Job prospects are looking up. The surveys tell us so:
The Conference Board reported that online job postings rose by about 650,000 in the past five months to more than 3.9 million.
A retail hiring index compiled by Kronos showed that retailers boosted hiring by 9 percent in March to the highest level since the fall of 2008. Kronos provides scheduling, payroll and other work-force management software, and its index covers 68 companies with 27,000 retail locations.
And the U.S. Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey showed that openings rose in several sectors in February, including retail, manufacturing, transportation, restaurants and hotels. The next survey is out May 11.
Even the national employment report showed broad job gains in March. And in the Triangle, the unemployment rate remained at 8.9 percent for the third straight month as the region continued to show hints that economic activity may be picking up.
Where are the jobs?
Of course, hiring is still not where anyone would really want it to be.
And as the economy creates more jobs, the unemployment rate will most likely go up as people who had given up start looking for jobs again.
So who's hiring?
Retailers, manufacturers, restaurants and hotels. The last two added nearly 50,000 in January and February.
Transportation, warehousing and utilities companies are adding jobs, the Labor Department said. That sector posted 64,000 job openings in February, about two-thirds higher than a year ago. Transportation and warehousing added 7,800 jobs in March, the most since September 2007, before the recession began.
"That's a good sign that we're moving more freight and goods," said economist Brian Bethune at IHS Global Insight.
Automaker BMW plans to hire about 200 temporary production and logistics workers at its Greer, S.C., plant, where it makes BMW's X5 and X6 models. It will begin production of the X3 this year.
AW North Carolina said next year it will begin hiring as many 360 people in Durham, where it makes transmissions for Toyotas.
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