The recovery seems to be long-lasting and strengthening, leading to hopes that American firms are hiring again, but hold the cheers. America remains over 7m jobs short of the previous employment peak, and figures published on January 7th showed that the economy added just 103,000 jobs in December—scarcely enough to keep up with population growth. The unemployment rate fell in that month by nearly half a point, to 9.4%, but that was mainly because so many jobless workers gave up and stopped looking.
Even though some labor markets are experiencing a strong rebound, this may be mainly due to geographic variations. More than ten percentage points separate the nation’s highest unemployment rate, in Nevada, from its lowest, in North Dakota. Growth has been seen, but it's highly concentrated. Of the million or so jobs added in 2010, two-thirds were created in just 11 states, and one—Texas—accounted for 20% of the country’s net job gains. And even within the fastest-growing states, hiring has been tightly packed in just a few cities, leaving most residents feeling glum. Firms in Professional and business services are expanding through contracts with outsourcing firms rather than permanent recruitment. This reflects the uncertain nature of recovery, but it also indicates a move towards leaner business models.
For now, too much of America does not feel that the recovery is real.
2 comments:
The recovery from the recession has been described in many different ways by the american people. The most complicated aspect of the American economy at the moment is unemployment which is discussed in this article. I can't help but ask myself if the thing that will drive unemployment closer to its natural rate will be the retirement of the baby boomers. Between this year and the following ten retirements should be happening a lot more than at other times because of the large number of people turning 65 years old. With large numbers of people exiting the labor force the unemployment rate could naturally decrease.
This is unfortunate for Americans, especially the non-skilled workers (no education greater than high school), looking for jobs. However, many of these areas they are in are experiencing no recovery at all. This can put an effect on consumer confidence in a negative way, becoming more reluctant when it comes to spending the money.
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