onetime2

In all honesty, I think they may be too pessimistic now. Looking at other indicators like business spending, inventory levels, a number of international economies coming out of terrible times, continued housing and automotive sales, etc I could see the economy really start to take off. Well beyond the already impressive 4 to 4.5% growth we've been seeing.

I hope jobs continue coming back at a relatively slow rate (a couple hundred thousand a month is fine) rather than a mad rush (which is still quite possible). I know many companies have been holding off hiring because of concerns about the economy and consumers' ability to keep up the spending pace but businesses seem to have come to the conclusion that the market is really good and they may soon opt to really fill spaces. If that happens, I expect to see higher consumer spending (and more indebtedness) which, in the face of soon to be raised interest rates, makes for a potential disturbance. Additionally, the increased demand that would be set off by a "worker's employment market" means increased inflation.

Two primary limiting factors in job creation are health care costs and productivity. With increased productivity companies don't need as many people but I fear companies don't quite recognize that. The health care costs are still a big factor but companies are cutting their contributions to health insurance and opting to hire more part time or temporary workers to get around them.

Businesses just don't have a good track record of good short term actions. The general feeling in the workplace, I think, is that everyone is understaffed and hopes of growing business will be met with demands for more workers (even though it might take a while for the business to make use of the additional labor).

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