Employment United States

U.S. workers can expect the best fourth-quarter job prospects in 21 years amid strong demand from industries such as construction and clothing, the world's largest staffing services firm said in a report released today. But hiring trends are likely to slip from lofty third-quarter levels in a typical seasonal decline, Manpower Inc.'s quarterly employment outlook survey suggests. According to the survey, 29% of the more than 15,000 U.S.

The number of jobs in the United States continued to increase at a respectable pace last month, despite a growing impact from the Asian economic slump and widespread layoffs from the recent General Motors Corp. strike, the government reported Friday. The Labor Department's monthly survey showed that the economy created 66,000 jobs in July--down from a 196,000-job rise the previous month but still well above what many analysts had predicted. The unemployment rate remained at 4.

Noralee Gay is a single mother who decided to remain at home rather than work after her daughter was born four years ago. She has struggled and scrimped, forgoing extras for herself to keep her little girl clothed and fed. Is Gay disheartened? Not a whit. In fact, Gay is one of the thousands of Californians who had long ago dropped out of the work force--either by choice or because they had given up the job search--who are back at work courtesy of the booming economy.

The great American job-creation machine shifted into lower gear in June, the government reported Thursday, as the impact of the Asian economic slump led to fewer new jobs and a slight uptick in the nation's unemployment rate. Thanks largely to a falloff in U.S. exports to Asia, payrolls grew by only 205,000 jobs--a respectable enough rise, but well short of the revised 309,000 increase recorded in May. As a result, the unemployment rate rose to 4.5% of the work force, from 4.3% the month before.

Less than a third of adults with disabilities are employed, a figure that has not improved over the last decade, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Organization on Disability. The survey, conducted by Louis Harris & Associates, found that 29% of disabled adults are employed full or part time, compared with 79% of non-disabled Americans aged 18 through 64. In 1986, 33% of the disabled population was employed.

Does the advancing global economy mean a payoff or a layoff for U.S. workers? That blunt question is a good one to ask this Fourth of July weekend because in the bitter strike at General Motors, the United Auto Workers union has accused the company of shipping jobs to Mexico and other low-wage countries. And U.S. opinion lately seems to have shifted against world commerce. Trade bills die or are withheld in Congress. Examples of U.S.

Confident consumers earned and spent more money in February, the government said Friday, pointing to stronger economic growth early in 1998 than most analysts had previously expected. Meanwhile, strong growth in 1997, as reflected in the nation's tight labor markets, helped push employee turnover in the U.S. to an eight-year high last year, according to a separate survey. Turnover--defined as workers who quit their jobs or were fired--averaged 1.1% per month last year, up from 0.

The nation's economy continued to produce a wealth of new jobs last month, making the 1997 job picture the brightest in 24 years, the government reported Friday. Despite predictions that growth would slow by now, the Labor Department's monthly report showed that industry payrolls surged by 370,000 jobs in December--far in excess of the 215,000 rise that analysts had expected--following a gain of 414,000 new jobs the previous month.

In a miscue that echoed through the financial world Thursday, government officials released October jobs data on the Internet a day ahead of schedule, revealing a disappointing gain of 116,000 jobs and a U.S. unemployment rate holding steady at 4.6%. The premature disclosure quickly pushed interest rates and stock prices down, but not for long.

The Labor Department agency that prematurely released market-sensitive employment data said Friday that it will temporarily and partially curtail its use of the Internet while it conducts an internal review. In a statement, Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Katharine G. Abraham acknowledged "some data users . . . may be inconvenienced" during the review, which will take "a minimum of two weeks and likely longer."