The latest employment numbers are out and it doesn’t look good (emphasis mine).

US employers added 430,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in May, but 411,000 of those were temporary census workers. That number was also well short of the more than 500,000 economists had expected. The unemployment rate, however, fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent in April.

I still don’t expect to see significant hiring gains until Q4 of this year at the earliest.  My highly non-scientific polling (talking to customers) shows that most are still in a tentative mode.  Perhaps some more enlightened analysis will surface later today.

Comments(0)

Here is an interesting poll from Gallup – the Job Creation Index.  I was not familiar with this one until seeing it on Drudge.  I always have a tinge of skepticism for any poll, but this one has a staggering finding (emphasis mine):

Gallup’s Job Creation Index clearly indicates that state and local governments are in the midst of significant downsizing, no doubt reflecting budgetary issues resulting from recessionary pressures on the tax (and other) revenue that funds these governments.

Hiring at the federal level has apparently to date escaped these same fiscal pressures. Indeed, the federal government appears to be significantly outpacing the private sector in terms of the relative number of jobs created.

How long this pattern will continue is difficult to project. The federal budget deficit is likely to become a prominent element of political debate in the months and years ahead, thus opening up the possibility of increased employment pressures at the federal level. At the moment, however, the federal government is one of the brightest spots in the nation’s hiring picture.

Never a good sign.

Comments(0)

As is so often the case in this economy, the market is sending mixed signals.  From one article on abcnews.com:

The economic strength, both in U.S. and international markets, plus cost cuts, higher rates and fuel surcharges led to a 33 percent increase in first-quarter profit. UPS boosted its full-year outlook when it pre-released its earnings two weeks ago.

And one paragraph later:

UPS Inc., also known as United Parcel Service, restructured its business over the last 18 months, cutting jobs in the process. The shipper doesn’t plan any significant hiring anytime soon, at least until the recovery is on more solid footing.

Jobless recovery anyone?  The difficulty is that hiring is a lagging indicator and it does appear that 2010 will be a slow hiring period in spite of a potential recovery in process.

Comments(1)

From the indeed.com blog:

For the first time in 2010, our Job Market Competition report shows all major metropolitan areas have fewer than 10 unemployed persons per job posting – a notable lessening of job competition since our last report.

Washington D.C. has only one unemployed per job posting, maintaining its first place position as the city with the least competition for jobs.  At the other end of the scale, Detroit moved up one place from the bottom position: it now has nine unemployed per job posting, an improvement from 13 earlier this year.

The post contains the top 5 and bottom 5 metro markets based on number of unemployed per job posting.  No surprise that D.C. is number 1 considering the ever-expanding government.  Did you ever think we would be at a point where moving below 10 unemployed people per opening was improvement?

Comments(0)

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).

Comments(0)

Saleshq.com offers up tricks for telecommuters in this article.  There are some solid points like this:

5. Communication

It’s very easy to forget the outside world when you work from home. While you do get to avoid the intricacies of corporate politics, it also means that you have to be your own advocate.

Make sure there are multiple ways for your boss and colleagues to contact you. Check your email frequently, and respond as immediately as you can. Keep your phone at hand, and make sure you call if there’s an office meeting. An instant messaging service works well for open communication if something changes last minute. For more long distance projects, make use of free video conferencing tools like Skype.

This fact is mission-critical.  One of my customers has a remote salesperson who works in the same small town as the office, but she telecommutes.  I’m not sure why, but that is a topic for another post.  Anyway, one of the things she has expertly established is her lack of availability during the work day.  What I mean is that the office can never get her on the phone during the day.  Cell phone, home phone…it doesn’t matter, their calls always end up in voicemail.

I find this fact appalling, but my customer tolerates it.  What I believe this does is free her up to do other activities during goal time for selling.  The office has now become accustomed to not reaching her on the phone so they think nothing of it.

If you manage telecommuters, you must have a communication channel (cell, text, IM, etc.) that always allows access to them.

Comments(0)

The title of this post is one that brings pause to many people.  Are we headed towards a double dip recession?  I don’t think we can say one way or another quite yet.  However, today’s numbers are not good:

The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance surged to just below the 500,000 level last week, and have climbed more than 12% over the past two weeks, the government said Thursday.

…

The 4-week moving average of initial claims was 473,750, up 6,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 467,750.

I have talked to many companies who are in a holding mode for hiring.  Thankfully, I have not encountered as many who are looking at any further layoffs.  I take that to be a good, but not great, sign.

Comments(2)

According to this CNNMoney.com article, 2010 hiring will be steady and growing (emphasis mine):

“We see a healthy expansion under way, although it will take time to reduce economic slack and repair damaged balance sheets,” said Lynn Reaser, president of the National Association for Business Economics, which conducted the survey of 48 top economic forecasters in late January and early February.

I wonder if those are the same “economic forecasters” who are perpetually surprised by the latest economic news?  Nonetheless, I don’t mind a little positive outlook during this recession:

The NABE panelists expect that jobs will return slowly this year, forecasting an average monthly increase of 50,000 jobs in the first quarter, followed by average monthly job gains of 103,000 the rest of the year. The unemployment rate, which now stands at 9.7%, is expected to tick down to 9.6% by the fourth quarter.

I know, the last line (…tick down to 9.6%) is glaring in a macabre sort of way.  Still, let’s hope these forecasts are underestimate.

Comments(0)

I received a PR email notifying me of a 3-part series starting tonight on Nightly Business Report. Here are the details:

“Social Networking”

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Similar to the introduction of TV in the 1950’s, social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are rapidly becoming a core component of many Americans’ daily lives.  But where businesses could easily impact the American consumer through TV advertisements, the road map for marketing through social networking is a bit more complex. The rules are certainly different, but as NBR’s Scott Gurvey finds out: the rewards may be even greater.

Tuesday 1/26: Pt. 1 – In part 1, NBR reveals some of the basic ground rules for companies participating in the world of social networking.

Wednesday 1/27: Pt. 2 – Businesses large and small use social networking in different ways.  In part 2, NBR digs deeper into the unwritten rules of social networking by examining recent campaigns from Pepsi and Fetch Pet Care.

Thursday 1/28: Pt. 3 – In part 3, NBR examines the multiplier effect of social networking along with some helpful advice on dealing with consumer complaints.

I have the DVR set and may I suggest you do the same?  Perhaps this short series will change my perspective on Twitter.

Comments(0)

I received a press release from IBISWorld with some interesting data about where the employment growth will occur over the next 4-5 years.  Of course, I would be a bit skeptical about number 2 considering the recent announcements from the White House concerning the banking industry.  Nonetheless, still an interesting picture:

Comments(1)