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MP:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DHU0ATJTaMc/Te6_gqyLN5I/AAAAAAAAPXw/9LZqM06ITEI/s1600/layoffs.jpg

Job Openings and Labor Turnover, job layoffs and discharges fell to 1.5 million in April, the lowest level since the BLS started tracking "involuntary separations" in 2001 (see chart above).

This is a positive sign that the labor market is gradually stabilizing as job layoffs are becoming much less frequent.

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PeakTrader said...

This is not necessarily a good sign of future job prospects.

There are fewer layoffs, because fewer firms may have gone out of business, two years after the trough, and fewer businesses may have started.

Surviving or exising businesses are likely better or well managed today.

Consumers remain cautious and producers remain uncertain.

Productivity is still too high to boost hiring:

June 02, 2011

"Productivity of U.S. firms climbed 1.8 percent in the first quarter, compared with an advance of 2.9 percent in the final three months of 2010."

Or final sales are still too low:

Martin Feldstein
June 8, 2011

Feldstein points out that while gross domestic product the broadest measure of economic activity, grew at a disappointing 1.8% rate in the first quarter, much of that growth was due to businesses increasing inventory.

Sales grew at an even more dismal annual rate of 0.6%.

"The data for May are beginning to arrive and are even worse than April's," he added.

"They are marked by a collapse in payroll-employment gains; a higher unemployment rate; manufacturers' reports of slower orders and production; weak chain-store sales; and a sharp drop in consumer confidence."

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http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28997633&postID=1095347881450679381

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PeakTrader said...

Obama's new job creation plan laid out yesterday:

"Our task is to not panic."

And how his plan will achieve economic growth:

"It's got to accelerate."