Despite less than exciting unemployment numbers refusing to subside, the construction industry looks to have a rebuilding year (pun partially intended). Since 2.2 million construction jobs were lost at the start of the recession, 2012 looks to bring 113,000 back- double the amount created in 2011, placing the blue collar industry at the front of the pack with the rest of the booming sectors right now. Any sunshine is good news for an industry that has a ripple effect on other businesses like steel, concrete and furniture.
The economy has seen recent success from higher consumer spending, a surprising stock market surge and improved business confidence. All of which add to some much needed good vibrations concerning the European financial crisis. This good news must continue if President Obama is to remain in office. However, if the unemployment rate stays above 8 percent, economists predict his opponents will take the advantage.
Regardless of whose in office, economists still predict at least 2.1 million new jobs will be created in 2012 at an average of 175,000 per month- topping the monthly pace of any year since the beginning of the recession. Although those numbers would be the highest recorded yet, they still fall dramatically short of the 250,000 – 300,000 necessary to shrink unemployment completely. “It’s not going to be a breakout year,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.
Expect the biggest signs of improvement to be seen from the leisure and hospitality industry, education and healthcare, and of course, start-ups which constitute for 2/3 of new jobs created in recovery. Also, it’s not completely irrational to spot a dip in the number of jobless people on account of significant baby boomers retiring.
Don’t expect to find large corporations and businesses flooding the job boards with new posts, though. They will more than likely continue holding out on long-term hiring, keeping with the trend of contractual and temporary workers taking the bulk of their payroll. As they lounge on record cash reserves, consumers (making up 70 percent of the economy) are burdened by debt, so the companies are able to start reworking travel budgets and save money on their software systems by switching to remotely accessible programs, e.g. The Cloud.
SOURCE: USA Today
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