According to a new report from UCLA, the United States’ economy is expected to pick up over the next two years, with automobile and housing expected to show even more improvement.

The UCLA Anderson Forecast issued its first quarterly report of the year, and said that the country’s economy should see the economy add 200,000 jobs a month next year, and 220,000 in 2015. Last year, 181,000 jobs were added per month.

David Shulman, senior economist for the forecast organization, said that the country’s economy is starting to “ramp up,” and said he expected it to grow 1.9 percent this year, 2.8 percent next year, and 3.1 percent in 2015. However, such numbers are lower than the usual 4-6 percent increases which usually occur during recoveries.

Shulman wrote that he expected to see the housing and automotive markets continue to increase.  In addition, the forecast for California is expected to be similar for the next two years as it was last year, with employment growth a bit lower than the rest of the U.S.

The UCLA Anderson Forecast is one of the top economic outlook indicators in the U.S., with the organization being the first to note the recession in 2001.

Written by Lisa Swan

There is good news for the economy this month, as the latest federal jobs report showed improved numbers. But Washington, DC’s sequestration crisis could mean that the progress in hiring could be stymied.

The New York Times reports that the U.S. Department of Labor says that there were 236,000 jobs added to the economy last month. In addition, unemployment is now 7.7 percent, which is down from 7.9 percent in January, and which is the lowest it has been in over four years. The last time unemployment was that low was December 2008.

Because Wall Street only expected the jobs report to show around 165,000 new jobs, the stock market improved on the news of the report, closing at 14,397.07.

However, the Times says that the sequestration issue has the potential to negatively affect the economy. “They’re doing their best to get in the way,” Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight, said about Washington politicians. “But the good news is that the economy is carrying plenty of momentum going into sequestration.”

Gault also said that the Social Security tax increase that went into effect at the beginning of the year would also have a negative effect on the economy, although he did expect the economy to grow at the rate of 1.5 percent during the first half of this year.

Written by Lisa Swan

If you want to find a new job, you need to be able to offer what an employer wants. Here are three tips that Tech Job Hunt Handbook author Kevin W. Grossman shared with AOL Jobs on how to do so:

Show your specific skills: It is not enough to say that you work hard, and are a team player. After all, most people can claim that. You need to show your specific skills, and how your skills will not just separate you from the pack of applicants, but help your employer.

Develop more skills: What is it that you need to know to get that new job? Work on filling in the gaps in your knowledge and skills. This can mean taking more classes, studying on your own, or volunteering at an applicable company or organization to learn more.

Develop social media skills: Get your name out there as an expert by starting a blog, using a LinkedIn group, and using Google Plus, Twitter, and Facebook to communicate with others. This is particularly important to do if you are trying to establish a new career, Grossman says.

Written by Lisa Swan

Lily Kanter went from Microsoft to home decor, co-founding the companySerena & Lily. She recently talked with Adam Bryant of the New York Times about what she has learned.

She said that when it comes to hiring staff for her business, she is “looking for a can-do attitude,” and says she also looks for people who are happy and adaptable to growing and changing. Kanter said that when she interviews them, she wants to know “what they’re passionate about,” including their interests such as reading. In addition, she wants to make sure they are “balanced people who have a sense of pleasure in their lives, and that it’s not just all work.” She does not want to hire workaholics, she indicated.

Kanter told the Times that she thinks businesses should focus on people. “We have to embrace that and embrace people’s purpose and their souls to be successful in business,” she noted, and not just put them on a metaphorical “treadmill all day” at work. She wants her staff to be happy, she said.

From her time at Microsoft, Kanter said she learned a valuable lesson – that it is fine to fail, because you learn from it. “I think it’s O.K. for people to swing hard for the fences as long as there’s brutal honesty and no cover-up,” she told the Times. However, she doesn’t want them to make the same mistakes twice, but to learn from what they did wrong.

Written by Lisa Swan

Terry Leahy, the ex-CEO of Tesco, a supermarket chain in England, talked with the New York Times’ Corner Office column about managing, leadership, how to enjoy your job, and what he has learned over the years.

 Leahy says that he worked for the chain right of college, and refused his first promotion — leading the marketing department — because he did not think he was “ready to lead.” He then accepted the promotion a year later, when he felt he was more prepared.

 Unlike many executives, Leahy considers himself an introvert. This was reflected in his management style, in which he treated people equally and did not play favorites. 

 He also says that it is important to make people feel important. “Bureaucracy will tend to lower self-esteem,” he says, “so if you consciously build people up so that they say, ‘I matter here and people respect me and they think I can contribute and they trust me to contribute,’ that really gets the best out of people.”

 He gave some career advice to the Times about how managers need to “trust the people around them to do the work” and not do everything themselves. He also says that young people should not manager their career, but to trust that doing a good job will get them noticed.

 Finally, Leahy said that “people should just enjoy their jobs more.” He said that he “saw so many people who were unhappy in their career because they never actually innately enjoyed the work they were doing. They were so worried and concerned about getting promoted.”

