The Job Market May 2008

Yesterday's jobs report (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm) is the press release from which much of what you read and hear is based on. It shows a less than expected decrease in jobs in the US of 20,000 plus unemployment declining to 5.0% from 5.1%.

I haven't had a chance to dig for the numbers in the current report but found them in the last one.

What you don't read about is that unemployment for people who have "some college" is 3.8%. For those with a college degree, unemployment is now 2.1%.

It lets us know that the fear of recession is driven by the fact that Wall Street (or the financial services sector) has been hit extremely hard in this slow down and that there are some specialty functions from that sector that may never come back to where they were.

The same is also true with those businesses that specialized in sub-prime lending . .. obviously, no one is rushing out to become such a lender or to borrow from such a firm.

So as far as employment, there are choices for most people in the market. Someone may lose your job as a mortgage broker or real estate agent but they can move into a different form of sales. They may lose their job pricing CDO's; they can move into a different discipline . . . obviously at a lower price. I am reminded of an earlier time of cathartic change in the economy.

In 1989, in an astonishing chain reaction, the Iron Curtain fell, first in Poland through the courage of Lech Walesa and the people of the Solidarity movement and then throughout Europe.
As peace broke out, the desire to spend money on national defense dropped and, as a result, jobs were lost in that industry.

To give an example, the defense industry designed much of their technology at that time using a programming language called ADA that was not used in the private sector. The ADA programmers, developers and their managers, needed to adapt to change and often that resulted in painful change--an ADA developer might have been making $90,000 and would need to pay for education to take a $45,000 network administration job. Some lost their homes, too.

So, as I read the current lamentations about the economy, I think of the ADA developers. As disconcerting as things are, the responsibility a person has is to get themselves going and get to work on finding work.

Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2008 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

He is the author of “Get Yourself Hired NOW! The Big Game Hunter’s Guide to Head Hunting Your Next Job and Every Job After That” (in ebook and audio formats) and “Get Your Job Search Organized NOW!” (ebook) Both are available at www.getyourselfhiredNOW.com Register at the site and you will receive free copies of The International Job Board List and a Guide to Resume Writing.

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Housing slump weighs on April job growth

Jobless rate up to 4.5 percent; payroll growth slowest in two years

By John W. Schoen

Senior Producer

MSNBC

Updated: 12:54 p.m. CT May 4, 2007

The government reported Friday that the economy added just 88,000 jobs last month, the slowest pace of job creation in more than two years, as an ongoing housing slump continued to put a damper on the pace of hiring and business growth.

The jobs growth slowdown nudged the nation's unemployment rate up to 4.5 percent. Friday’s report also said the number of new jobs in February and March turned out to be weaker than originally reported. Gains in workers’ wages also slowed in April.

The report adds to evidence of a slowing economy. The nation's gross domestic product grew at a sluggish 1.3 percent rate in the first quarter, the weakest in four years, the government reported last week. That slow growth is expected to continue at least until the housing industry recovers. Many economists suggest that a prolonged slowdown could help work off the excesses of the housing boom and prevent the economy from tipping into a recession.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believes the economy will avoid falling into a recession this year, although his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, has put the odds of a recession at one in three.

The weak jobs report bolsters the widely held view that the Federal Reserve will leave the key federal funds interest rate at 5.25 percent when it meets Wednesday. The Fed has held the rate steady since last August, ending a two-year string of rate increases intended to ward off inflation.

As expected, Friday’s report showed the construction and manufacturing sectors were hit hard in April, with a net loss of 29,000 jobs for the month.

Until recently, despite a steep downturn in home sales and housing starts, jobs in housing-related sectors had been holding up fairly well. While the market seemed to be recovering at the beginning of the year, it now appears many parts of the housing industry — from contractors to real estate agents to building supply companies — have been holding out for an upturn.

“These folks were waiting for the pickup in construction in the spring and summer, and that’s not happening,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s.com. “It was a great run, a lot of money was made and people are just reluctant to leave the industry. And it has taken a while for them to adjust their thinking with respect to future of the industry and their prospects for gainful employment.”

Forecasts vary on the timing of a housing industry turnaround, but many homebuilders and economists say it probably won’t happen before at least early 2008.

“It will probably take about a year before housing reaches the outright bottom,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wachovia Corp. “But the biggest drag on the economy will be behind us by the middle of this year.”

Friday’s jobs report showed a net loss of 19,000 manufacturing jobs in April, as the job outlook for factory workers continues to deteriorate, especially in the auto industry.

With U.S. manufacturing still in decline, prospects for future job growth depend heavily on the U.S. consumer continuing to spend. The latest data show spending holding up, but barely. In March, consumer spending edged higher but posted its weakest gain in five months in part because higher gasoline prices put a crimp in household budgets.

The slowdown in wages reported in Friday’s employment report could further dampen spending. Average hourly earnings rose to $17.25 in April, a 0.2 percent increase from March. Economists were expecting a modest 0.3 percent rise. Over the past 12 months, wages grew by 3.7 percent, the slowest annual increase in a year.

