Hewlett-Packard may layoff as many as 30,000 workers. Photo by Flickr user Vernon Chan

With the Facebook IPO finally behind us, it looks like another Silicon Valley company will be dominating the headlines this week.

Unfortunately, instead of instant millionaires, the storyline will feature job seekers if tech giant Hewlett-Packard indeed lays off up to 30,000 workers, as the Wall Street Journal first reported Thursday.  If it plays out, the Journal said, it’d represent about 8 percent of HP’s workforce and be on the largest layoffs since the start of the recession.

It’s grim news for No. 10 on the Fortune 500 list.  And you probably have some local links to the story. With nearly 350,000 workers worldwide, according to the company’s fast-facts sheet,  there are probably some HP employees wondering about their fate in your market.  You can look for branch offices, but keep in mind that these days, sales and service employees in the IT world often have virtual workspaces and are on the go.  And here’s a list of the company’s customer education centers nationwide; that would be a starting point as well.

It’s unlikely that HP workers will bare their souls to reporters before they know their own fates, of course, but you can make contact and have human-interest stories lined up if the cuts affect people in your region.  And often these large workforce reductions include buyout offers or take into account natural attrition, so it is unlikely that 30,000 pink slips will be handed out next week.   (A story on the pros and cons of taking a voluntary buyout in today’s jobs market would be a catchy personal finance angle.)

Then there’s the Department of Labor’s WARN Act; that stands for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification and requires employers to give 60 days notice of mass layoffs.  Nothing I’ve seen indicates that HP has notified workers of its plans so this too probably provides a buffer zone between this week’s news (which is expected in conjunction with HP’s earnings report) and the actual terminations.

Most activity that meets the government’s definition of “mass layoff” doesn’t hit our radar screens, but if you don’t want to chase local Hewlett-Packard employees, you might use the headlines as a peg for a piece on other layoff activity.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Mass Layoffs page, private nonfarm employers jettisoned more than 180,000 workers in the first quarter of 2012 through 1,077 mass layoff activities.   The quarterly report features quite a few tables that slice the data by industry, by worker characteristics and by state; you should be able to use the tables to present an update on layoff activity in your neck of the woods. 

Related stories would include an update on unemployment benefits in your state (some legislatures are reducing them) and career-related resources for the unemployed.

People waiting in an unemployment line. Photo by iStock.

President Obama the other day proposed a new tax credit to reward small businesses that are hiring or giving raises to existing workers. As this New York Times post explains, the company would get 10 percent of any payroll boost back as a credit against taxes, up to $500,000.

The news prompted me to wonder about the efficacy of other tax credits and incentives for employers to hire; they keep popping up and it would be interesting, I think, to survey area employers about the credits and whether they have facilitated any new jobs or hires in your area.  And if so, what sorts of jobs and what wage levels are aided by the credits?

I don’t have a comprehensive list of credits programs, but your state workforce development office probably does.   

The Department of Labor publicizes the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which gives employers a financial break for hiring workers in nine categories, including disabled veterans, ex-felons, vocational rehabilitation clients, Temporary Aid to Needy Families recipients, food stamp recipients and others in difficult situations.   Last fall, the veterans category was expanded to include unemployed veterans. 

At the state level, companies often can receive tax credits for hiring people from designated enterprise zones — economically disadvantaged areas targeted for special help.  This program in Colorado, for example, offers employers credits for hiring, training and providing health insurance for designated applicants. 

These enterprise zone hiring programs are not new and I’ve even seen a number of third-party firms that specialize in screening job applicants to highlight those that would qualify the employer for the credits; in other words, it’s a program and process fairly well embedded in the business realm. Yet this report from a non-partisan watchdog group in California says “enterprise zones have no statistically significant effect on either employment levels or employment growth rates.”   Even if you’re not in California, the report is well worth a read as background and for generating questions for officials and companies in your realm.

Meanwhile, check out a couple of tools at the Good Jobs First website for more data on how companies are being subsidized in hopes they’ll create jobs.  (Caveat: I’m not familiar with this group and its politics, if any.)

