What Those Jobs Reports Tell Employability Experts

​​​As an Employability Expert, I follow reports and analysis from the U.S. Government and other experts. These are some of the factors I consider to evaluate labor market demand, length of time to be hired, types of employment opportunities in this market and expected earnings.

Below is a quick summary of information I’m following.

The May 2016 jobs report showed a disappointing slowdown in hiring. Job demand may be increasing, but hiring is the lowest since 2014.

Why have employers been so slow to hire? They lack confidence about economic trends. Slower hiring protects them against unexpected economic conditions. There is notable preference to fill positions with internal candidates (even when posting or using a recruiter). This lowers perceived risk and enables them to replace an employee at a lower, less competitive compensation. This more heavily impacts more experienced, higher paid job seekers.

The number of people filing new claims for unemployment insurance, often an early indicator of changes in labor market conditions, is the lowest since the 1960’s. This does not reflect the high number of job seekers who remain out-of- work for extended periods of time who are ineligible for benefits.

Little coverage is given to another statistic that reflects economic and job growth: the Labor Force Participation Rate rests at 62.6% which has dropped to historic lows. Read more here​.

Economists’ forecast that job growth of recent years may be receding, even worse than the lowest job growth since 2010.

The economy has posted steady job growth for most of the past six years. At the same time, overall economic output (GNP) grew more slowly than expected. Both measures are expected to be slower in the year ahead. Read more here​.

Evaluating employability and earning capacity requires an informed, thoughtful expert who considers many factors, combining information like this with “real world” labor market research and individual assessment.