Some decent news on the December unemployment figures

One of the first headlines I saw after the government’s report on unemployment this morning was: “Job creation hopes dashed in December.” And the loss of 85,000 jobs was treated as a huge disappointment.

Really?! Did economists really expect positive job growth in December? The fact that the number was under 100K was still a sign that we’re going in the right direction, and the 4^th quarter monthly average (about 70K) is much lower than any quarter in 2009.

And the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised November’s numbers so that jobs were actually CREATED (+4K) was a big surprise.  I never expected to see a month in 2009 with an overall job gain.

Of course, losing thousands of jobs is still bad, and nobody is happy that the unemployment rate stayed at 10 percent.

But with more gains in health care (+35K), professional and business services (+50K), and temporary jobs (+47K), we have some hopeful indication that, overall, the job market is moving in the right direction.  It’s not as fast as many would like, but change is usually gradual.

And other factors may be adding to that gradual improvement in 2010:

• 1 in 3 hiring managers and recruiters said they expect to increase hiring in 2010 over last year. (Yahoo! HotJobs survey)
• Hiring will make moderate strides in January. Though job opportunities remain limited, January marks the third straight month that hiring will exceed layoffs on an annual basis in manufacturing and services. (Society of Human Resources Management)