Business Hiring Up in June

Although the word recession has been used a lot recently, it seems that consumer confidence and general business growth is finally rising. With 195,000 new jobs created in June, it seems that the end to the financial crisis that has gripped the world might finally be approaching as business growth continues.

However, this is still quite a weak gain compared to the total number of people who work in the United States, despite being better than the forecast of 160,000 made by a number of economists. New jobs also aren't all a recovering economy needs, although they're certainly a start.

The biggest area of business growth was in the leisure and hospitality industry, which added 75,000 jobs. However, that's to be expected as the U.S. hits summer vacation season. It's probable that many of these jobs are summer jobs that will end when students go back to school, although the industry has expanded significantly over the past year. More encouragingly, the consulting service industry expanded by 55,000 workers; this includes IT consultants and management services, which are often used more frequently when businesses are growing and investing in the future.

The biggest problem facing the U.S. at the moment is the unemployment rate, which remained unchanged at 7.6 percent. To start bringing this down, the country needs new jobs at a rate of around 200,000 per month. This would ease pressure on government finances. However, there were 5,000 fewer government workers in June as a result of downsizing.

It's still good news for HR professionals as long as they're the ones doing the hiring. Companies can pick and choose the best and the brightest, and the slow expansion of various businesses means that there will be opportunities within HR as human resources departments have to deal with the increased number of staff in new jobs.

There will also be opportunities for promotions, as bigger departments need people with more experience for supervisory roles. While a business might have previously used a single manager for multiple locations, as those locations expand to meet demand, the business might find it needs an HR manager in each location. It's always worth taking on extra responsibilities that get you noticed when the company is looking for managers or even area managers. In short, new jobs and extra staff in your company could lead to a better job for you.

Job growth has primarily been in specialty sectors, so it helps if you understand the sector that you're going into. HR professionals who are used to dealing with chain restaurants can expect to see more opportunities, as can those who are used to dealing with financial and IT employees. For those working in manufacturing, construction, and transportation, however, the number of job opportunities remains relatively flat. This is perhaps one of the biggest signs that the nation is not out of crisis yet.

While the influx of new jobs means that HR professionals may have more opportunities, it's highly industry-specific. However, if you want to learn about a new industry, there may still be a number of great opportunities for you.

(Photo courtesy of basketman / freedigitalphotos.net)