Feb 02, 2010 -- More online job postings hint at a hiring recovery
CLARKONOMICS: Has unemployment got you down? New stats are tentatively hinting that more jobs will become available as we move forward through 2010. A new analysis of January 2010 job postings online shows an upswing to four million vacancies, according to research group The Conference Board.
Four million job openings, by itself, is a very abstract number. In order to put it in context, you must know that there were five million openings at the peak of the job market in 2007 before the recession. And at the low point last year, there were only some three million openings. So we're halfway in between right now.
Of course, this doesn't mean that hiring is robust, but it is slowly making a comeback.
Economists are arguing over whether we're having a "V" or "L" recession. Just trace out those letters to get an idea how each economic forecast moves. With a V recession, the recovery is highly vigorous. The L recession, however, implies a lot of economic stagnation.
Corroborating the belief of many economists that we're seeing the upswing of a V recession is the fact that many companies are reporting huge fourth-quarter profits vs. a year earlier. Those profits mean that employers can start to be more confident about having money to bring on more employees to better serve their customers.
It will still be months to go before we know whether we're seeing the V or L model. But the Conference Board shows that something positive is going on. Exactly how positive, Clark won't hazard a guess.