Unemployment hit a two-year high of 5 percent in December, raising questions
of whether the hiring boom of the past several years is eroding because of the
severe hits to the mortgage lending industry, a jittery stock market and
record-high petroleum prices.
Statistics released Friday, January 4, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics took
economists by surprise. Many had predicted a slight increase in unemployment
from 4.7 percent to 4.8 percent for the last month of 2007, when in fact the
figure jumped to 5 percent.
It’s be too early to tell whether December’s unemployment figure represents
the onset of a recession, says Mark Mehler, principal at CareerXroads, a
recruiting consultancy in Kendall Park, New Jersey.
Mehler sees large corporations still hunting for corporate recruiters, which
means hiring plans are likely under way during the first quarter.
“I haven’t seen a drop in the demand for corporate recruiters,” he notes.
“That bodes well because it is one of the key signs to watch for in a weakening
economy.”
Jobs were added in certain sectors—33,000 in the area of professional and
technical services as well as 28,000 in health care. Those gains, however, were
offset by losses in other industries, such as construction and
manufacturing.
—Gina Ruiz
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