Today’s the day, the day that all focus turns to jobs. How many jobs were added in the previous month? Was the needle moved on the unemployment rate? Which industries are adding opportunities? And what does this all mean for our current economic outlook?
Today the numbers showed that employment rose by 115,000 in April and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.1 percent. Which is what we thought we’d see—unemployment relatively unchanged. Employment increased in professional and business services, retail trade, and health care, but declined in transportation and warehousing.
So that’s what the BLS says, but what are we at Beyond.com seeing? True the number of jobs posted on the Beyond.com Career Network won’t result in immediate jobs added to the economy, but we can help predict what we should expect in the months to come.
Opportunities Posted As Compared to March
When compared to last month we've seen a 2% decrease in the total number of jobs posted in April 2012 when compared to the number of job opportunities posted in March. However, when compared to the number of opportunities posted to the Beyond.com Career Network last year at this time opportunities are up by 236%. While it is great that jobs are up, we’re not seeing jobs grow as aggressively as many would like, but thoughtful growth is important—if corporations grow too fast that could lead to issues down the road.
For those college graduates entering the workforce in the next few months, more than 52% of jobs posted to our network are entry-level positions, which is a promising sign.
Industries That Are Growing
As for the industries that we’ve seen the most growth occur since March? They are Customer Service, Hospitality (as we prepare for summer months), and Media & Communications.
Where The Jobs Are
The question we get most—where are the jobs at? Well, when looking at the total number of opportunities posted to the Beyond.com Career Network, the most jobs were located in the New York metropolitan area, however that’s just based on total jobs. When you compare the total number of jobs posted in relation to the number of available workers (Civilian Labor Force) in a specific metropolitan area—the most opportunities are actually in San Jose, CA, Bloomington, IL, and Columbus, IN.
So that’s what we saw in April, while job growth was slow, we hope we’ll see some pickup as college grads emerge on the scene.
