There are many differences between these periods. Overall employment was smaller in the ’80s, so a different comparison might be to look at the percentage change. Of course the participation rate was increasing in the ’80s (younger population and women joining the labor force), and the participation rate is declining now. But these graphs give … Continue reading
In 2012, public-sector employment made up more than 16 percent of the US labor market. Direct government employment fails to capture the full impact of government spending on state labor markets Continue reading
Business hiring slowed this month with the private sector adding just 130,000 net new jobs as the partial government shutdown hit an already weakening labor market, payroll processor ADP said Wednesday. The figure was below the 150,000 average monthly job growth in the sector over the previous year as the hiring in the service sector … Continue reading
Provincial and territorial leaders are united in their opposition to the federal government’s Canada Job Grant… But what about the business community? Continue reading
The December jobs figures out today indicate that there were 725,000 more jobs in the private sector than at the end of 2008 — and 697,000 fewer government jobs. That works into a private-sector gain of 0.6 percent, and a government sector decline of 3.1 percent. In total, the number of people with jobs is … Continue reading
Canada may have added 1,800 jobs in October, but that number hides the fact that almost all the gains came from government and that the private sector lost more than 20,000 jobs. The 1,800 jobs added was already a disappointment compared with the 10,000 economists had forecast. According to Statistics Canada, that left the unemployment … Continue reading
” The recovery is real, but it’s still really far from the recovery we need” writes Matthew O’Brien in The Scariest Jobs Chart, Private Sector Edition. (Choosen excerpts by JMM to follow) That’s been the consistent message of the past three years, with consistent job growth that hasn’t been near enough to end our jobs crisis much … Continue reading
The nation does have 4.5 million more private-sector jobs than it did in January 2010. But by then, Mr. Obama had already been in office for a year. Starting the jobs count in January 2009, the month Mr. Obama took office, shows that the nation now has only 332,000 more private-sector jobs now. Figuring out … Continue reading
Another report also released Thursday by Walker’s Department of Workforce Development showed the state lost 6,000 private sector jobs in July and the unemployment rate increased from 7 percent to 7.3 percent. The divergent reports are derived from different surveys covering different periods of time. The quarterly report, covering January through March, is based on … Continue reading
There is a skills gap in the U.S., and it is expected to widen over the next decade. Addressing it will take the concerted efforts of both government and — especially given strained federal and state budgets — private industry. A paper issued last week by the National Bureau of Economic Research attributes roughly one-third … Continue reading
The U.S. economy is working its way back from the Great Recession. One indication has been that unemployment insurance claims have steadily fallen since September and they are now at the same level as in March of 2008. Additionally, layoffs are at the same level as in 2006. We also recently learned that the ratio … Continue reading
The Office for National Statistics has recorded a significant downwards trend in employee membership of private sector defined benefit (DB) schemes – down from 34 per cent in 1997 to 9 per cent in 2011. Overall, employee membership of employer-sponsored pensions in the private sector fell from 46 per cent in 1997 to 32 per cent … Continue reading
The most glaring weakness in the current recovery relative to previous ones is the unprecedented public-sector job loss seen over the last three years. The figure below shows that private sector job growth in the current recovery is close to that of the recovery following the early 1990s recession and is substantially stronger than the … Continue reading
Recent hiring has slowed down, according to a report released Wednesday on private employment in April. Private-sector employment increased 119,000 on the month, led by the service-providing sector and small and medium businesses, according to payrolls-processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. The April gain is down from monthly employment increases of about 200,000 averaged over the … Continue reading
Wisconsin lost 4,300 private sector jobs in March, the state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday, bad news for Gov. Scott Walker as he nears a June 5 recall election. Since Walker took office, the state has added just 5,900 private sector jobs — far from the 250,000 Walker promised to deliver by the end … Continue reading