Outplacement Firm Says Hiring is Up

One outplacement firm is reporting that American employers are gradually beginning to hire workers, a sign that the economy could be improving.

A new survey from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that employers planned to hire 169,385 workers from January through September, which is an 88 percent increase from the same time period during 2008.

"Of course, these figures represent just a tiny fraction of the hiring and available jobs out there," CEO John Challenger said. "There is no doubt that this is a tight job market. However, it would be a mistake to assume that no one is hiring."

The survey found that the retail sector, which has been hit hard by the recession, planned to make the most hires. That industry planned to hire 33,640 workers during the nine month period, which is less than 4,000 hires during all of 2008.

The government and non-profit sectors planned to make the second-most hires by adding 28,469 workers. The entertainment and leisure industry followed, planning to make 22,370 workers.

"Within the hidden job market are companies that plan to fill positions through employee referrals, those that use recruiters to find the right candidates, as well as those that have no plans to hire, but will do so if the right person comes along," Challenger said. "The labor market is extremely fluid, even in the worst of times. Companies are constantly adding and subtracting workers, sometimes simultaneously."

These findings are somewhat surprising, given the fact that during September, the nation as a whole lost 263,000 jobs and saw its unemployment rate increase from 9.7 percent to 9.8 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Since December 2007, when the recession began, the number of unemployed people throughout the country has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, while the unemployment rate has doubled, reaching its current rate of 9.8 percent.