The unemployment rate fell last month in 39 states, evidence that companies are feeling more confident about the U.S. economy. Nationally, businesses have added more than 250,000 jobs per month, on average, in the past three months -- their fastest hiring spree in five years.
Friday's employment report has created an even hazier backdrop for stocks. Recent data showed an economy starting to cool, but with 244,000 jobs created in April, this expansion may have legs after all. But the economy's areas of support aren't what you'd have expected a few months ago.
Bad economic news across the board is weighing on Americans' mood this month. The consumer sentiment index fell to a 5-month low in March, thanks to increases in the U.S. trade deficit, higher jobless claims, and a more than 40-cent jump in the price of a gallon of gas.
The nation's employers are slowly becoming more positive about the economy, with a greater number of businesses planning to add jobs in the second quarter and fewer planning layoffs, according to a new survey released Tuesday by Manpower. Among the more than 18,000 employers polled in its latest survey, Milwaukee-based Manpower found 16% of companies expect to increase staff levels during the three-month period that begins April 1, up from 14% during the first quarter. Meanwhile, just 6% of employers expect to lay off workers, a decline from 10% during the first three months of the year.
Inflation has inched higher in the past six months, but that's not a danger sign, but rather a harbinger of improving economic conditions and a strengthening recovery. And that, in turn, should lead to higher wages and more hiring in the year ahead.
In January, job creation was anemic, yet unemployment plummeted. What gives? The answer lies in the quirky way the government decides who gets counted as part of the work force, who gets counted as officially unemployed and who gets left out of the picture.
Private employers added 187,000 jobs in January, ADP announced Wednesday, 47,000 more then economists had predicted. That marks the fourth straight month of significant job gains -- a trend that suggests the U.S. labor market is recovering.
The all-important January employment reports come out this week. Also worth watching for are a host of earnings releases, led by economic bellwhether UPS. The package deliverer is expected to post strong results.
Consumers reopened their wallets and manufacturers slashed inventories, indicating they're getting ready to ramp up production of more goods this year. Also contributing to growth were rising exports and falling imports. But just how good will 2011 prove to be?
With the economic recovery gaining steam, President Obama's State of the Union address -- and the GOP response -- should be seen as a shift to a less activist approach. Feel-good rhetoric may be wiser than heavy-handed policies that could easily backfire.
Tech layoffs came to just under 47,000 last year, according to employment-services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Better still, during the next 10 years, the sector is forecast to have one of the fastest paces of job creation of any industry.
There's no way to sugarcoat it: The U.S. job deficit is huge, and it will take years to fix. But investors shouldn't become too pessimistic. America's economy has the capacity to adapt and renew itself faster than many folks expect.
ADP's latest report showed a total that was nearly triple what economists were expecting. It's only one month's data, and it's too soon to call it a hiring boom. However, the report offers more hope and some evidence that the nation's long job drought is ending.
Many Wall Street pundits are surprisingly bullish about the U.S. economy for 2011, but high unemployment continues to ravage Main Street. Still, with corporate profits booming and the stock market rallying, some indicators say jobs may finally be poised for a comeback, too.
Initial jobless claims dropped by 34,000 to 407,000, much lower than expected. The numbers suggest that the labor market is slowly improving, and nearing the point of reversing the negative trend driven by the deep recession.
Just call this week%u2019s labor report a wash: Initial jobless claims unexpectedly jumped 13,000 to 462,000, but continuing claims plunged another 112,000, and the trend in state-level claims continues to provide evidence that the period of layoffs is subsiding.
CNBC's Larry Kudlow blogged Tuesday that the a GOP win in November's elections would create an explosion of U.S. job creation. One of his guests that day on The Kudlow Report was DailyFinance's Peter Cohan, who breaks down precisely why that rhetoric doesn't match reality.
Yes, many U.S. companies -- particularly small ones -- are hiring now. And they plan to keep hiring. What can other companies learn from the outfits that have figured out how to grow in this economy? Plenty. Here are their stories.
Two consecutive months of sales gains among the nation's retailers may provide just enough confidence to trigger increased seasonal hiring this year. Even so, pre-recession hiring levels aren't likely.
Although the market naysayers will talk down early September's upside rush as just another bear market rally, investors shouldn't doubt the sustainability of what now appears to be the next upswing of a bull market.
The Institute for Supply Management's July reading showed the vital U.S. services sector expanding faster in July, reducing the risk of a double-dip recession. July's data also point to an increase in hiring.
More than half of large U.S. businesses that reduced staff in the last year plan to rebuild their workforces to pre-recession levels within two years, according to a recent report.
So far so good for second-quarter earnings season. But if stocks have any hope of breaking out of their range-bound rut, the market will need proof of an uptrend in hiring, one expert says.
Maybe so. The latest NYSE Euronext Annual CEO Report, which surveyed 325 chief executives around the world, found them to be significantly more upbeat than a year ago. CEOs are "going back to the business of growing business."
