 percent of all workers.
"The 'entitled Millennial' narrative is dead wrong when it comes to vacation. As the largest generation in the workforce, one that is now stepping into management, Millennials are developing vacation attitudes that will define and negatively affect America's work culture," said Katie Denis, Project: Time Off senior director and report author. "The circumstances of the Millennial experience — the Great Recession and its aftershocks, growing student debt, and an always-connected lifestyle — have created a perfect storm for their work martyr behavior."
Millennials are much more insecure about their employment compared to other generations. Compared to Boomers, Millennials are at least twice as likely to find taking time off difficult because they don't want to lose consideration for a raise or promotion, don't want others to think they are replaceable, and want to show complete dedication, among other reasons.
| Reasons Time Off Is Left On The Table | Millennials | Boomers |
| Don't want to lose consideration for raise or promotion. | 26% | 9% |
| Don't want others to think I am replaceable. | 27% | 11% |
| Want to show complete dedication to the company and my job. | 30% | 15% |
| Feel guilty using my paid time off. | 27% | 12% |
| Afraid of what my boss might think. | 23% | 10% |
More than one-quarter (28%) of Millennials are in management roles already, a number that will rise as Boomers leave the workforce. Nearly half (47%) of Millennial managers said company pressure prevents them from approving time off requests for their direct reports, compared with just 34 percent of Generation X and 37 percent of Boomers who feel the same.
The pressures of American work culture have produced ideal conditions for the rise of the work martyr. Almost half (48%) of Millennials think it is a good thing to be seen as a work martyr by their boss, far outpacing the average (39%) and well ahead of the Boomer generation (32%).
"There are larger implications for the workforce when people don't take vacation," Denis added. "Time off is essential to employee productivity, creativity, and overall performance. Businesses need to recognize the power of time off and work toward creating a positive vacation culture."
Methodology
GfK conducted an online survey using the GfK KnowledgePanel® from January 20-February 16, 2016 with 5,641 American workers working at least 35 hours per week and who receive paid time off. GfK's KnowledgePanel® is the only large-scale online panel based on a representative random sample of the U.S. population. See the report for full methodology.
Nielsen will measure social media activity
- Details
- Published on 12 August 2016
- Written by PRNewswire
Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) recently announced the launch of Social Content Ratings, the most comprehensive measure of program-related social media activity across both Facebook and Twitter.
This marks the first time social TV insights across Facebook and Twitter will be measured with a standardized, third-party methodology and shared with the industry. Social Content Ratings plans to incorporate Instagram insights at a later date.
Social Content Ratings is an expanded service that will replace Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings in all markets, includingAustralia,Italy,Mexicoand the U.S.
In addition to providing total social TV measurement for TV networks and over-the-top (OTT) streaming providers, Social Content Ratings includes social TV advertising solutions and engagement tools to help TV networks, agencies and advertisers maximize the social impact of their cross-platform strategies.
"With social media playing an increasing role in consumers' lives and TV experiences, its value for the media industry continues to mature," said Sean Casey, president ofNielsen Social. "We are excited to introduce Social Content Ratings as the first standardized measure for Social TV that networks, agencies, and advertisers can trust for TV planning and informing strategies across social networks."
Nielsen uses an evolving set of over 1 million classifier combinations to measure organic and owned activity on Facebook and Twitter in a standardized way. Classifiers are program-related terms, including accounts, handles, hashtags, talent names and other phrases associated with programs, and are systematically identified and applied tocomprehensively measure relevant social activitywhen a program is airing, and on a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week basis.
Nielsen receives aggregated anonymous topic data directly from Facebook and accesses full-fidelity APIs from Twitter in order to measure total social TV activity across social networks while respecting privacy. Both public social media activity and activity taking place between friends is measured. Facebook Messenger data is not available to Nielsen and will not be included in measurement.
Social Content Ratings metrics are designed to adhere to thesocial media measurement guidelinescreated by the Media Rating Council (MRC), breaking down total activity into original "authored" content, such as posts and Tweets, and "engagement" with that content, such as comments and Retweets. Social Content Ratings also provides age and gender demographics for Facebook. Unique audience and impressions for Facebook, planned for a later date, will quantify the number of people seeing program-related activity.
Social Content Ratings will also support the analysis of "owned" media strategies by measuring the engagement with content posted by official accounts associated with a program or network. Nielsen currently measures more than 44,000 owned Twitter accounts for casts and athletes in addition to program and network accounts. This tracking enables engagement with these accounts to be precisely attributed to programming when relevant. At a later date, a break-out of engagement with owned properties will quantify how owned content contributes to total program engagement.
"The media industry has needed a standardized way to analyze how TV audiences respond to events and programming across social networks,"said David Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision. "Nielsen is delivering this measurement to the market today with the launch of Social Content Ratings. We welcome this first-of-its-kind solution, and look forward to leveraging this data to maximize the reach of our properties and bring new value to advertisers."
"Measuring the social media response to TV programs holistically across social networks is critical to connecting with audiences week after week,"said Tom Ziangas, SVP of Research,AMC Networks. "We commend Nielsen for bringing a standardized cross-platform measurement for social TV to the market today with Social Content Ratings."
