April 2013 jobs numbers have been released Friday, May 3rd. Updates throughout the day listed HERE.
April 2013 jobs numbers have been released Friday, May 3rd. Updates throughout the day listed HERE.
The Lowest Number of Layoffs and Discharges Since the JOLTS Report Has Been Produced (starting in 2000):
1,507,000 people were laid off or discharged from their jobs in January 2013. This is the lowest number of monthly "layoffs and discharges" since the report has been produced. This makes sense, as the number of first time unemployment claims also declined in January. We still don't know how much the sequester will impact the jobs numbers going forward.
Here's the graph from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website:
Hires, Job Openings Good for January
The number of hires in January was 4,247,000. While not a record, this represents the biggest number of hires in January for the past five years.
Job Openings were 3,693,000 in January. Again, not a record, but the highest number of job openings in January for the past five years.
People Quitting Their Jobs Is a Good Thing.
2,218,000 people quit their jobs in January. This was the highest number of quits since November 2008. This is always a good sign, as people don't quit their jobs unless they have another job to go to or they anticipate that they can get another job fairly easily.
Here's the Quits graph from the BLS website:
Here's the Quits graph from the BLS website:
All in all, this was a good JOLTS report, but it shows us nothing unexpected. JOLTS data is always a month behind the regular BLS numbers.
As a worker in a restaurant, I can tell you sales are up.. people are going out and spending money...as a result, we have been adding personell to our staff...Am I better off than I was 4, or 8 years ago? YES...I am
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, anonymous. I also see signs of increased prosperity all around. Just about everybody I know who has been looking for a job over the past few years now has a job.. with the exception of people who are older. People 55 or 60 plus are still struggling to find work.
Deleteif you are 55 and a technology based worker like I am, it seems to be getting worse.
ReplyDeleteThe problem does seem to be age, as the ratio of the long-term unemployed (27+ weeks) is much higher for those 45+.
DeleteMy 25 year old son, meanwhile, will finish with a Computer Science degree next December and he is looking for an internship. He has already had five requests for interviews, three actual interviews, and he had two paid internship offers today and accepted one. This all happened within a week.
I'm very happy for him, of course, but I'm sure I would have gotten straight A's (vs. A's and B's) were it me taking those computer science courses. It's so tempting to spend money and take a few CS courses... but I'm 61 and I have been out of IT since my son was born. I don't want to waste time or money.