Household budgets are already showing other, long-term signs of stress, according to Brian Fabbri, chief economist with BNP Paribas.

“We’ve never seen this much increase in debt relative to income, and we’ve never seen the proportion of current income that has to service that debt,” he said. “The consumer has dipped into saving in a meaningful way — we’ve had 20 months in a row of negative savings. That can’t go on forever because you just exhaust savings.”

Friday’s report showed the job losses spreading beyond manufacturing and construction and into retailing and financial services.

But health care and education, leisure and hospitality, government and various professional and business services were among the sectors adding positions.

The relatively strong outlook for service jobs was boosted by a report Thursday from the Institute for Supply Management, an industry group that publishes a widely watched index of business activity. That index rebounded strongly in April, posting its biggest gain in year, with the finance and insurance industry among those sectors reporting growth.

“[That’s] a positive indication that the sharp escalation of subprime mortgage problems in February and March may have peaked at the end of March and abated somewhat in recent weeks,” wrote economist Brian Bethune of Global Insight.

But it remains to be seen whether the financial impact of the collapse of subprime lending has run its course. That’s because many of these mortgages were bundled into pools of loans, chopped up into securities and sold off to investors and hedge funds. Because the holders of these so-called “collateralized debt obligations” can delay taking losses, it may be some months before the full impact of the subprime mortgage meltdown is known

“They can hold on for some time as credit quality continues to erode,” said Zandi.

The Swiss bank UBS became the latest casualty of the U.S. mortgage market when it surprised investors Thursday by reporting lower first quarter profits and said it was closing down its Dillon Read hedge fund because of heavy losses in subprime loans.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Manufacturing tallied 34% of U.S. mass layoffs in March

In March, American employers took 1,276 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on April 20. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment; the number of workers involved totaled 130,687, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number of mass layoff events decreased by four from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims fell by 13,290.

During March, 420 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 54,441 initial claims. Compared with the prior month, mass layoff events in manufacturing remained about the same and initial claims decreased by 9,631.

The national unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in March, essentially unchanged from 4.5 percent the prior month and down from 4.7 percent a year earlier. Total non-farm payroll employment increased by 180,000 over the month and by 2.0 million over the year.

Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
The 10 industries reporting the highest number of mass layoff initial claims, not seasonally adjusted, accounted for 36 percent of the total initial claims in March. The industry with the highest number of initial claims was temporary help services with 9,217, followed by food service contractors with 7,636, and automobile manufacturing with 5,746. Together, these three industries accounted for 18 percent of all initial claims due to mass layoffs during the month.

The manufacturing sector accounted for 34 percent of all mass layoff events and 40 percent of all related initial claims filed in March; a year earlier, manufacturing made up 31 percent of events and 40 percent of initial claims. In March 2007, the number of manufacturing claimants was highest in transportation equipment manufacturing (19,397, largely automobile manufacturing), followed by food manufacturing (6,087) and wood product manufacturing (2,674).

Administrative and waste services accounted for 13 percent of mass layoff events and 12 percent of initial claims in March, mostly from temporary help services. Retail trade comprised 9 percent of events and initial claims filed over the month, with the majority of layoffs in general merchandise stores. Eight percent of all mass layoff events and 9 percent of related initial claims filed were from accommodation and food services, primarily from food service contractors. Construction made up 10 percent of events and 6 percent of associated initial claims, primarily from the heavy and civil engineering industry.

On a not-seasonally-adjusted basis, the number of mass layoff events in March at 1,082, was up by 161 from a year earlier, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 12,136 to 123,974. The largest over-the-year increases in initial claims were reported in transportation equipment manufacturing (+4,439), general merchandise stores (+2,312), and professional and technical services (+1,972). The largest over-the-year decreases in mass layoff initial claims were reported in primary metal manufacturing (-1,691) and food manufacturing (-1,432).

Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)Among the four census regions, the highest number of initial claims in March due to mass layoffs was in the West with 41,139. The administrative and support services, and motion picture and sound recording industries together accounted for 29 percent of all mass layoff initial claims in that region during the month. The South had the second largest number of initial claims among the regions, 34,812, followed by the Midwest, 33,410, and the Northeast, 14,613.

The number of initial claimants in mass layoffs increased over the year in three of the four regions – the South (+13,811), the West (+3,838) and the Northeast (+1,658). The Midwest region experienced the only decrease (-7,171). Five geographic divisions had over-the-year increases in the number of initial claims associated with mass layoffs, with the largest increases in the East South Central (+10,418), the Pacific (+4,018) and the Middle Atlantic (+1,857). The division with the largest over-the-year decrease was the East North Central (-5,618).

Among the states, California recorded the highest number of initial claims filed due to mass layoff events in March (33,172), followed by Illinois (8,754), Kentucky (6,623), Michigan (6,508) and Wisconsin (5,585). These five states accounted for 49 percent of all mass layoff events and associated initial claims for unemployment insurance.

