A Look at May's Labor Statistics

 Here is the official news from the U.S. Department of Labor as released on June 1, 2012:   http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf and here is an excerpt in case you do not have time to read the whole report: "Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in May (+69,000), and the unemployment rate was
essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment
increased in health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade but declined in
construction. Employment was little changed in most other major industries."

Some of my loyal readers are going to get upset with me and will likely take me to task on what I am about to say.  Yes, this report was quite disappointing.  Yes, we are still extremely flat with slow job growth and unemployment numbers refusing to decline.  No, not all is hopeless because there was some creation of new jobs (69,000) and unemployment did not increase.

What does this mean for job seekers?  Simply put, job hunting will still be a huge challenge in coming months but is not absolutely hopeless.  If you wish, you could blame your continued unemployment on the numbers and decide to shut down until things get better but they may never get better if we remain stuck in a rut.

What does this mean for employers?  You could look at these numbers and conclude that, as long as statistics remain flat, business will remain flat and there will be no need to hire new staff.  How about looking at it another way?  While unemployment remains high, the number of talented people out there is also high.  Some of those people might actually relish the chance to bring their skills to you at lower wages than they would have 4 years ago.

Perhaps it is time for both job seekers and employers to realize that 2012 is not 2008 but that sometimes opportunities can be created.  I can almost imagine the responses this blog entry will result in but I am dead serious that we can get things moving if we all open our minds just a bit further.