At my church I have been hearing about people either (a) struggling to get enough work or (b) struggling to find decent work.  Meanwhile, the tech sector and a few other areas cant find enough people.  Now im starting to hear about layoffs among that same crowd that have few skills other than running a shovel or moving boxes, yet still some sectors are booming, but for how much longer?  I managed to avoid any layoffs during the 2008-2009 downturn and thankfully I have a large skillset and experience, so unless the tech sector goes belly up again, Im safe for now...

I would like to make a tad bit more, but Im comfortable in my current job for the time being.  

So if you have marketable skills and experience, especially in any kind of technology related field, there is demand (for now).  No so much it seems for those without skills.

What is everyone else seeing?

I guess it really depends on what you do, area of country, and what your skill set/certifications, etc. are.

I'm a licensed customs broker with 22+ years in the international transportation industry. Things are slowing down some due to China slowing down. Other freight forwarders are laying off people, from what I hear from coworkers who know people at other companies. We just let two people go, but due to losing a customer (that customer needed to go anyway). However, it seems that a lot of companies are hiring for global trade compliance positions, due to increasing government regulation. I could easily switch to that aspect of the industry, but I like the variety of what I do right now.

A lot of it is anecdotal by region or city.

Dairy business is slowing down, milk is low. Around breakeven point after servicing debt.

We just hired 6 more guys for our 25 man company and need more. Our main competitor is trying to do the same.

The job market is very tough to generalize.

Op, I'd imagine your area has the Oil and Gas industry? If so, then you guys are looking like us down here. A lot of layoff's due to it. A lot of boat's tied up not working also.

The rest of the economy, sans industrials are doing very well.

We can't find enough qualified candidates.  All we want is someone with a (common) four year degree and a pulse, we'll do the training.

What kind of business is it Nick?

The company I am working for is seeeking high end tradesmen and they have issues with getting people who do what they claim they can.... They had to create a program with local community colleges to get replacement people for the old guys that are retiring. Far to many romex and m/c jockeys out there claiming to be electricians.

We were running pretty hard all summer and struggled to find half way decent people for light manufacturing and distribution positions. Switch to last week and I just started cutting hours and laid off a few people.

Manufacturing always slides as people reduce inventory this time of year, but this year it's about four weeks early.

I've learned to ask A LOT of questions when someone comes to me telling me they are an electrician or a hvacr guy.

95% of the "electricians" spent 10 years running conduit and not even terminating connections, 95% of the "hvacr techs" can put gauges on and dump Freon in, that's about it. If you spent a decade running conduit and your boss never once showed you how to wire in a breaker panel or taught you the basics of electrical theory then that pretty much tells me what I need to know.

When I was in texas I kept having hvacr guys come in and claim to be a license holder. I was maxed on how many techs were listed under my license so I really needed one. 99% of them then showed me an epa cert card, not a hvacr license. That was after I asked them specifically if they meant an epa card or state contractors license.

What company and industry?

Government Accountants

That is odd that you all don't have more applicants.