Current data, as reported by the writers and career professionals at ResumeWriters.com. Last updated 07/31/03. Data updated monthly. (About our data.)
 

The above data is on a 0-10 point scale. A rating of "10" would mean finding a new job in that industry right away is extremely likely. A rating of "0" would mean finding a new job in that industry right away is almost impossible.  The "+" and "-" represent the change in ranking from the previous month.

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July 31, 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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July marks the fourth month in a row that our state of the job market index has risen. From a low of 86.1 in March, our composite number now stands at 97.2.

We continue to feel very positive about the way the job market is rising again, but we're maintaining caution. The thing to keep in mind that this is still only an incremental increase. According to our system, a composite number of 150 represents the bare minimum required before we can declare the overall job market to be "healthy."

We are hopeful that March 2003 represented the low point of this current job market. Perhaps we will one day be able to look back on these past few months as  the time the stock market finally began it's turnaround. But we don't know when we can finally declare that the job market is "strong" again. It could be months or years.

As any stock broker will tell you, even when you "bounce off the bottom" it still could be some time before the good times are truly back.

The thing to be on the lookout for would be accelerating gains. We were hopeful that, given the turnaround of the last few months, our composite index might finally get back above the 100 mark in July. It did not... and this reminds us that we still have a long way to go before this is a solidly healthy job market .

We want to see months where the job market composite number jumps by 5 points or more. Large, sudden gains that are sustained in the following months would be ideal.

In the mean time, this continues to be a job market dominated by individual stories.

The Banking and Brokerage industry is showing the sort of large gain we are talking about. For the last year or so, Banking and Brokerage has been one of the more depressed industries on our index. We have seen a lot of highly qualified clients who simply could not find work anywhere in the industry. That situation has not only turned around, it is showing signs of improving markedly. Our clients are telling us that hiring is beginning again in a very noticeable way.

Contrast this with the Government/Non-Profit job market. While not the strongest market in our index, it has been a steady market for the past several years. We have to report that we are beginning to see some drift downwards. Out of no-where, we are getting a large number of clients from municipal, state and other government jobs. These clients are reporting that governments everywhere are beginning layoffs in response to the nationwide budgetary crisis.

Similarly, we see a sizeable move downward in the Law Enforcement/Public Safety sector. As you know, this has been one of the strongest job markets for several years now. Perhaps this movement can also be attributed to governments and their budgetary concerns.

One sector that is concerning us is the Real Estate job market. While you'll notice a nice gain this month, we are becoming concerned that this job market may be topping out. For several months now, we have seen a large number of clients who are transferring to this industry from other industries. Especially with these "rookie" job seekers, it seems that there has been a considerable increase in competition for interviews. This is concerning us because Real Estate has been an industry where our clients seemed to find jobs extremely easily.

Finally, one of the true stories of this current job market is how weak the Management/Executive job market continues to be. This sector has always been somewhat immune to fluctuations in the job market on the whole. But if there is any major trend in this current environment, it is that even those are the top cannot be secure in their positions.

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.