First, take a look at the April report “Paying Taxes to the Boss.”   Apparently, some 2,700 companies nationwide are pocketing the state taxes they withhold from workers’ pay; it’s an extra perk some states grant in hopes of retaining or attracting businesses.  I’m not sure this is any more outrageous than other forms of grants but there is something unsavory about firms reaching into workers’ paychecks for their own benefit.  The spreadsheet of companies that do so is sortable by state and makes for some interesting reading. 

That’s what brought me to the Good Jobs First site and I was quite intrigued by its Subsidy Tracker; it says it contains data on 127,000 awards from 319 programs.  I searched on Michigan and got more than 11,000 hits; the spreadsheet includes company name, city, value of subsidy and category of subsidy.   Links take you to the source of the data, the awarding agency and more.  As with the programs mentioned above, I think it would be quite interesting to check in with some of the beneficiaries of this largesse about the size of their workforce, whether employment at the firm has grown or declined over the past five years, and what sorts of jobs it attributes to any incentive programs. 

Journalists might want to survey local or regional chains about their online strategies.

A local independent pet store that’s been around for years recently started advertising a courtesy home-delivery service.  When I inquired about it, I got the sense that it was an effort to combat competition from online shopping services.

That was a light-bulb moment, and indeed in checking Amazon, I found my dogs’ preferred brand for a couple bucks cheaper than the local store, plus free shipping. Will that be one more item — in addition to books, beauty products, weed whippers, computer batteries, cooking spices, bed linens, bathing suits, office supplies and gifts — that I order from the Big A rather than exert myself to head to Main Street?

If so, I won’t be alone.  And with new Census Bureau e-commerce stats due out today, you you might want to ponder a look at how local independent stores are trying to beat e-commerce, or join it, or both.

The last quarterly e-commerce report, released in February, showed that e-commerce retail sales were up 15.5 percent in Q4 2011 over the previous year, while total retail was up only 6.8 percent in the quarter.  And while e-retail sales are still a small fraction of overall retail trade, that growth rate must have bricks-and-mortar stores running.

The report released today only reflects national totals, unfortunately, but here’s another  Census Bureau 2010 e-stats report (PDF), just out last week, with a longer narrative explaining what constitutes e-commerce; it also features tables that, while lacking local data, at least offer some sector information.  Business to consumer sales outpace business to business e-commerce, but keep in mind that e-commerce includes not only goods but services like airline ticket sales and brokerage accounts. More resources can be found on Export.gov.

You might want to survey local or regional chains about their online strategies; I’ve noticed a greater push around here by hardware store chains, local pizza places, boutiques and specialty stores — even hair salons — to push an online presence via websites or social media.   In many cases, it goes beyond marketing and publicity to actual ordering or shopping or reservation systems online, so customers aren’t restricted by normal business hours.  Same with service companies like landscapers and plumbers.  And of course, daily deals sites are bringing more small and independent operators into the online fold.

And it’s not just small companies trying to compete with the ease of couch-shopping; this article from Direct Marketing News says Sears has just launched new ‘hyperlocal’ sites aimed at personalizing the shopping experience by giving consumers a heads-up on what special close-outs or other deals might be available at local stores, though not advertised in the broader circulars.  That’s an interesting idea that could get bargain-hunters or picky shoppers out from behind the computer.

From the personal finance angle, you might want to develop a sidebar or two about online shopping pitfalls, from casual impulse buying to outright shopping addiction or the ‘shopping under the influence’ phenomenon that the New York Times wrote about last year.  And here’s a new report from the Huffington Post about Internet romance scams, which it says cost consumers $50 million last year.

The poor jobs market for grads and the looming student-loan interest rate hike (unless Congress acts) have combined to bring the trillion-dollar issue to the forefront. Here’s my previous post on this: Is student-loan debt the next economic crisis?

I was thinking about how a financial journalist could approach this from a business angle rather than the traditional personal finance or macro-economic point of view, and it dawned on me that a solid piece on employer-sponsored tuition aid might make for a fresh angle and a real reader service.

