On the Job Hunt

An oil drilling boom across the American West is creating a wealth of job opportunities at a time when most segments of the economy remain sluggish. The boom is the result of new and updated technologies allowing companies to go after oil reserves that until recently were trapped in shale formations, making them too expensive and difficult to tap even five or ten years ago.

The latest national hiring numbers were better than expected but still not enough to get that unemployment rate to budge lower than 9.1 percent. In the face of that, lawmakers and activists say employers are reaching out only to job candidates who already have jobs. 

Each year an estimated 4.5 million baseball gloves are sold in the U.S. Wilson and Rawlings are a few big names in the business, but Nokona is the largest American-made glove company.

While the nation's sluggish economy is showing signs of rebounding, government figures show 13 million people are still looking for work. In San Francisco, Carla Emil wants to help them through a website called OneJobforAmerica.org.

At a wholesale pizza factory just outside Los Angeles, 25 men and women pound out the dough, but like many small businesses in America dealing with a struggling economy, the owners aren't necessarily rolling in it. 

Drug store owner Wayne Lee is worried that his small pharmacy in Brooklyn, New York might be forced out of business. The problem isn’t a lack of customers, crime or the overall economy. It’s Wal-Mart.

While most of the country is still mired in a troubled economy, North Dakota is riding an unprecedented boom that has jobs looking for people, rather than the other way around.

Discount retailer Dollar General and its top competitor Family Dollar plan to open more than 900 new stores and create more than 9 thousand new jobs this year.

As if fighting a war and serving your country wasn’t enough of a challenge, imagine returning home from the battlefield and not being able to land a job to support your family. 

The down economy continues to cause problems for Americans coast to coast, as initial unemployment claims jumped 13,000 this week to 462,000. However, one of the smallest states seems to be making some big strides. The Constitution State, Connecticut, has added 4,800 jobs since January, and 8,000 since December 2009.