Employment Increases in Several States

 We’re in an economic recovery, or so we’ve been told.  But this recovery has felt very slow to the millions of people who are still unemployed.  Slow to the point of being non-existent.  And as recruiters, well it’s not easy to place people in jobs when jobs are so few and far between.

But things are looking up – at least in some states.

Employment figures released today for some states show Texas was the big winner for the month of March 2011, having added 37,200 jobs, and eight other states posted significant employment gains.  These employment gains for the month were reported for states as far south as Florida (up 22,600 jobs), as far east as North Carolina (up 13,900), as far west as Nevada (with a gain of 7,600), and only as far north as Indiana (adding 10,000 jobs).  Other states that posted significant employment gains were Missouri (up 24,300 jobs),  Oklahoma (up 13,200 jobs), Kansas (up 6,900) and Kentucky (up 11,600).  These numbers, coming as they do from all over the country, may signal a more general trend toward lower unemployment across the country.

But it’s not all good news.  Employment figures from two states in the Northeast were also released today, and both show net job losses for the month of March.  These states were Maine (down 5,100 jobs) and Connecticut (-6,000).  Hopefully, the trend we’ve seen in these other states in March will make it way to New England before too long.