MarketWatch: Job outlook the worst in more than 20 years

[marmar]

Glum outlook on jobs
Percent of firms planning to hire drops to single digits: Manpower
By Andrea Coombes, MarketWatch


SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Unless you work in the oil, gas or related mining industries, the job market is unlikely to look brighter in the fourth quarter, and even retailers are glum about hiring for the upcoming holiday season, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

The Milwaukee firm's quarterly survey of hiring plans found that a net 9% of firms expect to hire in the fourth quarter, down from 12% in the previous quarter, and 18% for the fourth quarter a year ago. This fourth quarter outlook is the tenth consecutive quarter of declining employer sentiment in the survey -- the longest such retreat in more than 20 years.

Manpower's seasonally adjusted net-employment numbers, based on a survey of 14,000 U.S. companies, measure the percentage of firms planning to hire minus those intending layoffs. Manpower doesn't measure the number of jobs. The survey's margin of error is +/- 0.8%.

Among retailers, even the upcoming holiday season doesn't seem to offer much hope: Just 8% of employers in wholesale and retail trade expect to hire in the upcoming fourth quarter, the lowest figure for that sector in 17 years, said Jonas Prising, president of Manpower North America. That category includes department stores, gas stations, restaurants, discount retailers, computer stores and wholesalers, among others.

The industry's "hiring intentions are the lowest we've seen in the last 17 years. That tells you something about what they feel about end-of-year shopping sprees," Prising said. The sector "hasn't been this pessimistic for a long time."

Retailers aren't alone in their pessimism. Overall, this is the tenth consecutive quarter of declines in employers' hiring plans, the longest such retreat since 1986, Prising said. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/slide-hiring-plans-worst-20/story.aspx?guid=%7B692FAA6C%2D1CEC%2D440D%2D82FF%2D0DB56D16853E%7D

[Nite Owl]

1. More than 20 yrs?

That would be during the golden Reagan years...oh those repukes really know how to screw the American people and yet they still fall for their lines.

[rockymountaindem]

2. It's a great time to be a young person

:eyes:

[tazkcmo]

3. Or even and "old" person

in the construction industry. In the past, during slower times (usually winter) I could get a part time job in a restaraunt to make ends meet, not now. This summer, I have been off more than on and this is our busy season! I have friends that make hiring decisions where they work and none have been able to hire me like they have in the past. I guess I could go finish my degree and hope that over the next year and a half I don't die of starvation before I graduate.

[terrya]

4. This is shitty.

And McCain/Palin is going to do something about this? BULLSHIT.

[TooBigaTent]

5. Our younger daughter graduated from college in May and has not yet been able to find

any kind of job. The stress of the situation is wrecking her health (no coverage of course, without a job).

Even in situations where someone "wants" to hire her, there is an "organizational/administrative" factor that prevents them from actually filling the position they advertise and interview for.

I really feel bad for all the bright, educated, dedicated young people who are being so screwed over by the repukes and their policies. Not only are we sending them to die in the desert for a lie, killing the planet for them, and turning them into garbage cans (quote from George Burns in Oh God), we are taking away the little remaining time they have left by sentencing them to minimum-wage hell (if they are lucky).

Talk about child abuse.