The November Jobs Report

The economy got some unexpected good news today with the release of the Labor Department's November jobs report.  Here are some highlights:

• The unemployment rate fell to 8.6%, the lowest since March 2009.
• Employers added 120,000 jobs in November.
• An additional 72,000 jobs were added during September and October, more than was originally thought.

This is all great news but there are some things to keep in mind.  One of the reasons the unemployment rate declined is because a lot of people gave up the job search all together.  A closer look at the report shows that roughly 315,000 Americans dropped out of the labor market.  So while the drop in unemployment does reflect more Americans getting work, it's not the only reason.

Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged from the previous month, so this is a welcome surprise.  And we have to take the good news when it comes.  We just have to remember that the job market still has a long way to go before it is fully recovered.  But this is definitely a step in the right direction. 

In the mean time, use this news as a way to re-energize your job hunt.

Putting The July Jobs Report Into Perspective

I've got some good news and bad news.  The good news?  The United States added a better than expected 117,000 jobs last month, according to the just released July jobs report by the Labor Department.  Economists had predicted only 46,000 jobs would be added.  In additon, unemployment dropped slightly to 9.1%.  The bad news?  We needed to add twice that many jobs for the job market to really be on a path to full recovery.  Overall, though, this is better news than we could have hoped to expect after back-to-back underwhelming reports (though I should note those two reports were revised higher in the July report).  That doesn't mean people are not still worried about the state of the economy.

How is a job seeker supposed to stay positive when it seems like the job market is collapsing around them?  Watching the news is an exercise in depression, with bad news bombarding you constantly.  If it's so hopeless out there, why even bother applying for jobs?  It's true that even though the data for the last month was better than hoped, getting a full time job is still extremely hard in this environment.  It's not impossible, however, and that's what you have to keep in mind. 

I suppose that's easy enough for me to say when I am already happily employed, but it wasn't always like that.  It took a full year for me to find any meaningful work out of college, and even then it was an internship.  I eventually had to face the reality that the only way I was going to get a job I liked was to do pretty menial work.  With the job market being as competitive as it is, there comes a time where you are just going to have to accept anything you can get.  Is that a little grim?  Maybe, but I don't think there is anything wrong with it.  I didn't want to have to do tons of part time jobs/un-paid internships, but all these experiences eventually helped me land the job I have today. 

The lesson to take from all of this is that, no matter how bleak things seem right now, it's not hopeless.  I'm not going to try and delude you or use lay some absurd optimism on you ("Yeah, the unemployment is 9%...but that still means 91% of Americans have jobs, am I right?").  Times are undeniably hard, but it doesn't mean you should give up.  All it means is you have to try that much harder to succeed.  Just remember this: It's not easy but it's not impossible.

NPT Jobs Recommends: 7/13/2011

I'm still looking for nonprofit job search success stories.  So if you have any to share, e-mail me at zach@nptimes.com.  I'll try to get as many as I can published here on the blog at some point.  Thanks in advance!

• 'Getting the Most From the Job Market'-This is a handy graphic from ResumeBear that shows, among other things, the highest paying jobs currently in the job market.  It doesn't take long to look at, so check it out when you get the chance.
• 'Twitter Chats for Job Seekers'-Here's another use for Twitter when it comes to the job search: Twitter Chats.  This post from USA News lists all the major job Twitter Chats, what time they are held, and who hosts them.
• 'How Learning a Foreign Language Can Help You Professionally & Personally'-Yeah, it's a lot of work, but learning a new language can actually help you in your career.  Find out how by reading this post from The Brazen Careerist.