Good news expected from March jobs report
JEREMY HOBSON: In about a half hour we’ll get the most important economic indicator of the month. The March jobs report from the Labor Department. Expectations are the economy added around 200,000 jobs in March which would make the last two months the best stretch for private sector hiring since the recession began.
Tig Gillam is the CEO of Adecco Group North America and he’s with us now from New York. Good morning.
TIG GILLAM: Good morning.
HOBSON: Well, you’re company helps other companies find temporary workers. Those workers are often seen as an early indicator of how much permanent hiring is going to occur. Given that, what are you expecting from this morning’s jobs report?
GILLAM: Well, the recovery in terms of temporary workers has been going on now for about 18 months. And as you mentioned, that’s the leading indicator to the recovery and the job market overall. So we’ve been on a positive trend, and expect March’s numbers to continue to demonstrate that the job market is getting better.
HOBSON: Do you think that we’re going to see any of the turmoil that’s going on in the Middle East or Japan, the oil markets, figure into this morning’s number in a negative way?
GILLAM: I think at least from the Adecco Group business the impact of Japan is beginning to become visible. Where we see supply chain disruptions related to the automotive industry, that’s affecting jobs in the U.S. on a negative basis. But then at the same time, on the technology side, especially related to chips, the business has picked up in the U.S. to replace product supply disruptions in Japan. So, there is an affect. It’ll be interesting to see whether the net positive outweighs the negative in March.
HOBSON: But you’re saying it’s already being felt?
GILLAM: That’s already being felt, as opposed to the oil situation and the cost of gasoline, I think there hasn’t been that much of a direct affect yet, on the labor market in the U.S.
HOBSON: All right, what about people who have been out of work for a long time, in some cases for years since the recession began. And sense of whether those people are starting to return to the labor market?
GILLAM: There are 13.7 million people who are unemployed today. And half of those have been out of the job market for 27 weeks or more. But, like everyone else, they’re finding an improving job market where they live, so their are opportunities for finding new employment are getting better every month.
HOBSON: Tig Gillam CEO of Adecco Group North America. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
GILLAM: That’s for having me.
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