Business News in Brief

NATION

Relationships strong among office workers

NEW YORK — Office workers may have a bigger workload as hours drop and payrolls shrink, but they’re not taking it out on one another or their employers, one survey said.

“If anything, the relationships in the workplace are stronger,” said Reesa Staten, director of workplace research at Robert Half International Inc., whose Accountemps division developed the survey.

Eighty-seven percent of respondents said their relationship with their supervisor was good or very good this April, matching results from the survey done in 2005.

Meanwhile, 95 percent of the adult office workers polled said their relationships with co-workers were good or very good, slightly more than survey takers said 4 years ago.

Blue-collar jobs growing at fast rate

NEW YORK — Could there be a shortage of blue-collar labor?

Between 2004 and 2014, there will be 40 million job openings for workers without a bachelor’s degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s more than twice the number of jobs for people graduating from four-year colleges and universities.

That’s something guidance counselors aren’t telling those frantically competing for entrance into America’s best schools, says Joe Lamacchia, author of the recently published book “Blue Collar & Proud of It.”

Lamacchia suggests these offbeat blue-collar jobs: Underwater welder, organic seed farmer, tugboat pilot, butcher, boat builder and taxi or limo driver.

Associated Press