Spring job slump still looks like an improvement

(WASHINGTON) — U.S. employers posted fewer job openings in March compared with February and slowed overall hiring, underscoring a weak month of job growth. The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings fell 1.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted 3.8 million jobs. Total hiring declined 4.3 percent to 4.3 million. The unemployed faced heavy competition in March. There were 3.1 unemployed people, on average, for each job opening. That’s above the ratio of 2 to 1 that is typical in a healthy economy. (MORE: U.S.

OTTAWA/TORONTO — Factory worker Nelson Claros has little time for talk of the Canadian economic miracle. The 50-year-old was laid off last year from his job of 22 years at a bus-assembly plant northwest of Toronto, and has since applied for 130 jobs. His best offer: A job at $12 an hour, half his previous wage and not enough to pay his bills. “Really there is a recession right now. They don’t call it a recession, but the companies are closing, there are a lot of layoffs. How can this be a miracle economy?” he asked.

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in April, and hiring was much stronger in the previous two months than the government first estimated. The job increases helped reduce the unemployment rate from 7.6% to a four-year low of 7.5%. The report Friday from the Labor Department was a reassuring sign that the U.S. job market is improving despite higher taxes and government spending cuts that took effect this year.

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers stepped up hiring in February, pushing the unemployment rate to a four year-low and suggesting the economy has enough momentum to withstand the blow from higher taxes and deep government spending cuts. Nonfarm payrolls surged 236,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, handily beating economists’ expectations for a gain of 160,000. The jobless rate fell to 7.7%, the lowest since December 2008, from 7.9% in January. The decline reflected gains in employment as well as people leaving the labor force.

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is lowering expectations when it comes to Canada’s economy, saying a global financial slowdown is affecting the country’s growth. The prime minister spoke after the Bank of Canada downgraded its economic growth outlook for the country to 1.9% for the year just ended and 2.0% for this year. The central bank also said it will likely have to keep interest rates at super-low levels for longer than expected in the face of the surprisingly weak economy.

High school and college kids typically get the jobs that are left over, that no one else really wants, such as working at McDonalds. However, competition for any job is no so intense, that teens cannot find any job that no one else wants. As a result of that increased competition, Number of high-school students with jobs hits 20-year low

Tomorrow the BLS will release the May Employment Situation Summary at 8:30 AM ET. As I noted in the weekly schedule, the consensus forecast for payroll jobs seems too high; Bloomberg is showing the consensus is for an increase of 190,000 payroll jobs in May, and for the unemployment rate to decline to 8.9%.