Mississippi had the largest over-the-year increase in the number of initial claims (+4,288). States having the next largest increases in initial claims were California (+3,645), Kentucky (+3,313), North Carolina (+3,137) and Alabama (+2,713). The largest over-the-year decreases in claims occurred in Michigan (-2,887) and Ohio (-2,512).

U.S. MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES: EMPLOYMENT, SALES, & CAPITAL EXPENDITURES 2005

U.S. multinational companies (MNCs) employed 30.5 million workersworldwide in 2005, of which 21.5 million were employed in the United States by U.S. parent companies and 9.1 million were employed abroadby their majority-owned foreign affiliates.

The employment in theUnited States by U.S. parents accounted for almost one-fifth of totalU.S. employment in private industries. Worldwide capital expendituresby U.S. MNCs totaled $478.1 billion; capital expenditures in the UnitedStates by U.S. parents accounted for $340.8 billion and capitalexpenditures abroad by majority-owned foreign affiliates accountedfor $137.3 billion.

Sales by U.S. parent companies totaled $7,606.1billion, and those by majority-owned foreign affiliates totaled$3,761.9 billion.Majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs employed 5.1 millionworkers in 2005, accounting for 4.5 percent of total U.S. employmentin private industries.

Capital expenditures by these affiliatestotaled $120.9 billion and their sales totaled $2,507.6 billion.Worldwide employment by U.S. MNCs increased 1.8 percent in 2005,following a 2.2-percent increase in 2004. Employment in the UnitedStates by U.S. parent companies increased 1.1 percent, following a0.6-percent increase. Employment abroad by the majority-ownedforeign affiliates of U.S. MNCs increased 3.6 percent, following a6.1-percent increase. Employment in the United States bymajority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs decreased 0.7 percentin 2005, following a 2.0-percent decrease in 2004.

U.S. multinational corporations add more employees overseas, data show

WASHINGTON – U.S. multinational corporations hired workers overseas at a faster pace than in the United States in 2005, for the second year in a row, a Commerce Department report said Thursday.

U.S. multinationals – defined as U.S. companies, excluding banks, that own majority stakes in foreign affiliates – added 310,900 people to their overseas payrolls in 2005, an increase of 3.6 percent to 9.1 million.

Meanwhile, the same companies hired 238,000 workers in the United States, boosting their U.S. employment by 1.1 percent to 21.5 million.

The figures for 2005 continue a long-standing trend. U.S. multinationals increased their domestic employment by 0.6 percent in 2004, the report said, while boosting their overseas hiring by 6.1 percent that year. From 1988 to 2002, hiring by U.S. multinationals abroad rose by an average of 4 percent annually, while hiring by the same companies in the United States increased by 1.6 percent.

Seventy percent of the 30.5 million people employed by U.S. multinationals were in the United States in 2005, the department said, down from 78.8 percent in 1988.
In the area of capital spending, U.S. companies boosted their activity in the United States faster than overseas, the report found.

U.S. multinationals increased their spending on buildings, machinery and other equipment in the United States by 15.3 percent to $340.7 billion in 2005. Foreign investment by U.S. multinationals, meanwhile, increased 14.9 percent, to $137.3 billion, the department said.

The report, by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis, said that shifts in employment and capital spending by U.S. multinationals do not necessarily result from shifts in production overseas. Other causes could include different rates of economic growth between the United States and other countries, the report said, or the creation of new market opportunities abroad that cannot be served by exports.

The report, which is based on preliminary data, found that foreign multinational companies employed 5.1 million people in the United States in 2005, or 4.5 percent of total U.S. employment in private industries. That figure represented a slight drop of 0.7 percent from 2004.

But foreign-owned firms continued to increase their capital spending in the U.S., investing $120.9 billion, up 7.1 percent from 2004.

Positive prospects for the country’s tourism (GREECE)

Positive prospects for the country’s tourism

Tourism demand in Greece will increase by an annual rate of 6.5 percent by 2016, the World Tourism and Travel Council (WTTC) estimates in a report it delivered to the Tourism Development Ministry. Greece enjoys healthy growth in tourism, so it will easily exceed the global average of 4.2 percent and the EU average of 3.5 percent, the WTTC suggests. Employment in Greek tourism will rise by 152,000 jobs until 2016, maintaining its 10.3 percent share of all employment in Greece’s job market. For tourism in Greece to realize all its potential, it requires strong state support and well-planned strategies, says the WTTC.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to Layoff 160 Employees

SCEE examining layoffs to streamline its operations and become more cost effective; President of Sony Italia steps down

Despite the fact that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe just staged a relatively successful PlayStation 3 launch coupled with the development of the lauded PlayStation Home, it may surprise some to learn that the Sony division is laying off a portion of its staff.

"We have informed our staff that we are considering proposals that may result in a number of redundancies across the SCEE Group in Europe," Nick Sharples, SCEE's Director of Corporate Communications, told GameDaily BIZ. "Until those consultations are complete we will not know how many redundancies may be needed. We will not be providing any additional information on this process or making further announcements at the conclusion of the process."

