As you probably already know, the economy is hardly doing well, despite the recent drop in the unemployment rate to 9.7%. So the question is, if Americans are still longing for hiring then why exactly is Congress sparring and jockeying for who will get credit for a jobs bill? Perhaps that's just how politics works, but its pretty clear that job seekers across the country are looking for Congress to promote hiring versus party line bickering and positioning to take credit for any potential jobs growth bill.

So lets say Congress can pull off an actual jobs growth stimulus plan, the bigger question is -- will such a stimulus target the usual suspect jobs such as construction for example? In other words, even if a jobs creation bill were to be signed into law would it target industries across the board or simply an industry here and an industry there? Take for example, the telecommunications industry which is largely responsible for providing the Internet backbone; for years it has been known that the US lags behind most other countries in the world (including what many would could consider third world countries) in terms of broadband connectivity as a standard. Hello! Even Google went on record recently stating that the Internet is just too freaking slow. Thus, instead of blindly pumping cash into more construction jobs, here's a thought, how about throwing a bone to the T-comm industry to help upgrade the Internet backbone. Doing so, would pick up where the last Internet bubble bust left off. Undoubtedly you would be talking about hiring at least 500,000 workers for such a large long running project.

The bottom line is that everyone knows the economy has a lot of rebounding to do. What's more important is when are we going to get some positive traction going versus continuous rhetoric and sensationalizing? Moreover, do you think any of the other 15 industries could use a lift? In the grand scheme of things the construction industry is a small contributor to the GDP, yet the subject of a lot of focus when it comes to talks about job growth and stimulus projects. In any event while Congress is sparring Americans need hiring...not next quarter, not next year...now. The rhetoric is running out of steam and Americans are frustrated and tired, which means in the end both political parties will pay dearly if both party members don't stop resting on their six figure salaries and help get unemployed Americans back to work.

According to the grape vine, job seekers are optimistic about hiring for the New Year. Perhaps its just part of the fervor surrounding the going out of one year and the prospects of the incoming New Year, especially as far as hiring is concerned. Data seems to support job seeker's optimism with a relatively small but an increase, nonetheless, is the consumer confidence index.

With a modest upward gain to the tune of 52.9, you would think that is hardly a consumer confidence figure worth bragging about. On the other hand, given how bad the consumer confidence index figures have been throughout 2009, any positive seems to get everyone excited. This excitement may be a little premature as as good consumer confidence index is 90 or better. As you can see a consumer confidence figure of 52.9 is barely over the 50% line in reference to a good consumer confidence figure.

So why are job seekers and consumers, in general, seemingly excited. The short answer is most of the excitement is likely to be emotional driven. Again, after a terrible 18 months with the economic recession, some may just feel the need to change spirits irrespective of the presence of economic drivers. At the same time, employers are expected to hire coming out of the gate for 2010, especially where part-time and contract work is concerned. Moreover, some industries such as Information Technology, Manufacturing and Professional Services are looking up as far as full time hiring is concerned.

Although there is no evidence of the presence of large scale economic drivers to influence the hiring of 2 million jobs (to keep unemployment from rising), there is, still, room for optimism. Such optimism is emotional fueled coupled with some silver linings in the data. In the end, whatever the reason(s) - job seekers are optimistic about hiring for the New Year. Now if we can ratchet up this enthusiasm across the board to include more employers and job seekers than we might be on the verge of hiring tidal wave to start out 2010. What a great way to start out the New Year!

If you are one of the many job seekers looking for solid ground, a teaching job equals job stability plus reduced student loan debt. With the demand for teachers holding steady, job seekers looking for a career change benefit from a salary, excellent benefits and student loan vouchers that can be applied towards existing student loan debt. Now that's what i call stepping the game up to attract qualified teachers.

Teach for America is one the big players in recruiting teachers mostly for those looking for a career change. Apparently, what a lot of teacher recruits are doing is working for a few years in communities dubbed as "high need" in exchange for a student loan debt reduction voucher along with a salary, benefits and summers off from work. Sweet huh. Well of course teachers on average earn a salary around $36,000, which isn't a great deal, but when you factor in having two months off work with pay and receiving a voucher of $4,100 to apply to any existing Federal Student Loans, than the picture look a little brighter.

So who makes for a "good fit" as a teacher? Well according to Teach for America, those with "leadership" capabilities, likely, fit the mold quite well. Since, leadership is such a subjective term, you might just need to apply for yourself and see how your background meshes with the full scope of teaching requirements. For the most part, the teacher recruiting process shouldn't be a great deal of hoop jumping as most of the teachers in the program are career change individuals or those who don't, otherwise, have a background in education. So if job stability is your focus, teaching equals job stability along with reduced student loan debt via vouchers up to $4,100. Give it a go. As they say, what may be lacking in pay is offset by job satisfaction.