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Daily Archives: April 4, 2010

Job market is improving, but still…

US labor market has started to add jobs at a pace not seen since 2007 (see chart below, graph courtesy of Northern Trust).  This is positive.

Highlights of job losses/gains in March:

Construction: +15,000 vs. -59,000 in February
Manufacturing: +17,000 vs. +6,000 in February
Private sector service employment: +82,000 vs. +15,000 in February
Retail employment: +14,900 vs. +8,000 in February
Professional and business services: +11,000 vs. +40,000 in February
Temporary help: +40,200 vs. +36,700 in February
Financial activities: -21,000 vs. -15,000 in February
Health care employment: +26,800 vs. +14,100 in February

But still (pretty much) this will be a jobless recovery (see the scary chart below), following the last two recessions (1990-91, and 2001).

(click to enlarge; graph courtesy of calculatedrisk)

Tough road ahead…