Bright Spot in Downturn: New Hiring Is Robust

[babylonsister]

Bright Spot in Downturn: New Hiring Is Robust

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: May 5, 2009


Everyone knows the grim news — unemployment in the United States has jumped to 8.5 percent, a 25-year high, and is racing toward double digits. Since November, the nation has lost more than three million jobs.

But not everyone knows the brighter side to the equation: deep in the maw of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, millions are still being hired.

So, while 4.8 million workers were laid off or chose to leave their jobs in February, employers across the country hired 4.3 million workers that month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“The best thing you can say about these numbers is it speaks to the dynamism of the U.S. economy, and the net negative number that we all traffic in masks that,” said Robert J. Barbera, chief economist at ITG, a research and trading firm. “Ninety out of 100 people who know the number — 650,000 were lost in February — think that means no one was hired and 650,000 were fired.”

In February — before the economy started to show the first faint signs of a possible recovery — there were three million job openings nationwide. And despite large new job losses likely to be announced Friday, there are still millions of job openings.

Who is hiring? Hospitals, colleges, discount stores, restaurants and municipal public works departments. I.B.M. is hiring more than 700 people for its new technical services center in Dubuque, Iowa, while the Cleveland Clinic has 500 job openings, not just for nurses but also for pharmacy aides and physical therapists. And after President Obama’s stimulus package kicks into gear, state, local governments and road-building contractors are expected to hire more.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/business/economy/06hire.html?_r=1

[FreakinDJ]

1. Great News - but what about benefits

Yep we have all seen this one before.

Corp america sheds all the workers that are being paid a "Living Wage" in favor of younger, cheaper, college kids willing to go to work for substandard wages minus any sort of benefits or pension plans.

People need to understand Unions are not Socialism as Corporate America would like you to believe. They are a normal human reaction to companies and corporations that wield their power unfairly

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Remember when Amy Poehler and Hillary Clinton opened SNL?

Where Amy did an over-the-top version of Hillary's laugh?

Well, that laugh is the response to "what about benefits".

Only it's TPTB who are laughing. We're more like one of Bobby Moynihan's child characters -- crying. Loud.

--d!

[quiller4]

18. If the stats nationally are anything like stats in my state

then a large portion of jobs lost came from the retail sector or involved contingent workers whereas new hiring has come in construction (highway more than building) agriculture and industry. Thus in my area the jobs gained were more likely to have benefits attached than the jobs lost.

This isn't a rosy picture but it is a significant improvement over January and February.

[hootinholler]

2. So that we bled 650K jobs is good news?

I guess if the economy was really hurting we would have bled a couple of million.

-Hoot

[babylonsister]

5. No, jobs are opening up and people are getting hired.

Did you even read this?

I realize the news has been awful for months. Just trying to let a little sun shine through.

[bigtree]

7. this isn't sunshine.

It's smoke.

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. !

:applause:

[Mari333]

20. yep nt

[renate]

11. I appreciate it

It's great to see an article like this. I would never ever have guessed that construction companies would be hiring at all, or manufacturers either--I mean, I thought it was a no-brainer that these industries were hemorrhaging jobs. Jobs are harder to get, there's no denying that, but I'd thought that there were none out there whatsoever.

This isn't a unicorns-and-rainbows article, it's a good explanation of what's really going on behind those dismal unemployment-benefit numbers, and it makes me feel hopeful. There were several months there of absolutely NO hopeful articles about the economy whatsoever, so it seems to me to be a very good sign that things are starting to look up instead of straight down.

Thank you very much for posting this!

[cabluedem]

4. I feel better already, not. nt

[bigtree]

6. I don't get this article

This is just like when the Bush administration used to point to economic growth - folks crawling out of the ditch they dug, as progress.

[babylonsister]

8. You don't want to get it, bigtree.

Doom and gloom, always. Sorry, I'm wired differently.

Edit to add: OK, not always, but enough. Sorry 'bout that.

[bigtree]

10. bullshit

I'm living the economic collapse here in my home, so don't expect me to put on your rose-colored glasses and cheer because some folks are trickling back to work. I'm still smarting from the theft from our treasury, waiting for the money they showered on their banker buddies to trickle down on me. Fucking thieves and liars spitting on us and we call it rain.

[Raineyb]

12. And where are these jobs? Discount stores and restaurants?

So people are going to be applying for service jobs paying minimum wage or less to replace jobs that used to pay a living wage? I don't consider that good news either. Are these thieving bankers taking a cut that dramatic?

Regards

[paulk]

14. from the article -

Zachary Schaefer has hired 72 people since February for the Culver’s hamburger and frozen custard restaurant that he and several partners just opened in Surprise, Ariz.

“The amount of applicants who are qualified is definitely up,” he said. “Whereas before we were counting on a lot of high school applicants, now there are a lot more middle-age people applying.”

Eddie Hamm, a former construction worker, was unemployed for five months when he drove by the site where the Culver’s was under construction. Mr. Hamm, 29, applied for a job there, and now he’s a “fry guy.”

“I’m just happy I got hired — I didn’t want to stay home, not doing anything,” he said, hardly complaining that he is earning half the $15 an hour he made in construction. “I don’t look at it like I’m making $7.50. I look at it — I’m having a job in a down time, and it’s a job where I can move up.”

-------------


I don't see how this can be characterized as "good" news.

[babylonsister]

15. ...

Who is hiring? Hospitals, colleges, discount stores, restaurants and municipal public works departments. I.B.M. is hiring more than 700 people for its new technical services center in Dubuque, Iowa, while the Cleveland Clinic has 500 job openings, not just for nurses but also for pharmacy aides and physical therapists. And after President Obama’s stimulus package kicks into gear, state, local governments and road-building contractors are expected to hire more.

[FreakinDJ]

9. True - No real recovery until we open up Fair Trade Negotiations

The only Free Trade that exist is those exporting INTO America.

China, India and most other Asian Nations still impose 20 - 40% tariffs on American products entering their shores. Even Mexico the main beneficiary of NAFTA has recently increased its tariffs to 28%.

Until America "Revitalizes" its Manufacturing Base and addresses the massive trade deficit it is all "Whistling in the Dark"

[TahitiNut]

16. The economy needs over 100,000 NET new jobs each month just to keep up with population growth.

The AVERAGE monthly employment growth over the past 50 years calls for about 250,000 net new jobs just to meet the average. Cheney/Bush only met or exceed that growth in about 3 of the 96 months they were in office. In over 90 of those months, we bled jobs.

Then there's the quality of the job ... :eyes:

The LAST thing to recover in this recession/depression will be employment. We have a LONG way to go before recovery and an even LONGER way to go before the decimation of the labor force over the last eight years is overcome.

[undeterred]

17. I would guess that they are hiring in at much lower salaries

than people would have been able to get a year ago. I have the lowest paying job I've ever had in my field- and its just a contract job with no benefits. If they hire me it will still be a low paying job, but with benefits. There are a few jobs out there in my field, but the pay is much lower than it was a year ago and the competition is fierce.

[bertman]

19. WOW!! I'm glad there's all this hiring going on. Cause our company just cut benefits

so we can reduce overhead so we can keep our employees working without losing our asses. But, hey, I'm thrilled just to be able to keep folks working since my suppliers are telling me that WE are the LUCKY ones because we are working; whereas, most of the builders they know are laying off or doing nothing.

Maybe this hiring surge will show up sometime before fall.