"The reason for the proposals is that, although SCEE has successfully faced a number of challenges throughout its history to become a leader of the videogame industry, our industry is in the middle of a period of transition where some of the fundamentals of our business are changing," he explained. "Chief amongst these is that we are entering a future of increasingly networked and converged entertainment. In order to maintain our leading position in the market we sometimes have to make difficult business decisions. The management of the company has concluded that we need to change our structure, streamline and strengthen our business operations – and that our cost base needs to be significantly reduced."

According to information obtained by GamesIndustry.biz, SCEE will issue all members of staff with a letter informing them by close of business on Wednesday whether or not they are at risk of redundancy. Out of the current 1900 jobs at SCEE, up to 160 could be on the chopping block.
In seemingly related news, Corrado Buonanno, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Italia, has officially left the company after 12 years.

This comes just after news of Sony Corp. shares rising to a two-month high after Nikkei analysts expect profits exceeding original estimates.

Workers at Belgian General Motors plant protest layoff plans with work stoppage

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Workers at the General Motors plant in Antwerp on Wednesday shut down the production line to protest plans to phase out production of the Astra model in Belgium and lay off 1,400 people.

The labor action was expected to last until Wednesday afternoon and was started immediately after Tuesday's announcement in Germany that Belgium would not make General Motors' new Astra compact model after 2010.

The company said there were no plans at the moment to shut the factory, which currently employs 5,100 people. The phase-out would result in the layoff of 1,400 people. The company said it would look at options to produce other models to keep the Antwerp plant going afterward.

The Belgian national and regional governments said in a joint statement they were disappointed about the decision, noting the "numerous efforts made in recent years to make this (Antwerp) site one of the better performing ones in Europe."

ayoff-weary Eaton hopeful demand is stabilizing

Cleveland-based Eaton Corp. hopes the worst is over for its Auburn, Ind., plant, which experienced heavy layoffs as the result of lower sales in the North American heavy-duty truck market.

Eaton has idled 113 employees since Oct. 31 -- including 18 as of March 30 -- but expects to be able to keep its hourly work force at 105.

"We can't predict the future behavior of the market," said Donald E. Alles, manager, global communications. "I can't say the worst is over or we're done laying off. It depends on business conditions."

Eaton is one of several Indiana auto-parts makers that have cut back employment in recent months.

The Auburn facility is part of Eaton's truck components clutch unit and is a maker of clutches and clutch systems for large, semi tractor-trailers.

Other clutch facilities are located in Concord, N.C.; Greenfield, Ind.; and San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
Eaton said Monday it expects a 3 percent to 4 percent sales decline in the industrial markets it serves. However, the company posted a 12.5 percent first-quarter profit gain on strong demand across its businesses and raised its full-year outlook.

It expects North American Class 8 truck production levels to begin to return to normal by year's end.

The Employment Situation from the BLS

To view the tables referred to in the report, go to the website referenced by the link


Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 180,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment increased in construction, retail trade, and health care. The number of manufacturing jobs continued to trend down. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month.


Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
In March, the number of unemployed persons (6.7 million) and the unemployment rate (4.4 percent) were essentially unchanged. The jobless rate has remained within a narrow range—4.4 to 4.6 percent— since September 2006. Over the month, the unemployment rate for most major worker groups—adult men (4.0 percent), adult women (3.8 percent), teenagers (14.5 percent), blacks (8.3 percent), and Hispanics (5.1 percent)—showed little or no change. The jobless rate for whites decreased to 3.8 percent. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.0 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In March, the number of unemployed job losers and persons who had completed temporary jobs declined by 215,000. The number of unemployed persons who had been jobless for less than 5 weeks also fell, by 273,000. (See tables A-8 and A-9.)


Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
Both total employment, at 146.3 million, and the employment-population ratio, at 63.3 percent, were essentially unchanged in March. Over the month, the labor force participation rate held steady at 66.2 percent, about the same as a year earlier. (See table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
About 1.4 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in March—essentially unchanged from a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime during the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 381,000 discouraged workers in March, down slightly from a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The remaining 1.0 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in March had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)
In March, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 180,000 to 137.6 million, after seasonal adjustment. This increase followed gains of 162,000 in January and 113,000 in February (as revised). Over the year, total nonfarm employment rose by about 2.0 million. In March, construction employment rose sharply, following a large decline in the prior month. A sizable job gain also occurred in general merchandise stores in March, and job growth continued in health care and in food services. Manufacturing employment continued to trend down over the month. (See table B-1.) Construction employment increased by 56,000 in March, mostly offsetting a decline of 61,000 in February. Unusually adverse weather likely contributed to February’s decline. Overall, the construction industry has shown no net growth since employment peaked in September 2006. Over this span, job gains in the nonresidential components of construction have been more than offset by losses in the residential components.

Within retail trade, employment in general merchandise stores rose by 36,000 in March and by 81,000 in the first quarter of this year. Despite the recent growth, employment in general merchandise stores was little changed over the year. Elsewhere in retail trade, employment in building material and garden supply stores has declined by 15,000 since reaching its peak in October 2006.

