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Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Employment: ADP, Challenger, Monster

by Calculated Risk on 7/01/2009 08:35:00 AM

ADP reports:

Nonfarm private employment decreased 473,000 from May to June 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report®. The estimated change of employment from April to May was revised by 47,000, from a decline of 532,000 to a decline of 485,000.
Note: the BLS reported a 338,000 decrease in nonfarm private employment in May, so once again ADP was not very useful in predicting the BLS number.

On the Challenger job-cut report from CNBC:
[P]lanned layoffs at U.S. firms fell for a fifth consecutive month in June, hitting the lowest since March 2008 ...

Planned job cuts announced by employers totaled 74,393 in June, down 33 percent from 111,182 in May, according to .... Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

"We typically see a decline in job cuts in the second quarter." [the report said]
...
It was the first time since last September that the monthly total was less than 100,000 and it was the lowest job-cut count since 53,579 job cuts were announced in March 2008.

It was also 9 percent lower than the same month a year ago, making it the first year-over-year decline since February 2008, Challenger added.
And from Monster:
The Monster Employment Index slipped one point or one percent in June as online job opportunities fell modestly, largely in line with seasonal expectations. Year-over-year, the Index was down 28 percent ...

“While U.S. online job availability has remained largely flat since January, the annual pace improved during the second quarter, suggesting some expansion in underlying employer demand for workers,” said Jesse Harriott, senior vice president ... at Monster Worldwide. “Still, current levels of online job vacancies are at their lowest since January 2005, illustrating the extent to which hiring has slowed during this recession.”
The BLS reports tomorrow, and the consensus is for about 350,000 in reported job losses for June.