The weekend WSJ reports on a positive economic development that might surprise some people: The increasing number of job offers:
“As the economy gradually recovers, some big U.S. companies are cranking up their recruiting and advertising thousands of job openings, ranging from retail clerks and nurses to bank tellers and experts in cloud computing.
Many of the new jobs are in retailing, accounting, consulting, health care, telecommunications and defense-related industries, according to data collected for The Wall Street Journal by Indeed Inc., which runs one the largest employment websites. It said the number of U.S. job postings on the Internet rose to 4.7 million on Dec. 1, up from 2.7 million a year earlier. The company daily collects listings from corporate and job-posting websites, removing duplicates. Its figures may undercount available jobs because some companies don’t post all listings online, an Indeed spokesman said.”
To be sure, the employment losses in the 2008-09 recession were much worse than previous contractions. The WSJ adds that “official payroll data so far haven’t shown signs of a big rebound in hiring.”
Online job posts tend to be light on Farming, manufacturing and construction jobs, and heavy on computer and mathematical jobs. The key for many of the available jobs is technical expertise; they are tghe jobs that are the most plentiful and have the fewest number of applicants per opening.
Other positives for the job market include:
• Government data shows a rising trend in openings. October 2010 had 3.2 million private-sector job openings versus 2.3 million from October 2009 (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
• Companies have become highly profitable and have built strong cash positions;
• Consumer confidence appears to be reviving; 2010 was the best holiday for retailers in 4 years;
• The economy should continue recovery gradually — and that will encourage more companies to hire
Companies that are currently hiring include Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, AT&T, WellPoint, Science Applications International, Catholic Health Initiatives, Wells Fargo, and Lockheed Martin.
>
Source:
Job Offers Rising as Economy Warms Up
JAMES R. HAGERTY And JOE LIGHT
WSJ, DECEMBER 24, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703548604576037612752480904.html
What's been said:
Discussions found on the web: