New Jobs

The new year brings some new jobs on radio and Internet for one-time Baltimore media figures Anita Marks, Marc Clarke and Troy Johnson. Marks, a former show host at 105.7 The Fan, will start Jan. 5 as a weekend host on NBC Sports Radio. Her shift will run from noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays. At this point, no Baltimore stations carry the NBC Sports Network. Several stations in Washington do, but none carries the full lineup of NBC programming. You can, however, listen to NBC Sports Radio online here . The new job for Marks was announced and reported on Dec. 18. You can read one of those reports at sportsmediajournal.com . I wonder if the Baltimore guys who seemed to so love hating on Marks when she was at 105.7 The Fan will be checking out her new network gig. Meanwhile, Clarke and Johnson, of The Big Phat Morning Crew that left the airwaves at Baltimore's WERQ (92.3 FM)

My mother went into paid work soon after my father's clothing store was flooded out in a hurricane, almost wiping him out. She had no choice. We needed the money. This was some two decades before a tidal wave of wives and mothers went into paid work. For the relatively few women with four-year college degrees, this change was the consequence of wider educational opportunity and new laws against gender discrimination that opened professions to well-educated women. But the vast majority of women entered the paid workforce because male wages were dropping.

The owners of the Sparrows Point steel mill plan to raze the closed plant, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said Thursday, as political leaders from Towson to Washington mourned the loss of a landmark that once employed tens of thousands. The officials, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, vowed to help steelworkers who have lost their jobs. But the head of United Steelworkers Local 9477 was angry that a key part of the plant is being sold to North Carolina-based Nucor Corp. — to be used for spare parts.

Under Armour plans to hire hundreds of workers at its Locust Point headquarters this year, expand facilities on its campus and bring its brand of sports apparel and footwear to new markets in the U.S. and around the world. CEO Kevin Plank outlined the goals Tuesday while promising shareholders more of the rapid growth that has defined the $1.8 billion company in recent years. During an annual meeting in which Under Armour pitchman and record-setting Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps made a surprise appearance, Plank said the company is just beginning to make inroads in areas such as athletic footwear, women's sports apparel and international markets, with room to grow.

I keep hearing about the jobs that will be created if referendum Question 7 passes, but can we be sure that the jobs will go to Marylanders? As reader Dave Daughters pointed out, there is no guarantee that will happen, yet the ads suggest it will ("How many casino jobs would go to Marylanders?" Oct. 22). I am sure the construction jobs will go to the company with the lowest bid, which could be a company from another state. Will they bring in their own people? I'm pretty sure that they will.

Knorr Brake Corporation on Wednesday, Jan. 18, broke ground on the company's new manufacturing facility in the Westminster Technology Park in Westminster. This new facility will double the existing size of Knorr's manufacturing capabilities in Carroll County, from 120,000 square feet to 236,000 square feet of space. Knorr is a manufacturer of braking, door and HVAC systems for mass transit vehicles. Company officials said that an influx of new orders, primarily from a new series of rail cars for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, along with other increased business, is driving the expansion.

The decision of the manufacturer of After Six formal wear no to relocate to Harford County shows that it takes more than fast-track processing, assiduous promotion and readily available facilities to attract new business. Political power and labor union clout played a major role in keeping the well-known garment maker in Philadelphia.Pennsylvania's governor and U.S. senator added their personal intervention to that of Philadelphia's mayor in lobbying for the 300 jobs and a new financial deal with the company's creditors.

Success at creating jobs for the state economy requires heavy lifting. So far this year, Maryland has been up to the task.The nation's best-known AIDS researcher is coming to Baltimore. A Canadian company is investing $8 million in Snow Hill to put 150 people to work in a labeling plant. A health club chain is keeping its 450-person regional center in Towson and expanding. A snack-food manufacturer has reconsidered and will double its 150 jobs in Harford County. State and Montgomery County officials have made an aggressive pitch to get a home-grown biotechnology company to build its first manufacturing plant in Maryland, not Ohio.

WASHINGTON -- Although many Americans believe that most new jobs are going to hamburger flippers and Wal-Mart clerks, the reality is surprisingly different: More than three-fifths of the jobs created over the past year have gone to managers and professionals.As thousands of former middle managers at IBM, General Motors and other companies can attest, white-collar workers were hit especially hard in the recent recession. But government statistics now show a steady climb in the hiring of white-collar workers.

CHICAGO -- The U.S. economy created only 51,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported yesterday, but despite that tepid performance the nation's unemployment rate declined to 4.6 percent from 4.7 percent. The latest jobs report was ambiguous enough, in fact, that economic optimists and pessimists alike found evidence to support their views. A number of experts suggested that the data show the economy is still expanding, but that it has downshifted to a slower growth rate in response to higher interest rates, a softening housing market and the domestic auto industry's continued slump.

