An Economic Outlook: Tying Together the Online Economic and Employment Spectrum

This week I continued to research the Web and blogosphere for unique, interesting and educational resources about the economy and employment. Using the Webby and IMSA criteria for evaluating websites and blogs I have found twenty beneficial sites that will contribute to my blog and provide my readers with additional links and information. Aside from my own evaluations on each post, these sites have been added to my linkroll.

The first four websites chosen are related to all my posts. The New York Times economic section, CNN Money, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, although more mainstream are hugely popular sites as they offer straight-forward concise information and an accurate analysis on current situations. Given the websites news format, they provide a general idea of the state of the economy along with the most recent news. With regards to the current more complicated financial crisis CNN money's website at times overly simplifies certain important aspects. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg gives a more in depth view than CNN money. Lastly, as these are news based websites they are more focused on producing a broad set of articles granting the reader with a broad range of knowledge. Standards and Poors website on the other hand is more focused on the economy. Their website offers a list of sources and indices compiled from analysts and information directly given from companies thus making them a well known and relatively reliable source. Many of the above websites mentioned above refer to standards and poors as a source and resource given their well known reputation. Business News USA and World News America offer a more political approach. Their websites are more comprehensive resources in regards to American politics and American economics. Business News USA unlike many other sites, offers sections on farming and agriculture creating a more American industry based website. World News America also provides more political news as they refer to Obama's campaign and Hillary Clinton's view on the current economic crisis. However the use of somewhat amateur graphical icons creates a less professional look. The World Economic Forum provides us with an insightful analysis of how both developing and developed economies of other countries and continents are doing. They are one of few sites that offer reliable and succinct information on different economies.

The next three websites are more focused towards employment, the second focus of my blog. Job Web is catered for graduating students who are seeking a job. Although this site may lack in networking compared to those offered by some universities, the fact that these sites exist is extremely important in providing more ways to help students find a career. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also aids in employment while offering a clear and reliable indication of the current employment and unemployment situation. Californian Employment Development Department further provides more support and help in finding a job to those in the state of California. However, unlike the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics it does not show the current economic situation.

Generally, many economic websites tend use strictly professional language creating what some may call dry reading. Economic blogs offer an outlet where economics can be discussed in a less professional and rigid manner. Group blogs such as the New York Times and Economist offer a variety of scholarly yet relatively less formal articles regarding the economy. The New York Times' group blog focuses more on Wall Street, the stock market and the American market while also providing interesting articles that articles which may be constantly discussed but rarely written on such as "in downturn, college strains family budget. The Economist group blog posts more a wide variety of articles regarding the economies of different countries. These articles give a good summary on each topic allow you to gain greater worldly knowledge. The next five blogs Economy Society, Dani Rodrik, Marginal Revolution, Calculated Risk, and Greg Mankiw were blogs I found on the economy that provided a more personal view on the economy. The first three blogs center around to the current crisis and American economy. Economy society is extremely useful in giving you a good understanding on certain topics as the posts do not over simplify events and issues while also refraining from going into too much detail. Dani Rodrik and Marginal Revolution give brief overviews on current U.S. economic topics. These two sites are therefore useful as brief resources to gain a general knowledge on the current constant changing economic situation. Calculated risk blogs more on the financial side of the economics. Posts refer more directly to banking firms on a global level but remains relatively U.S. based given the extremely extensive U.S. economy. Gregory Mankiw's blog reflects his role as a professor as he explains concepts well while constantly referring to the issue at hand and giving his well explained point of view. As a student myself I am find Mankiw's blog educational, interesting and easy to relate to.

Blogs regarding employment were harder to come across. The ultimate resumes blog provides students with an optimistic outlook giving advice and even posting job listings on the site, an unusual yet nevertheless useful blog for students to follow. The second blog I used, recruiting jobs was one of the more common job seeking websites in the blog. The blog had several job listings but I found it more useful than others given its user friendly layout. I found the site easy to navigate and was quickly able to narrow down my search to what I wanted. Overall, both blogs fundamentally act as an extra tool for students and new graduates to seek employment.