Coalition launches website for tech career information

A coalition of business leaders and Maine educators launched a website Thursday to help students and job seekers get information about pursuing tech careers.

Project Login, the brainchild of Educate Maine and the University of Maine System, is funded by Bangor Savings Bank, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Idexx Laboratories, MaineHealth, Maine Medical Center, Pierce Atwood, TD Bank, Unum and WEX. The website is at projectlogin.com.

The site has sections for students and job seekers. There are listings for internships in the tech field, links to tech courses at institutions around the state and links to job boards like Monster.com and TechMaine for job openings.

On Thursday, five internships were posted.

Project Login aims to double the number of computer science and information technology graduates from the University of Maine System, from 80 in 2011 to 160 in 2016.

The “skills gap” between the number of tech jobs and the number of qualified applicants is a nationwide issue.

Educate Maine is a business-led nonprofit organization that promotes increased educational attainment. Dozens of companies are involved in the initiative, and some have pledged to offer paid internships.

Falling jobless claims signal labor market improvement

WASHINGTON – New jobless claims dropped last week to 366,000 as the labor market continued to show signs of moderate growth.

The number of people filing for the first-time for unemployment benefits was down 5,000 in the week ending Saturday from the previous week’s revised figure of 371,000, the Labor Department said. Analysts had expected a deeper drop last week, to about 360,000 new claims.

The four-week average, which smooths out some of the volatility in the numbers, fell to 350,500. That was down 2,250 from the previous week.

Economists say that 350,000 new claims a week is consistent with a moderately improving job market.

Last week, the government reported the economy added 157,000 net new jobs in January and the unemployment rate inched up to 7.8 percent.

The job creation was barely enough to keep up with population growth, but the Labor Department also sharply revised up figures for the last three months of 2012. The new data show the economy added an average of 201,000 jobs in the October-December period.

U.S. stock market stalls out on weaker earnings reports

NEW YORK – Stocks slumped on Wall Street on Thursday, and the rally which has pushed indexes close to record levels stalled.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 42 points to 13,944, after sliding as much as 134 points earlier. The index has edged lower this week, after logging its best January in almost two decades.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 fell three points to 1,509 and the Nasdaq composite dropped three points to 3,165.

Stocks fell as weaker earnings and worries about Europe overshadowed healthier signs for the U.S. economy.

— From staff and news services