Jobs outlook improving but still shaky

WASHINGTON — The U.S. labor market is finally improving, just when many of the other economic indicators are wavering.

Jobs are considered a lagging indicator. They typically recover many months after the economy comes out of a recession, and this cycle was no exception. So will troubles in Japan, Libya and elsewhere push up U.S. unemployment later this year?

"The U.S. economy is headed for another soft patch brought on by the double shock," said IHS Global Insight chief economist Nariman Behravesh, referring to Japan and upheaval in the oil-producing Arab world.
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Assuming oil prices stabilize and Japan's reconstruction and recovery begin in the next few months — as most economists currently expect — Behravesh says the soft patch will likely be short-lived. If he's right, the impact on the labor market should be minimal.
Friday brings the March employment report, and economists polled by Reuters are looking for growth of about 188,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 8.9 percent.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42296065/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

March's BLS employment report with U3, U6, & Nonfarm Payrolls numbers will come out on.....

April Fool's Day

Friday brings the March employment report, and economists polled by
Reuters are looking for growth of about 188,000 jobs, with the
unemployment rate holding steady at 8.9 percent.

That makes him a bit more optimistic than most about Friday's employment
figures. He thinks they will show a gain of 200,000 jobs, with the
unemployment rate dipping to 8.8 percent

Unemployment Rates
The BLS does the Household Survey of 50,000-60,000 households that results in the U3 & U6 numbers each month--using the seasonally adjusted numbers.

Gallup does a similar survey of 50,000 households--using the slightly higher nonseasonally adjusted numbers.

Ahead of time Reuters polls economists & asks them to guess what U3 will be. The number they agree on is almost always wrong.

Nonfarm Payrolls
The BLS does the Employers' Survey that results in the number of private-sector & public-sector jobs currently hired each month. ADP likewise conducts an Employers' Survey.

Ahead of time Reuters polls economists & asks them to guess what the Nonfarm number will be. The number they agree on is almost always wrong.

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Somewhere I read that stock-market investors bet on how the numbers will turn out.

we got jobs coming back slowly. But if you have been unemployed, you need not apply. If you are older than 50, you need not apply. If you have a limp in your walk, you need not apply. If your eyesight is less than 20/20 with corrective lenses, you need not apply. If you cannot hear perfectly, what? you need not apply. If you are young in perfect health, go to line #2 and your application will be accepted!

New numbers on the long-term unemployed come out on 4/1/11 too.

Here's a report on the numbers from Dec. in an article from 2/3/11.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/older-workers-most-likely-to-experience-very-long-term-unemployment-115194324.html

Among unemployed adults over age 65, one out of eight (12.15%) had faced 99 weeks or more of unemployment, sometimes called very long-term unemployment. For unemployed adults ages 55 and over, 11.51% had spent almost the last two years looking for work, considerably higher than the figure of 6% among unemployed workers under age 35.

Older adult unemployment is at a near-record high, double what it was when the recession began in December 2007.

The article talks about the importance of maintaining funding for the extremely effective SCSEP & SEEP jobs programs for older workers....but didn't Congress make deep cuts in these hiring programs recently within one of the Continuing Budget Resolutions??

Anyways Boonie if you're 55 or above you could contact your DOL Career office to see if you can apply. I know some folks doing those jobs & they really like the work. The jobs don't pay much & the hours are limited.....but it's something to put on your resume as 'currently employed.' If I were above age 55 I'd be all over those jobs.