Employment in health care continued to increase in March with a gain of 30,000; over the year, the industry added 348,000 jobs. In March, offices of physicians and hospitals added 9,000 jobs each, while nursing and residential care facilities added 7,000. Food services and drinking places also continued to add jobs in March (+19,000). Over the year, employment in the industry grew by 335,000.

Professional and business services employment was essentially unchanged in March and over the first quarter of 2007. The industry added half a million jobs in 2006. In March, employment continued to expand in computer systems design and in management and technical consulting services, but those job gains were offset by small job losses in accounting and bookkeeping and in employment services.

Manufacturing employment continued to trend down over the month (-16,000), with declines in furniture and related products (-4,000), computer and electronic products (-4,000), textile mills (-2,000), and paper and paper products (-2,000).

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)
The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 33.9 hours in March, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.2 hour to 41.1 hours, and manufacturing overtime increased by 0.1 hour to 4.3 hours. (See table B-2.) The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.6 percent in March to 107.3 (2002=100). The manufacturing index was up by 0.2 percent over the month to 95.2. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)
Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, in March to $17.22, seasonally adjusted. During the first quarter of 2007, average hourly earnings rose by 15 cents; in 2006, hourly earnings growth averaged 18 cents per quarter. Average weekly earnings increased by 0.6 percent over the month to $583.76. Over the year, average hourly and weekly earnings grew by 4.0 and 4.4 percent, respectively. (See table B-3.)

(Australia) West leads jobs boom

AUSTRALIA'S jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 4.5 per cent in March to a 30-year low and plunged to just 2.7 per cent in Western Australia, reflecting the commodities boom.
The unemployment rate dropped from 4.6 per cent in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today.

Total employment rose 10,500 to 10.370 million, seasonally adjusted, while full-time employment rose by 31,700 to 7.4 million and part-time employment fell 21,200 to 2.9 million.
The report follows a long run of data that suggests last year's three interest rates have not dampened activity in the economy, leaving open the risk of renewed inflationary wages and price pressures.

WA leads jobless rateAmong the states, the unemployment rate plunged to 2.7 per cent in Western Australia from 3.1 per cent. The state has led the nation's resources boom and the mining sector there has a particularly tight labour market.

The New South Wales unemployment rate fell to 5.0 per cent in March, compared with 5.2 per cent in February, while in Victoria it rose to 4.9 per cent from 4.8 per cent. The jobless rate fell to 5.3 per cent in Tasmania from 5.6 per cent. In Queensland the jobless rate remained at 4.0 per cent, but rose to 5.3 per cent from 5.2 per cent in South Australia. In the Northern Territory the jobless rate rose to 3.4 per cent from 3.0 per cent, while in the ACT it remained at 3.2 per cent.

Vacancies harder to fillThe managing director of recruitment firm Michael Page International Phillip Guest said jobs in the accounting, finance, non-building engineering, metal trades and nursing sectors were becoming harder to fill. A strong economy was also pushing jobs growth. “Generally speaking, that is backed up by the commodity boom that's going on and strong global economic conditions. “That's driving the strength of our economy, consumer and business confidence are up.''

More pressure on interest rates RBC Capital Markets senior economist Su-Lin Ong said the slightly lower unemployment rate would put pressure on interest rates. “Today's labour market data continue to highlight the very stretched nature of the economy with constraints evident in both goods and labour markets," she said. The data would make the Reserve Bank of Australia more likely to keep its tightening bias and raise interest rates. “It keeps alive the prospect of further tightening in the coming months. If there is a single indicator that flags such a move it is the downward trend in the unemployment rate,'' she said.

UBS senior economist Adam Carr said leading indicators of employment pointed to continued jobs growth in the short-term. Mr Carr said inflation data due on April 24 would need to be particularly soft or for there be a solid deterioration in the US economy to prevent an interest rate hike next month. "In the absence of either of those events, we think it likely the bank will tighten again in May,'' he said.

Job Growth Surged and Wages Rose in March Data

JEREMY W. PETERS
Published April 7, 2007

It just keeps going.

The job market showed little sign of losing its vigor last month as wages climbed and job growth rose, the Labor Department reported yesterday.

Economists said the numbers were consistent with an economy that was being supported by strong consumer spending, with considerable hiring in businesses like restaurants, bars, department stores and educational services.

In all, the Labor Department said that employment outside the farming sector grew by 180,000 in March. And in another sign of the job market’s resilience, employment growth in January and February was stronger than the government first reported.

The national unemployment rate also edged down last month to 4.4 percent, from 4.5 percent, matching a five-year low that it reached briefly in October.

With the economy showing signs of imbalance elsewhere — in the housing market, in business investment and in worker productivity — the job market has been the area that continues to show momentum despite a broader slowdown.

“Sometimes the pieces of the puzzle don’t fit together the way you’d expect them to,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute. “And it’s the tireless American consumer who’s keeping the job market moving forward.”

