It has been a while since I posted national jobs numbers so here we go (Month – number of jobs created):
December ’05 - 145,000
January ’06 - 170,000
February ’06 - 243,000 (the consensus number was 210,000)
The Northeast and Midwest have seen relatively slow job growth. Michigan has lost jobs since the national job boom began in mid-2003, and Maine, Massachusetts and Ohio have grown by less than 1%.
The recent Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for 2nd Quarter 2006 had the following results from the 16,000 national employers surveyed:
30% will increase hiring
58% no change
6% will decrease hiring
6% are unsure (How can that be? Are they asleep at the wheel?)
Staffing plans for the Northeast, Midwest, South and West are all expected to remain consistent through June of 2006.
National unemployment rates:
December 4.9%
January 4.7%
February 4.8%
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