Remember that scene in “The Firm” where a giddy Tom Cruise, awed by the largesse his new job affords, is told that his employer will take care of his student loans, too?  These days, legal and other grads are lucky to get a paycheck let alone plump perks.  A survey last year by the National Association of Colleges and Employers said that tuition reimbursement had jumped into the top three benefits new grads desire from employers, after health care and raises.

But there still are firms offering tuition assistance to workers, which might not help with undergrad bills (unless one is fortunate to be hired while still working on a degree) but could help take the sting out of graduate work, where many of the vast student loan debts are created.

Still, they do exist.  A 2009 survey by consulting firm ERC said that — surprisingly — even at the depths of the recession, only 7 percent of companies polled had eliminated tuition reimbursement programs, though others had modified their plans and/or reduced the amounts reimbursed.

How to find them?  Well, you can survey big employers in your area, and talk with recruiting or placement firms about what they are seeing.  Here’s a relatively recent list from Yahoo! about the (apparently meager) number of Fortune 500 firms offering tuition perks. 

One way to find small- and medium-sized companies offering the perk in your area (or to find out that they are not doing so) is to talk with area accounting and CPA firms that handle mostly commercial accounts; ask them how many of their business clients are taking the tax deduction allowed to employers who help workers with school costs.  Maybe they’ll even connect you with some of the business owners or CEOs.

This San Antonio Business Journal story says employers are re-implementing perks as retention concerns grow — but are offering them selectively to the most valued employees.  In light of that, here’s a US News & World Report piece about how to negotiate tuition help with one’s employer; a fresh update citing local experts would make a great sidebar to this package.

Tuition forgiveness programs.  FinAid.com lists a variety of loan-forgiveness programs, like those for teaching, nursing, veterinary medicine, physical therapy and other skilled professions; these are mostly offered via government agencies or non-profits but still, those entities are employers so these programs have a place in a biz story.

This year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to be too broke to file for bankruptcy.

I wonder how much that phenomenon — vs. the plodding forward of the economic recovery — explains the drop in first-quarter bankruptcy filings reflected in this new report posted by the American Bankruptcy Institute, a lobbying group for the industry’s lawyers and related firms.

The report lists month-over-month and year-over-year personal bankruptcy filings by state, and even includes handy per-capita ratios and a ranking of states by filing rate and per-capita filings.  As I guessed, Nevada is faring the worst per-capita, with Tennesse hot on its heels.  North Dakota and Alaska enjoy the fewest filings per capita.

You might want to see where your state stacks up, and review some first-quarter filings for details on what seems to be leading consumers to throw in the fiscal towel.  A series of case studies or snapshots would be a neat way to illustrate the ongoing bankruptcy issue and where it seems to be hitting hardest in your area.  (Getting the filers on the record would be best, but for a story like this I think little profiles with demographic and financial data but no names is acceptable; readers are mostly interested in the circumstances, not the individuals, that are prompting bankruptcy filings.)

The ABI report also includes filings by jurisdiction; I don’t know the code to decipher those designations but with a littlte digging you might be able to sort your state numbers even more finely.   And a separate report on business filings gives national totals but no state-level numbers.

Meanwhile another story idea related to personal bankruptcy filings stems from the new-ish requirement that individuals or couples declaring insolvancy attend mandated credit and debt counseling sessions before and after discharge.  (Here’s a primer on bankruptcy from the federal court system, which has jurisdiction over all such cases, if you haven’t looked into it lately.)  The fees for these sessions are part of the costs referred to in the too-broke articles mentioned above; one account says they average around $85.

I looked up the justice department’s list of approved credit counseling agencies and approved ebtor education providers and was quite taken aback to see that most of the providers deliver their services online.   In a way that maks sense — why burden already-stressed people with getting to a counseling office?  On the other hand, though, not requiring brick-and-mortar providers seems to open the door to Internet debt-counseling storefronts run by less qualified or downright fraudulent operations.  Maybe it’s me but corporate names like “Debtor.com” and “BK Education Services Inc.” don’t inspire too much confidence.   And even though the DOJ lists are sortable by state, the same providers predominate in most — meaning some enterprising people have started a virtual cottage industry collecting fees from debtors nationwide.