The employment report offered a reason for consumers’ continued free spending: their incomes keep going up. The average hourly earnings for workers rose 4 percent in March compared with those a year earlier, to $17.22 an hour.

The jobs report appeared to confirm the Federal Reserve’s outlook for moderate economic growth, dimming hopes that interest rates will come down anytime soon. With wages increasing at a strong pace and the unemployment rate so low, the Fed is likely to continue to focus on rising inflation as the biggest threat to the economy. The yield on the United States Treasury’s 10-year note reflected this, rising to the highest level in eight weeks in a session that was shortened because of Good Friday.

While consumers are spending more, much of that money is borrowed. The Federal Reserve reported yesterday that consumer debt rose in February by $2.97 billion to a record $2.41 trillion. Americans are putting more of that debt on credit cards. The Fed’s measure of revolving debt, which includes credit cards, rose $2.494 billion, after rising $1.229 billion in January.
As the case has been for the last several months, the employment report was not only solid, but it showed that employers were even busier hiring in previous months than the government first estimated. The latest figures showed 32,000 jobs that were not included in the employment tallies for January and February.

“The fact of the matter is the job market is very, very healthy,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief economist of MFR. “And it’s not like this is a fluky one-off thing. There’s a whole host of evidence about the labor market that points to strength.”
Only a few pockets of the job market last month showed any softness. Manufacturing continued to shed workers, eliminating some 16,000 jobs. That was the largest of any sector, and the losses came primarily from the assembly line. Real estate renting and leasing services cut 5,200 jobs; telecommunications businesses cut 6,200.

But construction, which has been hit by a slowdown in residential real estate, added 56,000 jobs after cutting 67,000 the month before. Of those new jobs, 45,200 were in the specialty trade contractor business. And most of those — 34,200 jobs — were in nonresidential contracting.
Most of the hiring last month was in businesses that typically get a lift when consumers spend freely. Retail businesses added 35,900 jobs, almost all of those in department stores, discount warehouses and other general merchandise outlets. Gains in those businesses helped offset job losses in building supplies stores, furniture stores and automobile dealerships. Restaurants and bars hired 19,000 new workers.

Doctors’ offices, hospitals and other health care service providers added 29,500 jobs. New jobs in educational services totaled 15,800.
Economists said this level of job growth suggested that any spillover from the housing downturn had been limited so far.

“If businesses were really losing confidence in the outlook, and if we were heading for a major downturn, then they’d be pulling back across the board,” said Nigel Gault, chief United States economist for Global Insight.

Other measures of the job market showed signs of strengthening as well. The employment-population ratio, the percentage of Americans who are working, rose to 63.3 percent, from 63.2 percent in February.

But some economists pointed to possible anomalies in the data and suggested that the jobs numbers might not be as strong as they look. One factor that raised some eyebrows was that the strength in the retail sector was almost exclusively in general merchandise stores.
“That kind of sticks out like a sore thumb,” said Richard F. Moody, chief economist of Mission Residential, a real estate investment firm. “It’s hard to explain a jump that large in one month. And in terms of sustainable job growth, it doesn’t really fit the bill.”

Others pointed to possible distortions in the data for construction. “Employment in residential construction is down by only 3 percent over the last year, even though construction is down by almost 20 percent,” Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, said in a report. “Either productivity in the sector is crashing or, more likely, the data are not reflecting real employment trends.”

In general, however, economists took the Labor Department report as a sign that growth will remain steady, prompting the Fed to hold interest rates at 5.25 percent for the foreseeable future. After yesterday’s report, Goldman Sachs pushed back, to September, its estimate for when the Fed will lower rates. “It appears that it will take a bit longer to see the extent of weakening that would convince the Fed to ease,” a group of economists from the investment bank said in a research note.

US March layoff intentions down to 48,997 from 84,014 in Feb - Challenger Report

Wed, Apr 4 2007, 13:19 GMT
http://www.afxnews.com

LONDON (AFX) - Layoff intentions in the US fell in March compared with the previous month, according to a key survey published today.

The Challenger Job-Cut Report, a monthly report on the number of announced corporate job cuts, said total layoff intentions fell to 48,997 in March from 84,014 in February.

carlo.piovano@thomson.com

April, 2007

While suffering with sciatica for most of the past 3 weeks, I have been out of my office but still speaking with clients, reading emails and news, responding to requests and such.

It has slowed me down (I couldn't walk much for more than a week), yet throughout, I couldn't help but notice the very clear message of labor shortages for skilled workers.

Teachers, accountants, computer professionals and many more are finding that firms are clamoring to hire people with their experience. March unemployment added 180000 new jobs (I view unemployment numbers as trend lines , rather than concrete data; even so, we are now trending strongly).

I have been pretty active in some online discussions on www.ere.net between corporate and third party recruiters and am finding hr professionals discussing the possibility of using sign on bonuses to attract talent in several surprising industries (building services and construction).

I spoke a with a search professional from a major consulting firm who told me of the struggle to find Partner and Director level professionals for one of their practices; another , with a different firm shares more and more orders as their firm explodes with new business; a third just keeps sending out 50 new positions a day at a minimum.

