insideKellstadt

Why Public and Academic Opinions About the Recession Are Disconnected

Wednesday, December 15 2010 02:34:07 PM

By Michael S. Miller, Associate Professor of Economics – Public reactions of disbelief to stories that the Great Recession is officially over illustrate a glaring disconnect between academic definitions and the views of Main Street America. Who is right?

To academics, the recession ended more than a year ago, yet to the public the recession lingers with no clear end in sight. Taken separately and evaluated solely on the criteria chosen by academics and the public, both are correct. Let’s consider this disconnect.

Economists describe a recession in terms of aggregate production, defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research as “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators.” In July 2009 the level of production began to rise, a trend continuing unabated to this day. Thus, the Great Recession, the longest (18 months) and deepest (decline in GDP of 4.1%) recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, was declared over by the NBER as of June 2009. We have now entered the expansion phase of a new cycle.

The public’s rejection of the NBER’s declaration is easily explained by focusing on the variable that captures the pain experienced by households in a recession: unemployment. Although the current unemployment rate of 9.8% is down from a high of 10.1% recorded in October 2009, unemployment is higher now than any time in the past 70 years, save for 1982-83. As recently as early 2007, unemployment was only 4.4%. Seventeen months after the official trough of the recession, we have more than twice the unemployment of the pre-recession period, with little improvement in sight. This has led the public to conclude that an economy that cannot generate falling unemployment is an economy in recession.

The public’s reaction is visceral and understandable. Unlike macroeconomic variables that measure activity irrelevant to the average person, the rate of unemployment computed by the Department of Labor is so human, so personal, that it can easily dominate one’s evaluation of economic conditions. Such a narrow assessment, while not economically nuanced, is reasonable to say the least. If many able-bodied Americans have no job, and little prospect of finding one, the public cannot but conclude that the economy is in recession.

Is the recession over? Yes. Is the economic pain over? Not by a long shot.

Michael S. Miller is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at DePaul University.

Hospitality Leadership Is About Serving Others

Wednesday, December 08 2010 01:49:05 PM

By Chris Roberts, School of Hospitality Leadership – Some students wonder why DePaul offers a degree in Hospitality Leadership. After all, it's just another business field, right? Yes, but hospitality has certain differences from general business.

Hospitality is about serving others, about making a difference in other people's lives. We touch people through the very basics of daily life: a safe and clean place to sleep and get cleaned up for the day, the food to eat while away from home. How we provide that service to others — and, more importantly, how we manage the delivery of service — is what this major is all about.

We're also a fun set of businesses. We work in resorts, casinos and a variety of hotels. Our careers can take us to the beach or ski slopes or any place in the world where people are. We get to work with an amazing range of food, from American to Italian, Russian to Chinese, and everything in between. We can deliver the meals in fancy, five-star dining rooms or in simple, quick-service drive-ups. We even run the food service at stadiums, so you will see us at places like the Cubs’ Wrigley Field and the Bears’ Soldier Field.

We arrange mammoth conventions, trade shows and any type of special event, big or small (think the Olympics, the World Cup, or Obama's 2008 election victory rally at Grant Park). We design and manage meetings in hotels, convention centers and business conference centers. We help families create major social events such as weddings, reunions and anniversary celebrations. If it is about people getting together, our event management firms are at the forefront, putting it all together.

So that's why DePaul has this major as a separate offering from general business. We simply get involved in helping people live when away from home. It's fun because it is so different from daily life, and it's very rewarding because of the difference we make in other people's lives. Come check us out or go to http://hospitality.depaul.edu/ to learn more.

Chris Roberts is Director of the School of Hospitality Leadership at DePaul University.

The Best Job Searches Have a Personal Touch

Wednesday, December 01 2010 09:22:09 AM

By Brooke Gugat, MBA Career Management Center – With the current economy, now more than ever, networking is critical to any job search. I meet with students and alumni from Kellstadt every day, and I always ask them, “How did you get your job?”

The answer to this question is unique to every individual, but the majority of the answers have one common theme: a person. That person may be a former coworker, a recruiter they met at one of the MBA Career Management Center's events or a classmate. It may even be a stranger they met by being in the right place at the right time. I’ve heard stories of a student getting a job because his future boss was on an airplane and just so happened to sit next to the student’s mother-in-law, who talked about her son-in-law looking for work. In another case, a student was at Starbucks with a friend and a working professional at the next table overheard the conversation about their job search and decided to offer her help.

These stories don’t surprise me. To be honest, I am now more surprised to hear that a student got a job from an online job posting on a national job board. Why? Because there are so many great candidates in the market right now, Kellstadt students and alumni among them, that employers have their pick of the bunch. In a time where dozens of candidates fit the description for a job opening, the chance for an interview often goes to the qualified “inside candidate” whose cousin happens to live next door to the boss, or whose in-laws have made it their mission to strike up conversations with businessmen on an airplane.

DePaul offers Kellstadt students a fabulous avenue to learn about all areas of business, and our job in the Career Management Center is to take those qualified candidates and connect them with the Chicagoland business community. Our mission is to maintain current relationships and to create new connections with recruiters, hiring managers and alumni so that our Kellstadt job seekers have access to a great network. We want to make sure every student or alumni can be that “inside candidate.”

Brooke Gugat is Associate Director – Career Specialist at the MBA Career Management Center at DePaul University.