Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ-Life Links (051806): Special New Jobs Edition

Free Links, found in 5 minutes of Googling and reading bizjournals.com e-mail headlines:

A look around the landscape of the USA’s “greatest story never told“:

• Brown Getting Bigger — “UPS to add about 5,000 jobs in Louisville”
• Tumbleweed Franchisee Growing Like a Weed:
  

  ….. one of the largest franchisees of Tumbleweed Southwest Grill restaurants, has received $17.1 million in financing from GE Capital Solutions to expand its operations.

  According to a news release, Diamondback plans to use the funding to open seven new units and to sell and lease back seven properties. The locations of the new stores will depend on market demand, the release said.

  Wausau, Wis.-based Diamondback Management operates eight units in Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

• Asian-owned businesses on the rise — “The number of Asian-owned businesses nationwide grew 24 percent between 1997 and 2002, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.”
• Bartlesville, Oklahoma — Where Disaster Didn’t Strike:
  

  Oil company to bring jobs to Bartlesville

  ConocoPhillips Inc. plans to add 750 new jobs to its Bartlesville operations over the next two years.

  “These jobs mean more growth and a stronger economy in Bartlesville,” City Manager Ed Gordon said Monday. “Those people will add to the quality of life in our community.”

  ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva said another 250 jobs will be moving to Bartlesville by the end of 2007 as a result of the company’s recently announced purchase of Burlington Resources.

  Eight months ago, the company pledged to move 500 jobs to Bartlesville by the end of 2006 as part of its effort to consolidate its Global Systems and Services operations.

  ConocoPhillips currently employs about 2,800 people in Bartlesville, including about 500 contractors. The number is about the same as just before Conoco and Phillips merged in early 2002. When both recent restructuring moves are completed, ConocoPhillips is expected to employ more than 3,400 in Bartlesville.

  “When they did the merger, there was a fear that they would shrink the employment here,” said Jim Fram, president of the Bartlesville Area Chamber of Commerce. “There was an adjustment of the types of jobs they had here, but the employment numbers never really suffered.”

  In fact, Bartlesville is quite the happenin’ place. This separate link says that “1,500 jobs are expected with expansions at Seimens, Wal-Mart and ClientLogic.”

• Recent Indiana Job News — “Only recently have indicators been slightly more encouraging. Toyota plans to add 1,000 jobs in Lafayette. Pfizer wants to create 450 jobs in Terre Haute. FedEx is ready to pump up its work force by 800 positions in Indianapolis.”
• Even one of the Big Three auto companies is getting in on the fun –
  

  Chrysler Group, a unit of German-U.S. automaker DaimlerChrysler AG on Wednesday said it will add a third shift at its Belvidere, Illinois assembly plant in July, adding about 1,000 jobs to the 2,650-employee facility.

  Chrysler, with offices in Auburn Hills, Michigan, said it expects to fill a majority of the jobs with new hires, and fill the others with Chrysler employees who work at other plants.

Other than that, it’s just another ho-hum day in the American economy — the one that, according to American Research Group’s April survey, 65% believe President Bush has done a poor job of handling, 58% believe is getting worse, 60% believe will be worse a year from now, and 30% believe is in a recession. :–>