That's 50 completely different positions per day, not 50 repeat positions.

H-1b applications for 2007 were filled within a day of being made available--65000 people will be absorbed into the US economy and we are still pleading for more.

Labor shortages and, in particular, skilled labor shortages offer the biggest threat (after terrorism, of course) to the US economy. In the future, shortages will force mergers and cause far more more havoc than the sub-prime scares that we are currently experiencing in the stock market.

Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com. Job Search Universe is also available at www.jobsearchuniverse.com To add your firm’s career page to “The Universe” email the url to jobsearchuniverse@gmail.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at thebiggamehunter@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

If you have a question that you would like me to answer pertaining to job hunting or hiring, email it to him at:
thebiggamehunter@gmail.com

Jobless Rate Falls; 180,000 Jobs Added

WASHINGTON (AP) -- If you were looking for a job as a teacher last month, you were in luck. Same goes for health workers, retail clerks and building contractors. All told, the economy added 180,000 new jobs, dropping unemployment to a 4.4 percent rate that matched a five-year low.

The mostly positive snapshot of the nation's employment climate, released by the Labor Department on Friday, showed that companies ramped up hiring and paid workers more. That's good news for employees and jobseekers, and bodes well for the national economy, too, which is suffering a sluggish spell and a painful housing slump.

"For most people, the job market is still hitting on a lot of cylinders, especially for people who are willing to upgrade their skills. It is not leaving a large number of people stranded," said John Challenger, chief of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an employment research firm. "But there are pockets where people are having a difficult time," he said.

Those include people looking for work at factories, where jobs in March were cut for the ninth straight month. Makers of autos, furniture, clothing and textiles all eliminated jobs last month. Another soft spot: residential construction, a casualty of the housing slump.

But there were many more job winners than losers. Construction jobs led the way, especially for contractors and for commercial building. Retailers, health care providers, educational services and leisure and hospitality companies were among those boosting their payrolls.

"Businesses have a very good appetite for hiring workers. The job market is sturdy," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "It is a good time to be looking for a job, particularly if you have skills and education."

Against that backdrop, unemployment fell from 4.5 percent in February to 4.4 percent in March. That matched the rate in October - the lowest in five years.

Here, too, there were winners and losers.

The unemployment rate for Hispanics dropped to 5.1 percent, a three-month low, while the rate for blacks climbed to 8.3 percent, a three-month high. The rate for women held steady at 3.8 percent. The rate for men declined to 4 percent.

The economy ended up adding 32,000 more jobs in January and February combined than the government estimated a month ago. Economists found that encouraging in assessing the health of the job market and the overall economy.

Workers' paychecks grew last month.

Average hourly earnings climbed to $17.22, up from $16.55 a year earlier. That represented a solid 4 percent increase.

Wage growth is good for workers and supports consumer spending, which is indispensable to the economy's good health. But a rapid pickup - if prolonged and not blunted by other economic forces - can raise fears about inflation.

Spiraling inflation would whittle away any wage gains, hurting workers' wallets. The Federal Reserve's biggest concern is that inflation could flare up.

Even so, many economists predict the Fed will keep interest rates where they are for much of this year.

In a separate report, the Fed said consumers borrowed less freely in February; they boosted their use of credit at a 1.5 percent pace, the slowest in four months. The moderation reflected less demand for auto, educational and other loans.

The new employment figures come as President Bush continues to cope with a lackluster job-approval rating of 35 percent from the American public, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll. On the economy, just 38 percent approve of the president's stewardship while 60 percent disapprove, the poll shows.

Tapping into that discontent, Democrats are championing policies to close the gap between low- and high-income workers and make it easier for workers to form unions against company wishes. They're also taking a harder stance regarding the administration's free-trade deals.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, in an interview with The Associated Press, said the latest employment figures are a testament to the administration's economic policies and to the drive of the U.S. work force.

"These numbers show we are competing successfully in a very competitive global economy," he said. Addressing the weakness in factory employment, Gutierrez said: "Any job lost is painful. ... We need to stay focused on job training and preparing ourselves" for an even more competitive climate in the future.

In March, there were some challenges for jobseekers, too. For one thing, the job hunt got longer.

The average time that the 6.7 million unemployed people spent searching for jobs was 17.3 weeks in March, compared with 16.4 weeks in February.

"Opportunities are expanding, but it doesn't mean everybody's job search is easy," said Challenger. "But people who really want to look hard and stay at it are finding work."

Fannie Mae to Layoff Hundreds

By AP/MARCY GORDON

(WASHINGTON) — Mortgage giant Fannie Mae, remaking itself as it recovers from a multibillion-dollar accounting scandal, is cutting its 6,500-person work force by several hundred employees by year's end.

The planned job cuts, the company said Tuesday, are among cost-cutting measures that Fannie Mae has undertaken to reduce its operating expenses by $200 million this year compared with 2006. The company confirmed the cuts following reports by the Washington Examiner and The Washington Post newspapers.