Written by Lisa Swan

There are some very hot jobs in 2013 where people trained in these professions are in high demand. CareerCopilot takes a look at which careers are in high demand this year:

Accountants

Those trained as accountants have a very bright outlook for their careers. Not only the big accounting firms and Fortune 500 companies hire them, but smaller businesses do as well. And in the next few years, there are projected to be 190,000 new accounting openings. To be ready to be an accountant, you need to have a degree in the subject.

Financial Advisors

This is another growing field, as baby boomers get older and look for places to put their money for their retirement, and younger people look to grow their savings. According to Career Copilot, “this field is expected to grow at an average rate of 32 percent until 2020.” Financial advisors can have a variety of degrees, including accounting, finance, business, and mathematics.

Software Developers

Those who are trained in the software development field can see bright prospects; the field is expected to grow by at least 30 percent.  Those who want to work in the profession can expect to see the number of jobs grow by at least 30 percent over the next few years.

Written by Lisa Swan

Heidi Shierholz, who is an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, told CNN that this was “Groundhog Day in the labor market.” She said it was the “same old” stuff, and that like the popular “Groundhog Day” movie, “we’ve been waking up to this same story for two years.”

In addition, the January unemployment rate was announced as 7.9%, representing 12.3 million Americans counted. That number has stayed at that basic level since September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to CNNMoney, economists that the news site spoke to expect the economy in 2013 to be similar to 2012, in which 2.2 million jobs were added. They expect the unemployment rate to be 7.5% by the end of the year.  Beata Caranci of TD Economics expected most of the job gains to happen at the end of 2013. Caranaci said that construction would be a big factor in the economy, and that the housing market “could be a leader in the job market.”

Written by Lisa Swan

Here is some great news for recent college graduates. According to the Wall Street Journal, a recent survey shows that the average member of the class of 2012 is earning a starting salary of $44,455. That’s a 3.4 percent increase from what the average college grad made in 2011.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers reports these numbers in the latest edition of its salary survey. Those with degrees in computer engineering made the most, according to the survey, with an average salary of $70,400 for their first job.

In addition, eight of the top ten highest salaries were for those with computing and/or engineering skills. This reflects the high demand for these jobs. Andrea Koncz of NACE told the Journal that “over the years the number of graduates in those areas has decreased, so that creates greater demand.”

Those weren’t the only fields that saw an increase in salary. Business graduates’ average starting salaries increased to $53,900, up 4.2 percent from last year, and education majors now make $40,668, up 5.4 percent from 2011. And even those graduates with degrees in humanities and social-science saw a slight increase in salary and are now making $36,988 for their first job out of college.

The NACE salary survey looked at government surveys that covered approximately 400,000 employers.

Written by Lisa Swan

According to a recent survey, California’s unemployment rate stayed at 9.8 percent in December.  That’s the same number the jobless rate was at in November.

The Associated Press said that California’s Employment Development Department reported that 1.8 million people in California are now unemployed. The number is down 255,000 from December of last year.

Loree Levy, who serves at the Deputy Director of the California Employment & Development Department, told the AP that “the jobs numbers were a little disappointing.” She also said that this is “not necessarily the best news in terms of the numbers for December.”

However, there was some growth in the state in fields like information, construction, education, and health services, according to the agency. In addition, the state’s unemployment rate is now under 10 percent, the first time it has been in single digits in four years.

Written by Lisa Swan

The hit HBO series “Girls” may be garnering critical attention – and Golden Globes awards – but the four female twentysomethings in the show don’t exactly handle their careers well. CareerBuilder.com takes a look at some of the career “don’ts” you can learn about from the comedy:

Don’t treat interviews like a cocktail party

Hannah, the show’s main character, was way too casual during a job interview. She lost her chance at the job by talking about local bars and making an offensive joke, with the interviewer as the butt of the joke.

Lesson here? The job interviewer is not a friend at a cocktail party. Take the interview seriously, and leave the banter and jokes for your personal time. When in doubt, don’t.

Don’t act like your boss is your friend

Jessa works as a babysitter for a young family, but doesn’t take the situation seriously, acting like her employers are her buddies. She wears too-sexy outfits and even invites the father to an out-of-control party. She ends up losing her job, and burning a potential reference.

The lesson is that your employer is not your friend. Don’t treat him or her as such.

Don’t allow employers to get away with very bad behavior

Hannah and other employees at a law office let a boss get away with sexual advances because he lets them come in to work late, and, as one puts it, “he gave me health insurance and an iPod for Christmas.”

Lesson here is that, as the article notes, “It’s never okay to have this kind of relationship at work.” You need to make it clear that this sort of behavior makes you uncomfortable, and go to human resources if things don’t change.

Don’t put pride above making money

The girls in “Girls” think working at a paid job at something like a fast-food restaurant is beneath them. Instead, they would prefer to do a more prestigious internship, even if it is unpaid.

Lesson here is that you should remember your financial needs, and that you may not be able to afford to take an unpaid internship. In addition, as the article notes, “It’s up to you to make the best of every situation, and it is not the economy’s job to make the best situation for you.”

Written by Lisa Swan