Associated Press (01/26/12)

Staffing firm Robert Half International Inc. reported its fourth-quarter profit jumped 72% to $42.6 million, or 30 cents a share, from $24.8 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose 14% to $973.5 million from $851.6 million. Rising demand for its placement services fueled the sharp increase in revenue. The results fell short of analysts’ consensus forecast, which called for earnings of 31 cents a share on $986.2 million in revenue, according to FactSet.

Robert Half officials note the company is seeing strong demand for skilled talent, particularly in the technology and accounting sectors. Revenue in the company’s largest division, Accountemps, increased 14% to $363.8 million, and all its segments posted higher revenue for the quarter.

“Our specialized staffing divisions and Protiviti reported solid results in the fourth quarter. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit, year-over-year revenue growth for the company,” says Harold Messmer Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Robert Half. “Additionally, growth rates in net income and earnings per share have significantly exceeded revenue growth rates during this period.”

Wall Street Journal Online (01/27/12) Neal Lipschutz

ManpowerGroup chairman and chief executive Jeff Joerres agrees with the proposition that there is a “new normal” of higher-than-desired unemployment in the U.S. “There’s no reason to suspect any time in the next three years we will find ourselves under 7% unemployment,” says Joerres, noting that would mean “almost eight years of high, single-digit” unemployment. Joerres predicts that demand will remain the bottom line for hiring and will trump all the structural issues afflicting the ability of so many people to find and keep jobs.

Joerres says those now out of work for a long time are actually worse off than during the Great Depression because now a long-term unemployed worker finds a job market and skill demands that essentially are in constant flux. Some of these trends play well to the fortunes of ManpowerGroup, especially the increasing numbers of companies looking for more “flexible” work forces, Joerres notes.

MarketWatch (01/26/12) Ruth Mantell

The Conference Board reports that its index of leading economic indicators grew 0.4% in December, led by the interest-rate spread and jobless claims, compared with growth of 0.2% in November. “Looking ahead, the big question remains whether cooling conditions elsewhere will limit domestic growth or, conversely, growth in the U.S. will lend some economic support to the rest of the globe,” says Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein. Economists had expected a December gain of 0.9%.

Dow Jones Newswires (01/27/12) Josh Mitchell

The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in more than a year and a half in the final three months of 2011, signaling a stronger recovery took hold despite troubles in other parts of the world. The U.S. economy grew 2.8% in the final three months of 2011, propelled by increases in consumer spending and business inventories, according to data from the U.S. Commerce Department. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected 3.0% growth.

Bloomberg Business Week (01/27/12) Joshua Zumbrun

U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond president Jeffrey Lacker says interest rates may need to rise before late 2014 to prevent an increase in inflation, dissenting from the central bank’s Jan. 25 decision to pledge keeping its benchmark interest rate near zero “at least through late 2014.” Lacker says economic conditions are not likely “to warrant an exceptionally low federal funds rate for so long. I expect that as economic expansion continues, even if only at a moderate pace, the federal funds rate will need to rise in order to prevent the emergence of inflationary pressures,” he adds.