Summer’s here and so are new jobs for 287,000 Americans. This is the largest single monthly job gain since October 2015. After taking into account the Labor Department’s slightly downward revision of the estimates for April and May, these numbers brought the three-month average of monthly job gains to a respectable 147,000. The labor department reported that new claims for unemployment benefits have stayed at “rock-bottom levels through June, consumer spending is strong, the manufacturing and service industry indexes have jumped, and the number of unfilled jobs, 5.8 million in April, is at a record since the survey began.” Manufacturing is still expecting a strong second half of 2016. It is difficult to properly project the global impact of Brexit, and election year hesitancies as we get closer to November. The ISM also reported positive news as there were increases in new orders and employment in June. Expectations are that as more retirees leave the workforce we will continue to experience a very shallow pool of talented engineering and management professionals to take their place. The war for talent wages on!
Bruce Peacock
Vice President of Business Development
The Richmond Group USA