Monthly Archives: May 2015

[05/26/15]  Consumer confidence rebounded slightly this month as the job market showed signs of improvement. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to 95.4 in May from 94.3 in April. Last month's reading had been sharp drop from March's 101.4. A year ago, the index stood at 82.2. Consumers' assessment of current economic conditions improved, but their outlook for the next six months slipped. Their expectations for the job market improved, however. Consumers were more likely this month to say they planned to buy a car, home or major appliance within the next six months. Employers added a healthy 223,000 jobs last month, up from a lackluster 85,000 in...

[05/11/15]  Job growth last month shifted to higher-paying positions in a sign of a broadening labor market recovery. Professional and business services, construction and health care led the solid 223,000 job gains reported by the Labor Department on Friday. Retail and leisure and hospitality lagged. Both have been engines of payroll gains through most of the U.S. employment upswing since 2010. "We're seeing more quality jobs," says Diane Swonk, chief economist of Mesirow Financial. The trend, she says, partly reflects a widening recovery that includes a pickup in full-time positions.

[05/06/15]  Private employers in the United States added in April the smallest monthly number of workers in more than a year. And, in another report, the Labor Department found that nonfarm productivity fell in the first quarter as harsh winter weather depressed output.

Payrolls in the private sector increased by 169,000 last month, the ADP National Employment Report showed, the fewest since January 2014.

March payrolls were revised down to show 14,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported. The report developed with Moody's Analytics was released before the government's more comprehensive employment findings, which are due on Friday. Although it has...