Phoenix Sales Jobs See Significant Yearly Growth

Phoenix sales jobs (Click here) and sales jobs throughout the nation saw little movement last month as sales remained virtually unchanged, but the industry continues to flourish when compared to last year.

According to a recent report from the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales increased by .1 percent during July and by 6 percent over the last year. This shows that consumers are still hesitant to spend money, but are becoming more confident over time.

"Consumer spending in August was tempered by a continued lack of confidence in the strength of our economy," Matthew Shay, president and CEO of NRF, said in a statement. "Having carried the brunt of the economic recovery so far, consumers may be waiting for good news in terms of employment and market stability, cautiously spending on things they need and thinking twice about things they want."

A separate report from the U.S. Department of Commerce found that total retail sales - including such items as gas, automobiles, and restaurants - increased by .1 percent in July and by 9 percent over the year.

The following types of stores saw sales growth over the month:

• Sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores - +2.4 percent
• Electronic and appliance stores - +.5 percent
• Health and personal care stores - +.2 percent
• Building material and supplies stores - +.2 percent

"August retail sales mirror August employment figures – zero growth," said NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. "Consumer spending has stalled, and it will be important for consumers to see positive changes in the economic outlook going into the fourth quarter. While we're not expecting a complete pull back in spending, the outlook remains modest in terms of growth."

IT Jobs Phoenix Recognized for Partnership with Panasonic

Those with IT jobs Phoenix (http://jobs.insight.com) were recently recognized for their partnership efforts.

Insight Enterprises, Inc. recently received two two Panasonic Reseller of the Year awards at the Panasonic Solutions' Partner Summit in Scottsdale. The company's operating division was honored with Partner of the Year and Top Partner for Toughbook Computers awards.

Panasonic evaluated companies on three major criteria, including revenue performance and growth, strength of partnership, and level of proactive business development.

"We are honored to be named as Panasonic's Partner of the Year and Top Partner, Toughbook Computers," Brian Davis, senior vice president of product marketing for Insight, said in a statement. "This recognition demonstrates Insight's technical capabilities for delivering a range of solutions that combine our partners' innovative technologies with technical skills and capabilities that support client needs across the IT environment - from the mobile solutions in the field to the cloud."

Insight is a leading technology provider of hardware, software, an service solutions to business and government clients. The company has operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Non Profit Jobs Continuing to Flourish

Many organizations are continuing to add non profit jobs (http://jobs.heart.org) as the rest of the nation strives to recover from the recession.

The most recent report from the Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Economic Data Project found that nonprofit organizations were able to hold their own throughout the economic recession and are continuing to flourish during the recovery.

Nonprofits saw employment growth of 1 percent between 2009 and 2010, pushing the sector's labor force up by 5 percent between 2007 and 2010, the years during which the recession was in full swing.

At the same time, for-profit employment dropped by 1.1 percent in 2008, by 6.2 percent in 2009 and by .9 percent in 2010 - resulting in a total decline of more than 8 percent between 2007 and 2010.

On the downside, the rate of nonprofit job growth has slowed in recent years, dropping from 2.6 percent in 2008 to 1.2 percent in 2009, and then to .8 percent in 2010.

The nonprofit employment growth and for-profit employment decline was consistent in almost all of the 45 states included in the report. Employment increased in five of the six nonprofit sectors, with ciic organizations seeing the only decline.

Some other key findings of the report include:

• Nonprofit organizations employ 10.5 million workers, which accounts for close to 10 percent of the nation's workforce.
• The nonprofit workforce is the third-largest in the nation, behind only manufacturing and retail trade.
• Nonprofit employment varies from state to state, ranging from 2.6 percent in Nevada to more than 18 percent in New York and Rhode Island.
• About 50 percent of nonprofit jobs are in healthcare, while 13 percent are in education, and 11 percent are in social services.