We all know the expression “April Shower bring May Flowers”. As I live with day after day of gray rainy skies I pop the question “What do October Showers Bring? This warm muggy weather sure feels more like April then October. So what will they do to irrigate the job-market?
Last weeks/month job creation numbers were extremely weak to say the least. The analysts attribute the down turn to Hurricanes and all agree that this is a temporary downturn in the job creation cycle.
I read a story that the fast food chains in the New Orleans area are offering generous sign-on bonuses (6K) and doubling wages so they can attract hamburger flippers to feed the hungry. I hope that someday the programmers market returns to sign-on bonuses, counter-offers and panic hiring. But for now we should all be happy that IT wage deflation has seized and that the demand for IT talent has return to a somewhat competitive level. The IT perfect storm of the last few years, Y2K, Dotcom Bust, 911 and Off-Shoring leveled the demand very quickly with hurricane force. I am pleased to report that this destruction has been repaired with the prospect over the long term looking very positive and the war for IT talent has begun.
As for our micro market sample here at BLK (https://www.jobsbl.com) we have experienced a slow down with mixed signals from our leading indicators. New job assignments are off by about 30% (not a good sign), but the number of new and repeat clients contacting us for staffing product demos are up 25% (pointing to a positive demand increase in the near future)
So I guess the bottom line is that I have no idea what the immediate future holds, but remain extremely positive long term. As for now on this rainy day the NY Yankees are cleaning out their lockers and I know George Steinbrenner will be creating a few jobs in the Bronx over the next 6 months. We look forward to expressing our opinions on who should fill those openings. One thing is sure April showers will bring new talent to the Bronx baseball diamond.