New York Post Online Edition: news

The NYC economy grew a rate of 7% duriung the first quarter of this year--2.6% higher than the national economy.

BLS Reports Jobs Gains

For the first time since January 2001, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting that new York City is gaining jobs--more than 39000 since the beginning of the year. It reports that media and information jobs (it doesn't differentiate between the two) increased by 6100. New York has alson become the huib for the most 6-figure jobs with computer managers averaging $103000.

Employment Situation Summary from The US Labor Debartment

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: MAY 2004

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 248,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The May increase in payroll employment follows gains of 346,000 in April and 353,000 in March (as revised). Job growth in May again was widespread, as increases continued in construction, manufacturing, and several service-providing industries.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged at 8.2 million in May, and the unemployment rate held at 5.6 percent. The unemployment rate has been either 5.6 or 5.7 percent in each month since December 2003. The unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (5.2 percent), adult women (4.8 percent), teenagers (17.2 percent), whites (5.0 percent), blacks (9.9 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.0 percent)--were little changed in May. The unemployment rate for Asians was 4.2 percent, not seasonally ad-
justed.

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment was 138.8 million in May, and the employment-population ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over with jobs--remained at 62.2 percent. The civilian labor force participation rate was 65.9 per- cent for the fourth consecutive month.

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The number of persons who were marginally attached to the labor force was 1.5 million in May, about the same as a year earlier. (Data are not season-ally adjusted.) These individuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they did not actively search for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. There were 476,000 discouraged workers in May, also about the same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.1 million marginally attached had not searched for work for reasons such as school or family responsibilities.


Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 248,000 in May to 131.2 million, seasonally adjusted. Since its recent low in August 2003, payroll employment has risen by 1.4 million; 947,000 of this increase occurred over the last 3 months. Job growth was widespread in May, with gains continuing in construction, manufacturing, and several service-providing industries.

In May, construction employment increased by 37,000, with most of the gain occurring in specialty trade contracting and the construction of buildings. Since March 2003, the construction industry has added about a quarter-million jobs.

Manufacturing employment grew by 32,000 in May. Since January, manufacturing as added 91,000 jobs, mostly in its durable goods component. In May, employment rose in three construction-related manufacturing industries: fabricated metal products, wood products, and nonmetallic mineral products (such as concrete and cement). Employment also increased in computer and electronic products.

Mining employment continued to rise in May. Since January, the industry has added 18,000 jobs.

In the service-providing sector, professional and business services added 64,000 jobs in May. Employment in temporary help services continued to rise (31,000) and has grown by 299,000 (or 14 percent) since April 2003.

Strong employment increases in health care and social assistance continued in May with a gain of 36,000. Over the year, this industry has added 274,000 jobs. Hospitals and ambulatory health care services, such as outpatient care centers, accounted for two-thirds of May's employment gain.

Within the leisure and hospitality industry, food services added 33,000 jobs over the month. Since the beginning of the year, employment in food services has increased by an average of 32,000 a month, more than double the average monthly increase in 2003.

Employment in financial activities rose by 15,000 in May, reflecting continued increases in real estate and in credit intermediation. Retail employment continued to trend upward in May; over the year, the industry has added 142,000 jobs. Within retail trade, employment edged up in May in building material and garden supply stores, food and beverage stores, and clothing stores. Wholesale trade employment also edged up in May; the industry has added 55,000 jobs since October 2003.

In the information sector, telecommunications employment was down by 5,000 in May. Since its peak in March 2001, the telecommunications industry has shed 283,000 jobs, a fifth of its total.

June, 2004--What a Feeling

The seeds of bull markets are sown during bad markets. Fewer people consider entering a field during down times; people leave the industry because they cannot find work or work at their old salary levels. Wages go down.

But when firms start hiring again, the pool of available talent is much thinner to choose from. In some cases, dominant skills demanded by the marketplace have changed and firms start to raise salary levels (and agency fees) to levels higher than the previous boom cycle. It takes time, but this has happened in every boom and bust cycle that I have seen since I started to do technology recruiting in 1972.

In July, 2004, we are seeing firms hiring again. They are not throwing money at new hires, prefering, instead to be cautious. Yet they are hiring. Most firms are asking us to do increased pre-screening, providing us with a series of evaluation questions and answers to work with prior to submitting a resume.

Consulting utilization is continuing to be strong. Try-buys (take the person as consultant before hiring them to full time staff) is back and outright hiring has returned. Consultants are not usually reflected in the government statistics because many are self-employed, rather than employees; the government instead samples large companies. Thus, when you see the job creation numbers coming out soon, understand that these numbers probably understate the growth in the labor market significantly.

I spoke with someone today who was laid off around the middle of last year and who, after a spurt of effort had given up trying. He said he decided to get back into the market because he had seen a big improvement in the number of calls he was getting about jobs.

In September, 2001, I encouraged people to do anything they could to get work; that this recession was going to be the worst I had seen since I entered the field.

It's over. Now is the time to hustle. Use your contacts and connect with recruiters. You can get work again.