Are Material Handling Jobs Coming Back?
Over the last few months, there has been a lot of talk about the economy being mired in a “jobless recovery.” While the market is ticking up, the jobless rate is also increasing. Well, according to a report released by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), the expansion of the U.S. economy is on track for a resumption of job gains in the near term and sustained growth over the next two years that will slightly exceed the economy’s trend pace.”
According to a release from MHIA, “NABE panelists are optimistic in predicting the economy is already strong enough to begin creating jobs in the first quarter, compared to November’s forecast of no net change in employment. The median forecast of the survey is for an average monthly increase of 50,000 jobs in the January-March period.”
So will this roll over into material handling? Honestly, I don’t know for sure. I certainly hope it does. One thing I will say, though—and it may only be coincidence—the March 1 issue of The MHEDA Connection features no less than 8 new hire or promotion announcements from member companies. That’s well above what we have been averaging over the last year. Are the two related? Maybe, maybe not, I can’t claim that they are with any kind of certainty. What I can say is that these are two encouraging pieces of news that hint at the same conclusion—jobs may be on their way back to the material handling industry.
I’d like to hear what you have to say? Is your company hiring? What does this report mean to you?
February 24th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
We’re certainly stand by you in hoping for better times soon. We have yet to see an uptick of any consequence in our labor hour numbers.