Mixed Economic Signals

Spire Semiconductor in Hudson made the cut and won over 2 million dollars in federal tax credits. President Barack Obama unveiled the winners in Washington. Some 183 projects across the country will divvy up 2.3 billion dollars to help spur advanced energy manufacturing – it’s part of last year’s stimulus act.

Spire got its share in order to develop high efficiency components for the solar power industry.

Manufacturing in general is one sector that’s feeling more bullish about the coming year. David Juvet with the Business and Industry Association says they’re reporting an uptick in orders.

JUVET: Their problem now is not necessarily that they can’t get the orders in. Their problem is, the people who supply them with raw materials need to gear up.

But Juvet says there’s still a lot of nervousness out there and very few employers expect to hire new workers in 2010. He says only one thing will convince them that the recovery has truly taken hold – more people knocking on their door to do business. Pretty basic.

Here’s one unsettling number -- 2009 closed out with a near record number of bankruptcies – over 5 thousand in fact. You have to go back to 2005 to find a larger number and that was due to people rushing to file before a change in federal bankruptcy law.

It’s hard to see any clear trends these days. Debby Kardaseski is a self-employed graphic designer in Loudon.

DEBBY: Jobs that I have had for years that usually come in about this time of year aren’t there any more. But I’ve had a couple of new jobs pop up out of nowhere.

The new clients are good news but Kardaseski says there aren’t enough of them. Her income is off 15 thousand dollars for the year and she says she feels the wolves at the door. She’s 56 and single and her health insurance now costs more than her mortgage.

DEBBY: I have medical insurance through the end of this month. Whether I have it next month, I don’t know. I may not.

Kardaseski has run her own business for 16 years and she’d like to keep at it but as she puts it, if she doesn’t work, she doesn’t eat. When you hear analysts talk about a sluggish recovery, this is one way it looks on the ground.

Kardaseski told us about her situation through the Working It Out web site. We hope you’ll keep all of us plugged into reality by posting your own note. Tell us how the economy looks to you as we move through a very uncertain time.

With this economic round up, I’m Jon Greenberg.