The national jobs report for May arrived with some disappointing, but not too surprising, news.
With an increase in total employment of only 69,000 jobs and the unemployment rate inching up to 8.2 percent, the job market is showing a few hiccups but hopefully will return to some steady growth.
The number of people employed part time for economic reasons (those who are involuntarily employed part time because to the lack of full-time permanent jobs) edged up to 8.1 million over the month.
A truly concerning number is the 830,000 discouraged workers who have given up on finding work. This number is a direct result of people who do not understand that employers are hiring every day and jobs are available every single day.
For entrylevel work, The Home Depot, for example, is currently hiring seasonal workers for its gardening centers and other areas that have an increase in sales over the summer months. More than half of those hired for seasonal work end up working in a permanent position later. The reality is, most Home Depot employees started as seasonal workers.
Among the areas that lost the most jobs was the all-important construction industry, losing a total of 28,000 jobs nationwide. The construction industry remains a major factor in the overall economy, especially the construction of industrial- and business-related buildings and complexes, which in turn creates more jobs.
What this means for the employment situation for the Top of Utah will become clearer when the Utah Department of Workforce Services (Utah's Job Connection) issues its May employment report by specific counties on June 18. There is little doubt that the report will remain much better than the national picture, as it has in the recent past. Utah typically runs at least two percentage points better than the national unemployment rate.
In the meantime, if you are among those who are too discouraged to look for work, it may be time to reconsider. Employers do hire every day. If you have spent months looking for work and have yet to find a job, it is time to look at how you are conducting your job search.
If, for example, you are just applying for jobs online, you are severely limiting yourself. It has been the case, and likely always will be such, that most jobs are found through networking.
While there are ebbs and flows in any given industry, unexpected job opportunities always come up when the employers least expect it and finds themselves needing a new employee. These reasons include an employee suddenly quitting or retiring earlier than planned, an employee finding a better job or being promoted or employees who, because of illness or other reasons, find themselves unable to work. This leads to job opportunities, even with employers who may have had recent layoffs.
With fingers crossed, we can hope for better times to come and we can look to May as just a small blip on the radar screen. If you are unemployed, keep networking and hang in there.
Ron Campbell has worked extensively in the job preparation and job search industry. He can be reached at 801-386-1111 or campbellrv@gmail.com.
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