Now that we are more than halfway through the year, it’s a good time to reflect on where we have been and where we are predicted to go before the end of 2013. The labor market has made gradual progress in the past couple of years and that trend seems to be continuing. When 2012 came to a close, the nation’s unemployment rate stood at 7.8 percent, nearly a full percentage point lower than a year before, according to a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Most labor market watchers and economists expect more jobs to be created and less jobs to be eliminated as the year comes to an end. Through May 2013, the labor force grew by an average of 189,200 jobs per month, according to preliminary data from BLS. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, initial jobless claims fell 19,000 to 326,000 in the week ending July 27, 2013. This is the lowest number of people who have applied for unemployment benefits since January 2008. Some organizations are predicting the nation’s unemployment rate to fall to 7.5 percent in the third quarter of 2013, while others have it predicted to range from 6.9 percent to 7.5 percent.
According to the ASA Staffing Index, staffing employment is up 4.4% compared to the same month last year. Since the beginning of 2013, staffing employment has increased 11.4%. Typically staffing employment peaks between mid-November and mid-December each year, after which it dramatically declines for several weeks before turning upward in mid-January. We hope the positive trends continue through the second half of 2013, but only time will tell.
Resources and statistics obtained from SHRM, BLS and ASA websites.