"Our objective is to bring costs in line following a period of significant increases in overall administrative expenses," spokesman Brian Faith said in a statement. He said the work force will be reduced by "several hundred" full-time employees by the end of the year. Details are still being discussed, Faith said.

Fannie Mae, which is the second-largest U.S. financial institution after Citigroup Inc., spent about $1 billion last year on the massive review of its accounting and preparing financial statements. The government-sponsored company finances one of every five home loans in the United States and is one of the largest private employers in the Washington area.
In December, the company announced a long-awaited restatement for 2001 through mid-2004 that erased $6.3 billion in previously reported profit. Fannie Mae has said that it expects to file its financial statements for 2005 by August and its 2006 report by year's end.

The accounting scandal that erupted in September 2004 brought the ouster of top company executives and a record $400 million civil fine in a settlement last year of federal regulators' allegations of a pervasive six-year accounting fraud. Fannie Mae also agreed to limit the growth of its multibillion-dollar mortgage holdings and make top-to-bottom changes in its corporate culture, accounting procedures and ways of managing risk.

Fannie Mae and its smaller government-sponsored sibling, Freddie Mac, were created by Congress to pump money into the $8 trillion home-mortgage market. The idea was to keep interest rates low and make home ownership affordable for low- and moderate-income people. Freddie Mac has been recovering from its own accounting scandal, which surfaced in mid-2003.

Lillian Vernon, Pier1 to Have Layoffs

High inventory prompts layoff of 240 at Bristol Compressors

BRISTOL, Va. -- Bristol Compressors will lay off about 240 workers and close for two weeks beginning Sunday because of unusually higher inventories.

The layoffs next month may be temporary, Darryll Fortune, spokesman for parent firm Johnson Controls, said Wednesday. Most of those affected will be production employees. "It has to do with demand for one product, which was overestimated what the manufacturer needed," he said.

Bristol Compressors, which manufactures reciprocating compressors used in air conditioning units and heat pumps, currently employs about 1,300 people. This will be the second round of cutbacks in about a year for Bristol's largest employer, which was acquired by Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls in December 2005.

The work force was reduced by about 290 last year. Johnson Controls has the plant up for sale. A share of the company's stock was trading at $99.10 Thursday morning on the New York Stock Exchange, after closing at $99.57 on Wednesday.

Pork plant employee layoff in Sioux City

Unfavorable market conditions have led John Morrell & Co to temporarily discontinue its second shift pig processing operations at its Sioux City, Iowa, plant, as from this week.

The discontinuation in the plant, a Smithfield Foods subsidiary, will result in the temporary layoff of about 485 workers who work the second shift at the plant.

Necessary "This is a difficult but necessary decision to discontinue the second shift," said Joseph B. Sebring, president of John Morrell. "We hope to resume second shift operations when market conditions become more favourable."

As a result of the shutdown of the plant’s second shift, the Sioux City plant will process about 7,000 pigs per day. About 900 employees will remain at work.

"We know that this is challenging for the employees affected. We will be working diligently to return them back to work as soon as possible," Sebring said.

He said that the company would notify state dislocated worker units so that they can promptly offer dislocated worker assistance and coordinate with the local unemployment office to assist employees with claims or job applications.

Triad unemployment rate drops slightly in February

The unemployment rate for the 12-county Piedmont Triad region was 5.1 percent in February, down slightly from 5.2 percent in January, according to data released Friday by the state's Employment Security Commission.

Rates fell in half of the 12 counties, while rising in four Triad counties and being unchanged in two. North Carolina had an overall unemployment rate of 4.5 percent in February, down from 4.6 percent in January and the lowest rate since January 2001. The state data was also released on Friday.

In the 12-county Triad, about 41,600 people were registered as unemployed during February of a total labor force of more than 820,000.

Among the Triad's three metropolitan areas, the Burlington metro had a higher rate than the Triad, at 5.3 percent. The Greensboro-High Point metro had an unmeplyment rate of 5.1 percent, while the Winston-Salem metro was at 4.4 percent. The Triangle region continues to boast the lowest unemployment rates in the state, with the Raleigh-Cary metro area having a 3.7 percent unemployment rate and Durham posting 3.9 percent unemployment in February.

Here's a county-by-county breakdown of unemployment rates for the 12-county Triad for February, compared to January:

Alamance: 5.3 percent, down from 5.6 percent;
Caswell: 7.4 percent, unchanged from January;
Davidson: 5.9 percent, down from 6.3 percent;
Davie: 4.5 percent, up from 4.2 percent;
Forsyth: 4.3 percent, down from 4.5 percent;
Guilford: 5.0 percent, up from 4.9 percent;
Montgomery: 6.6 percent, unchanged;
Randolph: 4.6 percent, down from 5.0 percent;
Rockingham: 6.8 percent, up from 6.7 percent;
Stokes: 4.9 percent, down from 5.1 percent;
Surry: 5.5 percent, down from 5.7 percent; and,
Yadkin: 4.6 percent, up from 4.5 percent.