Posts Tagged ‘BLS’

Seven Signs Of Spring; Growth In Hiring, Possibilities

Posted by • March 4th, 2011 • 3 Comments

Like purple crocuses amid patches of snow and first faint buds on trees, early signs of growth in the job market and sprouting across the U.S. economy.

The tulips popped up with today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report of 192,000 jobs created in February. Spring in the air as the jobless rate declined to 8.9 percent, down a half percentage point in the first two months of the year.

Yet the economy also has bloomed in other fields the last two weeks from Society of Human Resource Executives and the Federal Reserve and more.

Here then are our seven signs of spring in various employment reports:

Read more »

Tags:
, , , ,

Jobs News Round Up

Posted by • October 12th, 2010 • 21 Comments

With so much news out there about the state of employment, we thought it would be a good time to review highlights of the latest reports, which have implications for anyone in the job market or thinking about jumping in.

Jobs Reports Highlights:

- Unemployment holds steady yet millions of job opportunities are out there.
- Government layoffs were high in September, while hiring in the private sector was weak.
- Housing market woes tie down job seekers and depress unemployment rates.
- Employees are more pessimistic about job security, pay raises, company outlook and job market.

Read more »

Tags:
, , ,

Is No News Good News With Unemployment Rate?

Posted by • January 8th, 2010 • 4 Comments
Unemployment Line

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported its latest update on the state of unemployment and as we eagerly waited to hear how the job market was impacted in December, it was released that the unemployment rate held steady at 10%. While we are not trying to ignore the fact that this number is still significant, especially given that 85,000 jobs were shed in December, we are pleased to see that it has not increased. So does this unemployment rate mean that we are working our way out of the recession and that jobs will start to open up?

Here are some highlights from today’s NPR coverage that captures the good and the bad of what the BLS unemployment rate signifies:

The Good:

Analysts are expecting the unemployment rate will gradually start to decline in the coming months.
There was a big jump in temporary hiring, with 46,500 extra jobs, bringing the total increase in temporary employment to 166,000 since July.
November figures were revised to show that the economy actually added 4,000 jobs in that month, as opposed to the loss of 16,000 that was initially reported.

Read more »

Tags:
, ,

Unemployment Rate Continues to Rise

Posted by • October 2nd, 2009 • 3 Comments

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued its monthly report this morning on the state of unemployment – and the findings are not positive.  U.S. unemployment rose to 9.8 percent in September, up 0.1 percentage points from August. This means that a total of 15.1 million persons were unemployed in September, twice the number at the start of the recession.

Some of the results captured by Business Journal from the BLS report include:

In September, notable job losses occurred in construction, manufacturing, government, and retail trade. Construction employment decreased by 64,000 in September.
Job losses averaged 66,000 per month from May through September, compared with an average of 117,000 per month from November 2008 through April.
The average monthly job gain thus far in 2009 is 22,000, compared with an average monthly gain of 30,000 during 2008.

If you are unemployed and looking for work or a fresh perspective on your career, follow Glassdoor’s Clearview Collection, a panel of career and workplace experts who offer daily advice and tips (Monday – Friday) to help you get the most out of your interview and job. Below are a few recent contributions from the Clearview team:

Read more »

Tags:
,

BLS Gives Update on State of Employment: Unemployment Rises Again

Posted by • May 8th, 2009 • 3 Comments

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the worst of job cuts may be over due to a productive first quarter and a lower number of people filing for unemployment. But US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) latest monthly report shows that we are not out of the woods yet. 

According to today’s BLS report, unemployment rate rose from 8.5 percent in March to 8.9 percent in April, a 25-year high. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.7 million jobs have been lost. In April, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major private-sector industries. 

Here are some additional highlights of this month’s report: 

As the Huffington Post comments, the median number of weeks people are unemployed is high, currently standing at 11.2 weeks.
The number of unemployed persons increased by 563,000 to 13.7 million in April, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.9 percent. (Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 6.0 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 3.9 percentage points.)
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 498,000 to 3.7 million over the month and has risen by 2.4 million since the start of ...

Read more »

Tags: