San Jose resident Jim Mielke was gassing up his work van this morning at a Shell station on The Alameda, which set him back just over $90. He’s deferring some home improvements because of the rise in gas and food prices. By not spending money, he realizes he’s hurting the home improvement store or the materials supplier, which impacts their ability to keep employees on the payroll.

On the other side of the pump, contractor Dave Caputo confirms that work has been slow because of people cutting back on non-essential spending, not to mention the slowdown in real estate sales and the related drop in repair and remodeling jobs.

That cycle is contributing to the unexpected drop in job creation in May. The Labor Department said only 54,000 new jobs were added last month. That’s the lowest number in eight months. Economists had been projecting double that number.

Professor Mario Belotti, Ph.D., an economist at Santa Clara University said it’s not just a downturn in consumer spending that’s causing employers to throttle back. It’s also the impact Japan’s earthquake and tsunami have had on the auto industry, economic turmoil engulfing several European Union countries, and on-going civil strife in Northern Africa and the Middle East.

We are also talking to tech companies in Silicon Valley and job seekers who have been searching for work for two to three years. We’ll have an updated story later today online and on ABC7 News at 5.

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Article source: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/consumer&id=8169621

Based on worker feedback, 125 Bay Area organizations were designated as ‘Best Places to Work’ by the San Francisco Business Times and Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. The top employers were split into five divisions based on staff size and included Intuit, Juniper Networks, Kaiser Permanente, Genentech and Santa Clara University (1500+ workers); Kimpton Hotel Restaurant Group, Zynga, Riverbed Technology, Fairmont Hotels Resorts, and Fenwick West (501-1500); Bradley Real Estate, Box.net, Workday, DPR Construction and Demandforce (101-500). Rankings were derived from multiple-choice surveys distributed to over 180,000 employees at 301 nominated companies.

For complete results, visit bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco.

On the Job Front

CORTE MADERA – Circle Bank, which operates seven days a week, has opened its sixth and largest branch here.

FOLSOM – Staffing firm Mainstay Business Solutions has shut down after losing a 2-yr dispute with the state EDD over $16.5 million in unpaid unemployment taxes and penalties. They employed 48 local admin staffers and had placed over 400 workers in the region and another 7500 workers elsewhere in CA. All will lose their jobs with Mainstay, although it is likely that many of the employers will make arrangements with other staffing firms to retain the affected workers.

FREMONT – Meltwater Group, which monitors electronic media and provides search-engine marketing services, is opening a new 8700-sq-ft RD office here.

ROSEVILLE – Colorado-based Sunflower Farmers Market is opening its first CA store on May 11. They need directors, dept managers, clerks, cashiers, bakery/meat/deli staffers, and expect to hire up to 100. Apply online at sfmarkets.com . . . BookKeeping Express, which provides accounting services for small businesses, just opened here. . . US Cryotherapy, has opened the first cold-therapy clinic in the nation.

SAN FRANCISCO – A $1.5-billion development plan to build thousands of housing units on Treasure Island has been approved. . . Twitter will lease 200,000 sq ft of space on Market Square, enough for 1200 more employees when they move in mid-2012. . . Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick Pearson LLP, a Chicago-based firm specializing in insurance law, has opened a new office with 7 partners and 4 associates.

SAN JOSE – Of the nation’s major metropolitan areas, San Jose is ranked 20th for its small-business vitality, according to The Business Journals. . . Cisco Systems is discontinuing the manufacture of Flip video devices, which will cut 550 jobs out of the picture in a realignment plan.

SUNNYVALE – Bloom Energy expects to add more than 1000 new jobs and quadruple its local manufacturing space for producing solid oxide fuel cells known as “Bloom Boxes.”

UNION CITY – Packaging distributor Container Consulting Services is expanding its footprint at Willowbrook Business Center, from about 34,000 to 45,000 sq ft. o

MODESTO – After losing its major wholesale account with SaveMart Supermarkets last October, which accounted for most of its bread business, Word-of-Mouth Baking Co closed at the end of March.

REDWOOD CITY – After more than a year of negotiations with a union representing 2700 nurses, Stanford Hospitals Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital has agreed to a 4-percent pay raise retroactive to April 2010, another 4-percent increase effective this month, and enhanced support for professional development programs.

ROSEVILLE – 850 registered nurses will get an immediate 5-percent pay increase, plus another 14 percent over the next three years, after the CA Nurses Association/National Nurses United ratified a new agreement with Sutter Health hospitals. In Auburn, 250 nurses will get a 3-percent increase immediately, and 14 percent over 3 years.

SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY – The Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific says that the San Joaquin County and Valley have “turned the economic corner” and are showing signs of recovery.

SILICON VALLEY – According to the University of the Pacific’s Business Forecasting Center, this area is leading the state in the recovery and “experiencing robust growth.”

Article source: http://www.jobjournal.com/thisweek.asp?artid=3148

As expected, many Bay Area institutions have been included in Forbes Magazine’s 2010 list of the top colleges and universities that can make their students rich. In fact, six of the top 14 schools in Forbes’ list are located within an hour of Dublin, CA: Stanford University (3), Santa Clara University (4), St. Mary’s College (5), UC Berkeley (12), University of San Francisco (13), and San Jose State University (14).

Forbes scoured data from 611 colleges and universities across the country and identified the schools that had alumni with earnings that far exceeded their salary expectations based on their field of study. Forbes was also sure to control for student background so that the top institutions were picked based purely on their ability to help boost the earnings for their graduates.

Five variables were highly correlated with earnings including institution acceptance rates, percentage of the student body with majors in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) fields, and SAT scores. All data used were provided by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP) and are the same information as those used to determine Forbes’ 2010 list of America’s Best Colleges.

“These are the colleges who can take a group of students that, statistically speaking, shouldn’t go on to earn much, and help them beat the odds and make big bucks,” Forbes Magazine’s Natalie Doss noted.

The six top Bay Area institutions represented in Forbes list of colleges that will make you rich provide the Tri-Valley’s top high school students with a panoply of options to choose from depending on factors such as their financial means, religious beliefs, and fields of study. “My experiences as a St. Mary’s College student and member of its Board of Regents provided me with the knowledge and many different perspectives to be even more successful in my career. The St. Mary’s curriculum, professors, and staff are of the highest caliber, and my involvement with the college continues to be very rewarding,” said Shirley O. Griffin, executive vice president for Wells Fargo’s Commercial Real Estate group in San Francisco.

The Around Dublin Team would like to thank reader Patrick Y. for bringing to our attention how well represented the Bay Area colleges and universities are on Forbes Magazine’s list.

Article source: http://www.arounddublinblog.com/2011/02/bay-area-universities-that-will-make-you-rich/