American Staffing Association (03/25/14)

Staffing employment for the week of March 10–16 was up 3.11% compared with the same week last year, according to the ASA Staffing Index, which rose to 94. That week is the same one used in the March monthly employment situation report that will be issued April 4 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The ASA Staffing Index is reported nine days after each workweek, making it a near real-time measure of staffing employment trends. ASA research shows that staffing employment is a coincident economic indicator.

National Association for Business Economics (03/25/14)

Annual average gross domestic product growth in 2014 is expected to be stronger than projected in December’s survey by the National Association for Business Economics, the group says. GDP of 2.8% is forecast compared with the 2.5% forecast in December. This is despite the median view that unusually severe winter weather will subtract 0.4 percentage points from annualized real GDP growth in the first quarter of the year. On a quarterly basis, the survey respondents expect real GDP growth to rise steadily from a 1.9% annualized rate in the first quarter of 2014 to 3.2% in the third quarter of 2015.

Further labor market recovery is anticipated. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to post an average monthly gain of 188,000 for all of 2014, slightly below the 194,000 recorded last year. Survey respondents anticipate stronger job creation of 205,000 per month in 2015. The unemployment rate is expected to average 6.4% in 2014, down a full percentage point from 2013, and decline to 6.1% in 2015.

The Conference Board (03/25/2014)

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in February, rose in March. The index now stands at 82.3, up from 78.3 in February. The Present Situation Index edged down to 80.4 from 81.0, while the Expectations Index increased to 83.5 from 76.5.

Consumers’ assessment of current conditions was little changed in March. Those claiming business conditions are “good” increased to 22.9% from 21.2%; however, those claiming business conditions are “bad” also rose, to 23.2% from 22.0%. Consumers’ appraisal of the labor market was relatively unchanged. Those claiming jobs are “plentiful” decreased marginally to 13.1% from 13.4%, while those saying jobs are “hard to get” increased slightly to 33.0% from 32.4%. However, those expecting more jobs in the months ahead edged up to 13.9% from 13.7%, while those expecting fewer jobs fell to 18.0% from 20.9%.