According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. unemployment held steady at 9.7% in February. This was a positive surprise because most economists thought the east coast blizzards would cause the unemployment rate to increase.
According to T.R. Price's chief economist as reported by NPR, the economy probably would have added jobs in February except for the storms. Floyd Norris of the NY Times concurred, saying:
The decline in overall employment, of 36,000, was almost certainly caused by the weather. As I have noted before, there were two sets of blizzards in the East to affect employment in the week the survey covered. The “real” number almost certainly was positive, and we are set up for a good gain next month.
Small business hiring signs are even more optimistic. John Tozzi's Business Week article Hiring by Smallest Employers May Signal Job Recovery covers recent data from Intuit and Sure Payroll showing that small business hiring is picking up. The chart below is from the Business Week article.
Intuit's new Small Business Index is based on payroll data from over 50,000 of their payroll customers. It shows small businesses with fewer than 20 employees started adding jobs last June. Sure Payroll's February report, also based on small business payroll data, showed a 1.9% increase in small business hiring.
Most economist expect hiring to increase as the year goes on. Some are even quite optimistic about U.S. job and economic growth. This is good news for all.
This is great news. It's always good to see the economy moving in the right direction. I hope that it translates into more small businesses popping up. This is good news overall for any size business and entrepreneurs.
Posted by: PremierInterns | March 10, 2010 at 08:02 PM
People really need to start deciding that we are ready to recover. 2010 should prove to be an important year for businesses to re-attack their markets with a fresh vision of how to succeed. It should be interesting.
Posted by: Robert Rogers, Esq. | March 11, 2010 at 01:48 PM