For Maryland's building industry, the good times may be coming back. The construction sector, which has been in the tank for the better part of five years, is on the verge of receiving a sizable infusion of money from recent decisions in Annapolis. Much to the chagrin of many Maryland motorists, the General Assembly has approved legislation to charge hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional gas taxes - money that will build new roads and transit systems. Also heading to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk is a $1 billion plan to build 15 new schools in Baltimore and renovate three dozen more.

Since his golf outing with Tiger Woods, President Obama has been battling with the press over access. And things only look to get more contentious this week as we move toward sequester Friday. Here's a look at a wide-ranging discussion of the issues involved that aired Sunday on CNN's "Reliable Sources" with host Howie Kurtz. The first video has me engaged with longtime CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante, and Julie Mason, host of "Press Pool" weekdays on the POTUS channel (124)

Maryland's approximately 30,000 nonprofits range from the smallest all-volunteer organizations to the largest private employer in the state. Greg Cantori loves them all. As CEO of Maryland Nonprofits since October, he's in his self-described dream job, running one of the nation's largest state associations for nonprofits after 20 years of working in the local sector. He recently chatted with The Baltimore Sun about challenges facing nonprofits and how they're coping. How much are federal budget pressures affecting local nonprofits?

President Barack Obama's approach to so-called "climate change" appears to include recycling old ideas. In his State of the Union address, the president recycled the idea of spending more on education, though we are still getting unsatisfactory results -- a fact he inadvertently acknowledged by saying we're not keeping up with other countries in science and math. He maintained there are tens of thousands of jobs available, but companies can't fill them because public schools aren't teaching students what they need to know.

SKW Constructors plans to hire up to 100 people to construct concrete tubes and fans at the Sparrows Point Shipyard and Industrial park in Dundalk, according to Baltimore County economic development officials. Subcontractors are expected to hire additional people to work on the project, including carpenters, mechanics, surveyors and truck drivers, the county said. "This project is a huge boost in our efforts to bring new businesses and new jobs back to Sparrows Point," Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said in a statement.

Baltimore City Solicitor George Nilson appears to have shot down a proposal to require businesses that receive large city contracts or tax breaks from City Hall to hire local residents for 51 percent of new jobs they create. Last week, Mr. Nilson said the bill could violate a section of the U.S. Constitution barring discrimination against job-seekers based on where they live. But the bill's sponsor, City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, insists the measure is needed to address the city's stubbornly high unemployment rate.

Medical waste disposal company Daniels Sharpsmart Inc. said Friday it has opened a facility in East Baltimore. The facility, which became fully operational this month, will serve hospitals, clinics, medical and dental offices in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware and Pennsylvania from the plant. The company said in a release that it was attracted to the area in part because of the quality of the region's hospitals. The company is known for its Sharpsmart system which allows for the safe disposal of needles and other sharp objects.

The notion that Americans are working more for less pay is firmly embedded in public rhetoric. And it's practically gospel that the growing American economy cannot deliver the higher pay that American workers want.No doubt many Americans are losing ground economically. But in fact most of the 5.5 million jobs the economy has added in the last two and a half years are in occupations that pay more, not less, than the average, which is now about $15.50 an hour.This year alone, 72 percent of the 2.5 million new jobs have been for managers, from the chief executive to the branch sales manager, and for professionals, from surgeons and nurses to software programmers, accountants and high school teachers.

The plan to move 450 jobs from the Financial Management Services facility in Hyattsville to the Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, W.Va., has been postponed for five years, members of the Maryland congressional delegation announced Thursday. The move — proposed by the Obama administration to save $96 million over five years — was set to begin in February 2014, but the Maryland congressional delegation negotiated with the Treasury Department for the delay. "We must have a more frugal government, but not one that hangs our people out to dry," Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski said in a statement.

The new year brings some new jobs on radio and Internet for one-time Baltimore media figures Anita Marks, Marc Clarke and Troy Johnson. Marks, a former show host at 105.7 The Fan, will start Jan. 5 as a weekend host on NBC Sports Radio. Her shift will run from noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays. At this point, no Baltimore stations carry the NBC Sports Network. Several stations in Washington do, but none carries the full lineup of NBC programming. You can, however, listen to NBC Sports Radio online here . The new job for Marks was announced and reported on Dec. 18. You can read one of those reports at sportsmediajournal.com . I wonder if the Baltimore guys who seemed to so love hating on Marks when she was at 105.7 The Fan will be checking out her new network gig. Meanwhile, Clarke and Johnson, of The Big Phat Morning Crew that left the airwaves at Baltimore's WERQ (92.3 FM)