Apparently Austin has been named the third most "Recession-Proof" city in the United States, according to Forbes.com. And apparently the big cities in Texas all made the list.

Let me just burst that little bubble. Despite being "Recession-Proof", there have been several companies doing quiet layoffs as well as the ones that are big enough to rate the local headlines over the last several months.  At Launch Pad Job Club, attendance is skyrocketing without any effort to publicize our programs. 

Austin is not the easiest town to find a job in. When I first moved here in 1996, I figured it would be really easy for me to get a good, long term temp job if not a permanent one. Not so; in fact, it took me over a year, and even then, it was contract to perm and under market rate.  After I got RIFd with my outsource job going offshore 15 months ago, I'm still contracting, despite doing all the right things well enough to be asked to speak about making the most of networking tools, having to fend off requests to re-write resumes. I've even been approached to speak to a group that helps others get jobs about less traditional methods of networking and job searching. 

Don't get me wrong, all that work did swiftly land me my current contracting gig. And it's not a bad gig.  But I'd really rather have a job with benefits, instead of always keeping an eye out for opportunities as soon as this one ends, and not really knowing if it could suddenly end. Despite reassurances that I'll have advance notice, I know that things can change without advance notice.  While I know that no job is really "permanent" today, I'd prefer to have a little more stability. 

I have to wonder about what's really driving the dropping unemployment rates in Austin, that have fallen from 3.8% to 3.6%.  How many of those are survival jobs, and temporary ones, that don't match the skillset and experience of the people in those statistics.  There are quite a few people taking less than desired jobs out there.  And that statistic doesn't include those who haven't filled for unemployment, or have dropped off the rolls. 

With companies like Dell and AMD announcing plans for Reductions In Force in a scale that gets media attention, people start thinking that unless there's an news bulletin about it, it's not happening. But it is, and it's continuing.