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State of the Job
Market Columns |
June 30, 2003
By Brian McCullough, Head Writer,
ResumeWriters.com
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As always, this column and our data is provided by the
professionals at ResumeWriters.com.
Learn how we collect our data here.
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Is the job market finally turning
around? This is the third month in a row where we have seen stabilization or
gains across most of our job markets. The composite job market number is
nearing 100. We are cautiously... cautiously taking this as a sign that the job market may be bottoming out.
We want to stress, of course, that this is only an extrapolation, and
the indicators could turn sour again next month.
But there are three reasons why we
are cautiously optimistic that the job market might be returning to health.
Firstly, job markets seem to be
stabilizing across the board. This marks the third month running that our
market data registered small gains. In fact, a
certain stabilization has been registered across nearly all industries. Notice
that there are a great deal more industries registering "unchanged" data this
time. That is a key sign of stabilization.
Of course, the job market won't be
truly healthy until industries across the board have much higher ratings on
our ten-point scale (a rating of 5.0 represents a healthy job market, and
right now only two of our sectors are above 5.0). But several months in a row of firming, or improving
markets (however incrementally) might prove to be an indicator that the job
market is rebounding.
Secondly, after several months of
drift because of Gulf War II, we were surprised by how quickly things seemed
to spring back. The job market overall is historically weak, and during the
first few weeks of the war, it seemed absolutely abysmal. However, our writers
have noticed an interesting rebound: almost as soon as Baghdad fell, clients
began reporting that they were beginning to find jobs.
Thirdly, the strongest
improvements continue to
be registered in Information Technology, including software and telecom. This
is interesting, since those segments have been the weakest job markets for
years now. Our IT writers report that their clients have had greater success
getting hired in the last several weeks, than they've been able to report for
several months. If the IT job markets have been leading the way down in this
poor job market, perhaps they will lead the way back up when the market turns
around.
So the story this month is largely about
stabilization. A great many of the segments we track either stayed the same or
gained ground slightly. Otherwise of note:
Aerospace/Aviation has recovered to
it's prewar levels, following the severe dip that segment suffered immediately
before the war with Iraq began.
The Banking/Brokerage segment
continues to show increasing strength of some note. Clients have told our
writers that meaningful hiring is returning to this sector for the first time
in some time.
Entertainment/Hospitality continues
it's solid recovery following the war in Iraq. Our writers report that clients
are finding a vast array of employment options as companies in this sector
seem to be experiencing a better than expected summer travel and tourist
season.
Our three technology sectors seem to be
regaining some form of modest health.
Meanwhile, the job market for
Students/Recent Grads remains positively terrible.
The above reporting is taken from
polled evidence and personal impressions, collected from the career
professionals at ResumeWriters.com.
ResumeWriters.com does not collect or share personal data
from it's clients. Information reported is of a macro, and not personal
nature.
Learn more about how we collect our data
here.
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