Fantastic–it’s actually been a good last quarter of 2010 leading toward a profitable first quarter of 2011. Jobs are on the rise. That’s a welcome bit of news these days with the sagging economy.
Statistics have shown that the U.S. economy has brought in an average of 128,000 jobs over the past three months, a sign that things might be improving quite a bit. Demand might soon be matched by supply. The quality of jobs might increase more and more. Several more fields will provide more opportunities, giving more and more students more possibilities of education that they might consider. Needless to say, it’ll be a bright year. Moreover, unemployment dropped by 9.4% last month. Not too shabby. Even the average hourly wage picked up a little, by 3 cents actually for a grand total of $22.78 per hour. Health care alone added a tremendous 36,000 jobs, and restaurants along with hotels took on a respectable 29,000. In addition, retail acquired a decent 12,000 to the industry.
There is, however, some negativity, such as a static work week, remaining at an average of 34.3 hours for three straight months–something not beneficial for the workforce as it shows companies will put the hours to existing staff rather than hire new associates. Moreover, the construction industry lost a bit with 16,000 jobs down in the dumps. Surprisingly, the government isn’t faring much better with a loss of 10,000. With a fairly accurate and somewhat shaky conclusion, the job market right now is a mixed bag. Some of it’s good, some of it’s bad.
As long as companies stay aggressive and ambitious along with job-seekers, we’ll continue to see a steady rise of the economy in terms of jobs. But you have to note one thing: it’s now up to us, on both ends–employers and the potentially employed.