American Staffing Association (06/06/13) Alex Karaer

According to the latest report issued by the federal reserve on economic conditions across the 12 U.S. districts (known as the “beige book”), the nation’s economy maintained a “modest to moderate” pace of growth during April and May. Most districts noted moderate gains in consumer spending and an expansion in manufacturing activity. A wide variety of business services reported gains and residential and commercial real estate market activity was positive. Hiring was limited across several districts, with some contacts noting a shortage of skilled workers. Wage pressures were generally contained.

Conference Board News Release (06/05/13)

The Conference Board’s Help Wanted OnLine Data Series shows a 3% drop in online advertised vacancies to 4.8 million in May and a supply and demand rate of 2.3 unemployed workers per vacancy. Forty-four states saw declines in online labor demand last month, but increases were recorded in Utah, Colorado, Montana, West Virginia, Oregon, and Mississippi. Mississippi had the highest supply and demand rate of 4.79, compared with the lowest rate of 0.64 in North Dakota. Of the 22 major groups in the Standard Occupational Classifications, 17 experienced drops in demand, but gains were reported for production and construction workers and those in legal occupations.

Bloomberg (06/06/13) Lorraine Woellert

Jobless claims fell last week by 11,000 to 346,000 from a revised 357,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. A Bloomberg forecast by 47 economists anticipated a decline to 345,000. Continuing claims fell for the second time in three weeks. Meanwhile, the less-volatile four-week moving average increased to 352,500 last week from 348,000.

Wall Street Journal (06/05/13) Kathleen Madigan

The Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index increased slightly to 53.7 in May from 53.1 in April, but is still lower than March’s 54.4 reading. The subindexes were mixed. New orders rose to 56.0 in May from 54.5 in April, and business activity and production increased to 56.5 from 55.0. However, the employment index dropped to 50.1 from 52.0, which is the weakest since July 2012. The inventory index dropped to 51.5 from 56.0 in April. The prices index remained steady, down slightly to 51.1 from 51.2.

MarketWatch (06/06/13) Steve Goldstein

According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers said in May that they would reduce their payrolls by 36,398, down 4.5% from April and 41% from May 2012. In the first five months of the year, 219,560 job cuts were announced, a decline of 11% from the same period a year ago. Most of the planned layoffs are in the financial sector, while media accounts for the biggest percentage gains in job cuts.