The Recovery Becomes More Broad-Based - First Friday Preview - MRINetwork

First Friday Preview - MRINetwork

UNITED STATES

The Recovery Becomes More Broad-Based

Since the economy began to add jobs around October of last year, the news has been good for professionals and those with four-year college degrees. For those with less than a four-year degree, the news has been stark, with negative job growth continuing ¾ even accelerating ¾ until April.

In April, the growth of jobs requiring four-year college degrees ground to a halt, whereas job growth began for those with less education as bars, food services establishments, gambling, amusement and recreational facilities staffed up. These are places where people spend money most frequently when there is extra money to be spent.

“As executive recruiters, we like to see the increases in professional-level employment ¾ that’s a great short-term indicator for us,” says Rob Romaine, president of MRINetwork. “The fact that job growth has moved beyond the professional ranks, though, is a much more important long-term indicator of growth in the economy. It shows that the 700,000 or so professionals who started jobs since the beginning of the year are now spending the money they make at other businesses.”

Many professional positions are said to create as many as two or three additional jobs in their community. This isn’t just because of the money they spend on food, entertainment or consumer goods, but also because their employers spend money on office cleaning services, office equipment and furniture, health insurance and 401(k) plans. Employees at each of those companies then spend their earnings, also creating more jobs, and slowly the economy recovers.

In total, 244,000 jobs were created in April according to the Labor Department ¾ a strong gain by any measure. Yet, the unemployment rate increased by two tenths of a percent in the month. While many jobs were added, even more people who had given up on finding work started searching again. Although it is a common post-recession phenomenon, it has taken longer than usual to appear during this recovery.

“Demand for the top candidates, those who either never lost work or were quickly picked up if they were laid off, is as high as ever now that employers are in a hiring mode. And now that employees are moving away from their survival mindset, we are seeing candidates become available who hadn’t been for the last several years,” notes Romaine.

The top candidates are strategic and career-minded, and weren’t going to change jobs in the midst of a recession ¾ not only because the job they would have moved to may be less secure, but also because the bump in pay likely wouldn’t have been worth it. The U.S. quit rate bottomed out at 1.1 percent in January 2010 and has since rebounded to 1.5 percent, its highest reading since the beginning of 2009.

“Today, employers are using more attractive offers to lure candidates than we have seen in years,” says Romaine, “Those employers who are willing to make the investment are going to bring top talent into their organizations at the best possible time to drive growth.”

© 2011 Management Recruiters International, Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer. Each office is independently owned and operated.

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   Edited by Sean Muir (215) 751-1762   Sean.Muir@MRINetwork.com 

******************************************************** http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.