Well, it is good to be back at it after a nice Christmas break with the family. It is even better to come back to read an article like this one from CNNMoney.com. How about this: "We’re looking at some leading indicators on employment, and they’re all flashing green lights," said Bernard Baumohl of the Economic Outlook Group, a Princeton, N.J. research firm. Though most economists still expect a painfully high unemployment rate of about 9% at the end of this year, Baumohl and others think that stat masks more important signs of strength. Baumohl and some other economists forecast between 2.5 million and 3 million jobs being added to… Read More
Continue ReadingA Secondary Effect Of The Recession
Most people agree that there will be a demand for workers as soon as we start the recovery process (no, I do not subscribe to the idea that the recession ended in June of 2009). Companies are running in a most efficient manner right now due to the fact that they had to cut staff to the bone. Growth/expansion will require an expansion of most company’s workforces. The supply of workers will be limited due to the Baby Boomer retirements and the great decrease in workers in Gen X. Along with this shortage comes another important limitation in the workforce. From the Herman Trend’s weekly email (emphasis mine): “Unfortunately, with… Read More
Continue ReadingStrongest Performing Cities
I’m not sure what to make of this, but it caught my eye: Overall, the reading on local economies is still grim though, as home prices continue to fall and unemployment rates remain historically high, the report said. The list of strongest-performing areas included several middle American cities that were boosted by an uptick in manufacturing jobs and home price declines that were more modest than in other parts of the nation. The weakest performers were mostly sunbelt cities which saw some of the largest declines in home prices and continue to lag behind the rest of the country. Honolulu just jumps off the page for me.
Continue ReadingTexting And Lightning
The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. -Mark Twain If you would, allow me to speculate a bit. I’ve been involved in volunteer activities with high school students over the past 2 years so I have become a reluctant texter (is that a word?). I learned quickly that their preferred method of communication is texting. I didn’t even have texting on my cell service when I started. I now have unlimited texting out of necessity. I tell you this in regards to a concern I see in this younger generation. I’ve read… Read More
Continue ReadingTake This Job And
shove it…apparently. The Herman Trend offers up some stats that may catch you by surprise (emphasis mine): It is interesting to note that in the United States more people quit their jobs in the last three months than those who lost their jobs. After 15 straight months of time in which layoffs exceeded voluntary departures, it appears that the job market is finally shifting. … In a related development, one-quarter of our business community’s most promising employees are increasingly disengaged and many are actively seeking new employment opportunities. A recent study on employee engagement, conducted by the Corporate Executive Board’s Corporate Leadership Council (CLC), found that 25 percent of the… Read More
Continue ReadingEmployment Still Lagging
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.
Continue ReadingNow Hiring – The Federal Government
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… Read More
Continue ReadingGood Sign, Bad Sign
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… Read More
Continue ReadingA Good Employment Sign
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… Read More
Continue Reading2010 Hiring Trends
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… Read More
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