Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) announced that 157,000 new jobs were created nationwide in January. Given that the general rule of thumb is that the country needs about 150,000 new jobs each month just to keep up with population growth, I’m not sure the news was great. Most economists feel the same way. In fact, the nationwide unemployment rate edged up from 7.8% to 7.9%. But periodically, the BLS gets a do-over. And oftentimes the recast numbers can be quite different from the first pass. Take the last two months of 2012, as an example:
| Month |
Initial Estimate |
Latest Estimate |
| November |
161,000 |
247,000 |
| December |
155,000 |
196,000 |
Could this be a trend? Let’s hope so. Here in Massachusetts (where the unemployment rate stands at 6.7%), the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) has an interesting link on their website that takes a look forward in terms of job growth. Perhaps the Commonwealth can do a better job looking forward than the BLS does looking back. Whatever the case, it is interesting to see which sectors might do most of the hiring in 2013.
If the EOLWD is correct, Health Care/Social Assistance would add the most jobs (21,014), while Professional, Scientific and Technical Services would hire 11,831. Educational Services claims the third spot with 10,193 new jobs. It is interesting to note that the top 25 industries will add at least 1,000 jobs to the Massachusetts economy and of that group, virtually every one of those has a very significant, if not solitary, small business component. Since here at Genesis, we partner with small employers in a PEO relationship in each and every industry listed, we are encouraged and confident that the small business community in the Commonwealth will be the catalyst for job growth in 2013 and beyond. And that is a trend we can all live with.