One other possible bankruptcy angle:  I checked out the website of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and judging by the dominant topics on the news feeds and other areas of the group’s home page, they are licking their chops over the notion of making student loan debts dischargeable.  That would certainly open up a new market, and is a notion you could check out with your area’s members of Congress.

Others appear to be established counseling agencies or religious-based organizations, but it might be interesting to take a look at who’s behind the services available to bankruptcy filers in your region — even to sit in on a counseling session or three if the filers will allow you too, to see what sort of information they’re getting and what it costs.

The best way to localize Facebook's IPO may be to find your local Mark Zuckerberg.

But you’ll likely want to do something, and one idea I like pretty much can span all business beats:  Find the up-and-coming business talent and future young billionaires in your region.  Their tales can make for some inspiring stories; like the pieces Forbes recently did about Spanx shapewear inventor Sara Blakely, whom the magazine called “the youngest self-made woman in the world.”  Blakely reportedly parlayed $5000 into her multibillion empire by selling the modern-day girdles on shopping channel QVC and via other outlets, and to this day has not spent a penny in advertising.

Dip into the start-up and young company culture in your area for a fresh report on the individuals and ideas that have investors licking their chops.  The old “30 under 30″ structure will take on new life for the next few weeks as the zeitgeist absorbs the idea of all of those new Facebook millionaires.

Where to find them?  I’d start with your area’s economic development arm, along with any organized start-up programs or business incubators at universities, in tech corridors and in conjunction with industry or professional associations.   Also, if you Google “venture capital” and/or “seed money” and some geographic term related to your area, you’ll likely get a number of leads; some may be duds or scams, of course, but it’s worth a try.  The National Venture Capital Association may be of some help, and there are state-level organizations, too.

Networking groups and resource groups for these budding empresarios abound, like the Young Entrepreneurs Council and an entire channel at the Small Business Administration website featuring educational information, blogs, an ideas exchange forum and other resources.  Here’s a map of Meetup groups for YEs, too.

A couple of approaches, once you have identified likely candidates, are:

People profiles.  What qualities favor breakout success?  Intelligence?  Education?  Follow-through?  Networking ability?  What is it about the young executives you identify that sets them apart from others with good ideas but lesser results?  What do they credit for their accomplishments?  Who advises them?

Business profiles.   What products, like shapewear and energy drinks and social media sites, have the right stuff to appeal to modern-day consumer?  What are corporate clients looking for in the business-to-business realm?  Software, IT support, cost-cutting tools, specialized staffing?  In other words, what niches are today’s successful young firms filling?  Where is their start-up capital coming from — investors, saving, family, crowdfunding?

And while they’re not generally a go-to item in average consumers’ retirement portfolios, taking a look at REIT investing might make for a fresh personal finance story.

The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, the industry’s trade group, offers REIT 101 at its website if you need a primer.  The FAQs are a good shortcut with concise definitions of REITs, which essentially are companies that own and sometimes finance commercial real estate.  Some are private and some are publicly traded; investors can get in on the action either  through the purchase of shares or via funds that hold shares of REITs.

As this recent Reuters piece points out, REITs are on a roll. “If you  invested in Vanguard’s REIT Index ETF during the lows of March 2009, you would have tripled your money since,” the column says.  And a Bloomberg article on Thursday noted that a Dow Jones REIT index fund has risen 12 percent so far this year.

Even conservative Consumer Reports last fall waxed enthusiastic about REITs, noting that they’ve averaged 10 percent annual returns over the past 10 years, compared to 2.7 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.   One interesting tidbit in the Consumer Reports piece is that apartment REITs are considered good bets in a down economy, because even cash-strapped consumers typically will make paying rent a priority.  And we already know that apartments are hot these days both from an investor and consumer standpoint, as I noted in a previous blog post.

REITS are a decent personal finance story but if you take a look at recent news about specific trusts, you’ll also gain a glimpse into various sectors of the real estate market, how they’re sliced up by investors, and any new trends in housing, hospitality and so on.  Here’s a Motley Fool article about specialty REITs.

