There are some positive numbers in today's U.S. Labor Department jobs report for October: Temporary hiring increased; it's considered a leading indicator of permanent hiring to come. And overtime hours edged up 12 minutes, as companies added time, if not people.
But those numbers do little to counter the effect of an economy that added 558,000 people to the ranks of the unemployment last month and kept 5.6 million, more than a third of the unemployed, off the job for more than six months.
Among them is Janet Swift, of Northeast Philadelphia, a former human resource manager at Kraft Foods attending a breakfast this morning by the Philadelphia Human Resource Planning Society.
"I honestly believe there are glimmers of hope," said Swift, who, after 17 years of experience, has been out of work for nine months. Still no job, but after months of getting close to zero responses to her resumes, she is now getting some return calls.
"I've never experienced this in my life," she said. "It's going to take some time."
The Labor Department's report is the first since the government said last week that the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the strongest signal yet that the economy is rebounding. But that isn't fast enough to spur rapid hiring, raising the specter of a jobless recovery.
Factoring in people who were too discouraged to job hunt, or who are working part time because they can't get full-time work, the unemployment rate was 17.5 percent in October.
President Obama called the new jobs report another illustration of why much more work is needed to spur business creation and consumer spending.
"I will not rest until all Americans who want work can find work," Obama said in mentioning legislation he is signing to provide additional unemployment benefits for laid-off workers.
"You need explosive growth to take the unemployment rate down," said Dan Greenhaus, economic strategist for New York-based investment firm Miller Tabak & Co.
Greenhaus said the economy soared by nearly 8 percent in 1983 after a steep recession, lowering the jobless rate by 2.5 percentage points that year. But, he said, the economy is unlikely to improve that fast this time, as consumers remain cautious and tight credit hinders businesses.
The reluctance to consume is reflected in the decline in retail employment. Nearly 40,000 positions were cut last month, particularly in sporting goods and department stores. Even stores selling electronics failed to draw enough customers to sustain hiring.
"People aren't finding jobs, as far as I can see, and it looks like it's going to stay that way for awhile," said John Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, an advocacy group for the unemployed.
A report released by City Controller Alan Butkovitz showed that the city of Philadelphia - the nation's sixth largest - ranked third in unemployment in September, behind Los Angeles (12.7 percent) and Chicago (11.3 percent). Philadelphia's jobless rate was 11 percent.
In October, temporary help services added 33,700 jobs nationally, the biggest bump since the category began an upward trend in July. Employers tend to hire temporary and temp-to-perm workers before adding full-time slots.
However, architects and engineers are still losing jobs. Because these professionals work at the start of construction and industrial projects, last month's decline of 7,700 jobs is evidence that companies are still either unable or reluctant to make major capital investments.
At a leadership breakfast for 350 at the Union League this morning, hiring managers said they are seeing some faint upward trends.
"We're starting to recruit again and it's a little while since we did that," said Allyson Adamusik, a director of global human resources at Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., in the Philadelphia area. The company had laid off earlier in the year.
Frank Powell, vice president of business development at Lee Hecht Harrison, a national company that provides employment counseling for laid-off workers, said: "We are seeing a little falloff in revenues" as fewer people need his company's services.
"The first quarter was the strongest," said Powell, who works in Lee Hecht's Plymouth Meeting office. "It was being at the top of a very high mountain. We're still busy, but it's just fewer people."
The Labor Department report showed continued declines in construction, manufacturing, information, leisure and hospitality, while business and professional services gained along with education and health services. Government hiring was flat.
Employment in financial activities dropped by 8,000. One of the lost jobs belonged to Vicki Brown, formerly a leadership development specialist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. She was laid off a week ago, for the second time in this recession.
In June 2008, Brown, of Wilmington, lost a human resources job at American International Group Inc. when the insurer went through its meltdown. She had worked there for more than 20 years.
Then, in November 2008, she landed the PNC job. "I was very lucky," she said. But that's over for now. "I pulled the short end of the straw."
Brown says she's optimistic because "there's a lot of pent-up demand, even though companies are reluctant to hire. Everyone is tearing their hair out from being overworked."
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
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