Although 2010 was a year not devoid of good news, analysts and commentators have continued to look to the horizon, hoping for a full recovery, and a return to pre-recession unemployment levels. Each year since the dawn of the financial crisis there has been a collective sense that next year will be better, even if only slightly. In retrospect, 2010, even though it did meet this expectation of improvement, was a bumpy ride. Fears lingered as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis inspired, and continues to inspire pervasive uncertainty about the health of the global economy. In addition to this, the revelation that the recession had, quantitatively speaking, ended June 2009 provided little solace to unemployed workers. Yet, there were month over month gains in 2010 as employers, still somewhat uncertain about what the financial future may hold, began to slowly hire to meet burgeoning demand. Although 2010 may be remembered more as the year in which a so-called jobless recovery took place and not a year when increasingly positive economic conditions allowed optimism about a full recovery to begin to flower, if hiring projections for 2011 are correct, this New Year might be remembered in a thoroughly positive light.
A recent survey, conducted by Manpower, contains more than a morsel of good news for job seekers. Up 4% from the fourth quarter, of those 18,000 employers surveyed by Manpower, 9% claim that they will be hiring in the first quarter of 2011. In addition to this, Ruth Mantell of MarketWatch reports that according to a recent report released by Automatic Processing Inc. “private-sector employment rose by 93,000” this past November, which is “the largest jump in three years.” Manpower’s survey shows that Leisure and Hospitality, Professional and Business Services, Information, Wholesale and Retail Trade, and Education and Health Services are the top sectors experiencing growth, with growth rates between 6%-12%. The survey, says Melanie Holmes, a Manpower vice president, also indicates “a non-seasonally adjusted 73% of employers said they expect to make no change to staff levels in the first quarter.” This statistic, coupled with that indicating a 4% increase in hiring over the fourth quarter 2010, bode well both for job seekers and job-holders; however, each of these statistics misses the mark of pre-recession levels.
Will 2011 be a better year for job seekers than 2010? Despite fears about “quantitative easing,” the ongoing sovereign debt crisis, and American and European currency woes, it looks like the global economy will continue to rebound through 2011. Although 2011, because of structural shifts in labor markets, may not be the Year of the Job Seeker, new jobs will continue to surface as the global and American economy slowly inches its way towards recovery.
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