From the Herman Group newsletter:
According to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Surveys, the US will have a year-over-year increase of about five percent with a record-tying 73 percent of employers keeping staff levels stable. Twelve of the 13 industry sectors surveyed report positive net employment outlooks, meaning employers in most industry sectors plan to add staff during the second quarter.
The only sector expecting negative growth is Government, however with the passage of the recent healthcare legislation, we believe that may not be an accurate forecast. Moreover, among the 201 local metropolitan statistical areas surveyed, “94 percent indicate a positive or neutral net employment outlook, indicating cautious optimism is becoming more widespread geographically”.
I also believe that negative growth prediction in government “may not be accurate.” In fact, I know it isn’t. Anyway, it is a mildly optimistic outlook for the remainder of this year. The US economy always comes back from a recession so the doom-and-gloom suggestion that we are in the next depression is overstated. However, the anti-business disposition of this current government has definitely delayed the recovery process.
Nonetheless, we are starting to see some activity trickling in again in our business which is a great sign (at least for us).