For example, check out this Wall Street Journal article from earlier in the week about a builder who’s established a REIT called Beazer Pre-owned Rental Homes Inc. that will buy and then rent out single-family homes.  That certainly says a lot about the available, empty inventory on what the WSJ called the distressed-home market.

Hotels REITs are common; as are health care REITs that finance and own properties like assisted living centers, nursing homes and the like.  Charter schools sometimes are built and financed by REITs, and according to this article, cinema REITs even depend on hit movies to keep their tenants afloat.

By Flickr user Tony Cecala

One intriguing financial story that may not have made your radar screen, though it’s ripe for localizing, is the drop in Herbalife’s stock price after an investor asked some pointed questions during a conference call.

Here’s a Dow Jones piece on the matter; basically investor David Einhorn grilled Herbalife’s CEO about its distributor network, sales volume and why it stopped disclosing certain information about its seller categories.  Apparently not liking the responses, Wall Street drove the stock down by nearly 25 percent.

This CNBC column by Herb Greenberg is a much longer take on Herbalife’s business model. It’s a good read and instructive not just about Herbalife but about the direct-selling model itself.  Also known as multi-level marketing and network marketing, the model relies on tiers of sales persons to recruit others below them. Each tier generally gets a cut of any sales made.

One issue that stuck out from Greenberg’s analysis is the question of just how much product Herbalife sells to unrelated parties; in other words, do these ranks of salespeople do any business other than among themselves?  Herbalife responded that they don’t track that number and don’t consider it relevant.  Hmm.

You might want to pick that ball up and take a look at how people in your area are faring with direct-selling companies.  According to the Direct Selling Association, there were nearly 16 million people involved nationwide in 2010 — down slightly from a 2009 peak of 16.1 million.  Interestingly, according to the graphs on their industry statistics page, the number of sellers climbed in 2008 and 2009 even as sales declined. It makes me wonder if laid-off workers or others affected by the recession tried their hands at network marketing, only to find a shrinking market for those wares.  (The association says 2011 numbers will be out in June.)

Another interesting item on the DSA page: a map showing share of sales by various regions in the United States.  Maybe it’s just a function of population density or some other demographic skew, but the West and South seem highly represented in multilevel marketing compared to the North and East.

Here’s a list of what one industry blog, Nexera, calls top MLM companies; as the article notes, the industry is heavily weighted toward health, weight management and skin care products.  Several firms are publicly traded, too.  And as you can see from the Nexera site and a Google search, not only are there a plethora of MLM options, there are quite a few entrepreneurs offering products, services and advice to would-be network marketing affiliates.  It’s a whole sub-industry that might be worth a look.  Not to mention suppliers – the people who make the candles, vitamin supplements, lotions, potions and other products, as well as software, forms, payment processing (where are mobile payment companies in this mix?) and other services to the industry.  Maybe you can find some suppliers in your region for a behind-the-scenes view of the industry.

And of course, there’s an app for that. This one for $4 might help streamline your reporting, too. It says it reviews and screens companies based on user preference to help them narrow down options.

Direct Selling News is a good source of industry insights and information. It also lists conventions and workshops. The big annual meeting in June will feature former president George W. Bush as keynote speaker for the Grapevine, Texas event.

MLM is a controversial business model and there are no shortage of watchdog groups and complaint sites online. Check out the Federal Trade Commission’s take on MLM. The consumer caveats will help you formulate questions for company executives.

Photo by Flickr user Allen Chu

Many people kick themselves for failing to implement that one great “woulda, coulda, shoulda,” idea — and I’m one of them.

Back when the Internet was first becoming mainstream, I wanted to create an online directory of yard sales and garage sales, complete with a mapping function and e-mail alerts.  Floating the idea among friends and colleagues, it was scoffed at.  You could all but see them twirling their fingers at their temples as I turned away.

Well, my instinct was right and now yard-sale finders are standard issue at many news organization websites, and many other entrepreneurs have created such services. Not to be outdone, apps makers have developed garage-sale software that all but steers the car for secondhand bargain hunters.  Garage sales have been popular for a couple of decades now among collectible-seekers and penny pinchers, but the recession-fueled frugality movement has taken household-level retail to a new level.

