Friday, January 7, 2011

Is the Job Market showing improvement?

According to Tim Landis with the State Journal Register ...

Jobs market shows gradual improvement

Month after month, the job numbers have been getting better in Illinois, including in the Springfield area.

Statewide, the number of unemployed is down nearly 25 percent since the start of the year, though employment officials say some of that results from people who have simply quit looking. The figure for Springfield is a 23 percent decrease.

National, state and local forecasts are for a continued pickup in hiring into the spring of 2011 and for more temporary workers to go full time, including in industries from banking to manufacturing.

“It’s nothing extreme. It’s just a continued strengthening,” said Express Employment Professionals owner Jim Britton, who has been in the local employment services business for more than 30 years.

“There’s still a sense of uncertainty and cautiousness,” Britton added. “We have a lot of people working full time, we just don’t know how long the work is going to be.”

A regular Manpower Inc. forecast for hiring nationally and state by state has a similar feel to it, including for Illinois. The hiring outlook for the first three months of 2011 is better than it has been in two years, but there is a “persistent level of uncertainty,” according to the forecast.

The survey of Illinois employers also found improved job prospects for all industries but construction, which is expected to remain flat.

“We’ve seen a large increase in the volume, though we know some of that is seasonal hiring (for the holidays),” said Ginette Comstock, regional director for Manpower Inc. in Springfield.

She said banks and financial services companies have begun hiring again in Springfield, while manufacturing employment has begun to pick up for the first time in months in markets such as Decatur and Jacksonville.

Comstock said more companies are moving temporary workers into regular employment, traditionally an early sign of improvement.

“2009 was especially tough on everybody,” said Comstock. “But we are seeing employers a little more likely to make that permanent commitment to full time.”



Tim Landis can be reached at 788-1536.



Scheels to hire 300-350 workers

Scheels expects to hire 300 to 350 workers by spring for its Springfield store, which is scheduled to open this summer.

Assistant store leader Ryan Hallowell said Monday the store will fill 120 to 130 full-time positions, including more than 50 specialty-shop managers. The other hires will be for part-time jobs ranging from 15 to 35 hours per week.

Hallowell is among a group of managers assigned to a hiring center at 3261 S. Meadowbrook Road. The store is being built on the MacArthur Boulevard extension just north of Interstate 72. It is scheduled to open June 24, 2011.

“We’ve been getting applicants for months now,” said Hallowell.

He said some applicants have driven an hour or more to Springfield, adding that the hiring pool includes a mix of the already employed and the unemployed.

“My prior experience is in Lincoln, Neb., which is a very low unemployment area,” said Hallowell. “While I have noticed more (unemployed), it’s not an alarming amount. I’m seeing both sides of it.”

Hallowell said Scheels wages and benefits are competitive, and part-time jobs pay above minimum wage. Commissions also are paid for certain positions. He said full-time jobs should be filled by April and part-time jobs by mid-May.

Roger Norton, 65, of Springfield was among those who picked up applications at the west-side hiring center on Monday.

“I’m looking for something part time, and I’m an avid hunter and fisherman, outdoorsman,” said Norton, adding that he has been looking for work “for a while,” but had concentrated on something in the sporting-goods industry.

Scheels, based in Fargo, N.D., has 23 stores in eight states. The Springfield store will be the first in Illinois.

- Tim Landis

Courtesy of the State Journal Register

1 comment:

  1. No a days the Real Estate market is on down side. There will be improvement in the future. Everyone wait for the Real Estate improvements.

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