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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.

Unfortunately, Clark won't be able to answer any questions submitted via commenting. If you have a question, please try posting it to our message boards.

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What others are saying

  • U shaped
    I think I heard Nouriel Roubini say on CNBC it would be a U-shaped recovery. Is that a sluggish V? Sounds realistic anyway...
  • End game is cashless world
    electronic control of money equals total control of Sheeple, end goal, nothing happens by accident. Total control of your life.
  • No Jobs, No Votes!
    We voters don't care what is done or who does it. This massive unemployment had better go away or we will make sure there are plenty of unemployed politicians after the November elections! What we did in Massachusetts was just a sample of what we can do to the rest regardless of who they are or which party they represent.
  • close to responding with necessary
    Paul A. Volcker visited nine cities in five countries in the past eight weeks to warn that bankers and regulators “have not come anywhere close to responding with necessary vigor” to the worst economic crisis in 70 years.

    “There is a lot of evidence that financial weaknesses brought us to the brink of a great depression,” Volcker, 82, said Dec. 8. at a conference in West Sussex, England. He told executives there that the changes they’ve proposed are “like a dimple.”

    Two years after the start of the deepest recession since the 1930s, no U.S. or European authority has put in force a single measure that would transform the financial system, based on data compiled by Bloomberg. No rule- or law-making body is actively considering the automatic dismantling of banks that Volcker told Congress are sheltered by access to an implicit safety net.

    There’s little evidence that policy makers are heeding Volcker, the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. More than 50 regulatory overhaul proposals have been submitted in the U.S. and Europe, the data compiled by Bloomberg show. Lawmakers and regulators have debated new rules for capitalization and leverage, central clearing for derivatives trading, oversight of hedge funds and ways to monitor systemic risk.

    While the U.S. House of Representatives has approved a financial regulation bill, authorities in the U.S. and Europe have sidelined measures that would automatically force changes in the structure of financial companies that Bank of England Governor Mervyn King called “too important to fail.” Volcker is leading a chorus arguing for restricting the size or primary functions of financial institutions.
  • This report measures new first time on line posts and jobs posted from previous months.It is not a direct measure of job vacancies. It also gets the info from all job boards. So, if 1 job is posted by one job board and the same job is posted on another job board---this counts as 2 job postings. If you use all the job boards you will notice the same job posting pops up on most all job boards. There also is
    major demand for new job boards increasing everyday. They compete for
    advertising dollars.

    Long story short---this report does not
    in anyway show how many new jobs are available. Also a lot of job openings posted are not for job--they are just a way for head hunters, resume companies,
    home business fake offers, and etc.
  • Had an interview at Ross's Department Store.
    The Human Resource Dept isn’t stupid. They know they have to make a visual effort to look like they are hiring. Many of the candidates they call are just padding. They call people in for interviews that they never intend to hire, just pad on how many candidates they interviewed for the day, week or month. This looks good to the hire ups, which may be getting government gravy money to hire people.

    A good clue if you are just padding is DOES THE INTERVIEWER LOOK YOU IN THE EYE DURING THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW? If they don’t, or wander away within a minute or two, you were just padding.
  • We have a veterinary hospital and January we were down 15%. So much for that V recession. It is our largest loss in 10 years. we are hoping it is only the electric bills that are getting people now!
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