With sale season getting into swing after winter hiatus, you might take a look at garage sales. You can approach it as a personal finance or consumer feature, of course.  Or, you can take a more analytic approach and write about yard sales as a facet of the “underground” or “shadow” economy that is helping many people eke by when jobs and other resources are elusive.  By some accounts, as this 2009 Christian Science Monitor report notes, the U.S. underground economy — including off-the-books work and unlicensed vendors — adds up to $1 trillion a year, or more than the GDP of most other countries on the planet.

And, the article says, as the formal economy falters, this informal economy grows.  A few years ago, for example, yard sales in most middle-class communities were a way to get rid of discards and free up space for more.  The proceeds might be earmarked for a splurge or some non-essential spending.  Is the motivation different these days, even in typically well-off or comfortable communities?  I think there’s a good chance that many families are selling used goods because they need the cash.  Visit some sales on your reporting rounds and you’ll likely turn up an interesting array of human-interest stories that illustrate the economic spectrum in your community.

Some locales don’t appreciate the shifting culture of garage sales; as this “Today” report points out, communities are cracking down on people who turn their driveway or lawn into perpetual flea markets.  Here’s a similar Bloomberg Businessweek piece calling out “The government’s war on yard sales.”  Clearly, you’ll want to check on area ordinances and also talk with Main Street merchants. Are they threatened  somehow by the person-to-person retail market?

This SeattlePI.com piece traces the evolution of the yard sale and offers a ballpark estimate that as many as nine million sales are held each year nationwide.  Don’t forget to investigate those “longest yard sales” that are springing up on all sorts of routes and roadways in emulation of the famous Route 127 sale.  What do these multi-day, multi-mile sales do for area businesses like restaurants and motels?

And for a different twist on the discards market, check out my recent blog post on the cleaning and waste-hauling industries.

More than 1,000 companies, included 366 first-timers, are showing their wares at the WIRELESS show in New Orleans this week.

Mobile technology has come a long way from the clunky 2-lb, $3,995 DynaTAC 8000X, credited as the first cell phone in 1984 and fondly nicknamed ‘the brick’ by its inventors.  Nowadays, my pocket-sized smartphone can do more, faster, than my first two computers could!

And to underscore that we’ve probably just seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mobile technology, today kicks off the biggest industry trade show, WIRELESS, in New Orleans.  Produced by the trade group CTIA (which also sprang forth in 1984) the show will give us a look at up-and-coming technology and services not only for phones but a plethora of digital devices.

If you’re itching for a good consumer story, this might be the ticket — especially with a new survey by the American Institute of CPAs finding that Americans who use digital services spend an average of $166 a month on TV, Internet, mobile phones, streaming services, etc.   (And that doesn’t count paying for the gadgets themselves, another economic angle; electronics sales in the U.S were nearly $144 billion last year, according to NPD Group research. Sales were down slightly from 2010 but Americans nevertheless snapped up $15 billion worth of tablets alone.)

Looking at the cost of mobile and wireless technology is one angle; another is to check with small businesses in your area about how they use mobile devices — any new or interesting applications for small manufacturers, service firms, trades or merchants?   What are the costs and benefits?  What companies have emerged to help businesses with wireless tech; here’s a look, for example, at PCMag.com‘s recent list of its top 25 small business apps.

Meanwhile, back to the WIRELESS show in New Orleans, where 40,000 attendees are expected to gather for the next few days to demonstrate and discuss.  You probably can’t make it in person, but you can follow the show on Twitter as the heads of just about every household-name wireless product and service provider speak; the site also promises lots of video and other means to follow the action remotely.

My favorite part, however, is the exhibitor list; more than 1,000 companies will be displaying their wares, networking (so to speak) and otherwise n display at the show.  Best of all, the interactive search function will sort the list by state for you, making it easy to find local firms appearing at the show.  It’s a great way to find small and private companies you hadn’t heard of before, and line them up for future profiles or a round-up that illustrates the state of the wireless industry in your market.