Business Wire (06/04/15)

Private equity investor AE Industrial Partners LLC has signed an agreement to acquire Cincinnati-based Belcan Corp., an engineering services and technical staffing provider in the aerospace, power generation, and industrial markets. Terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter. BelFlex Staffing Network, Belcan’s light industrial staffing subsidiary, is not included in the transaction.

NFIB News Release (06/04/15)

There was solid small-business hiring in May, which may indicate a decline in unemployment, according to the National Federation of Independent Business’ May jobs report. Fourteen percent of small employers increased employment, by an average of 2.7 workers per firm. Another 12% reported reducing employment an average of 3.0 workers per firm. Plans to create jobs are up one point to a net 12%. Fifty-five percent of small-business owners reported hiring or trying to hire, up two points from April.

“May continued to show solid, but not spectacular hiring, continuing the trend of previous months in 2015,” says William C. Dunkelberg, NFIB’s chief economist. “For the second time this year, a high of 29% had openings they couldn’t fill; a high we hadn’t seen since April 2006. This is a strong indication that the unemployment rate will decline further. The supply of available qualified labor is not large enough relative to even weak labor demand to keep the unemployment rate higher.”

Wall Street Journal (06/04/15) Ian Talley

The International Monetary Fund has reduced its forecasts for U.S. economic growth to 2.5% for the year from 3.1% forecast in April, after a strong dollar and bad weather stalled job creation and expansion. IMF also has called on the U.S. Federal Reserve to delay until 2016 its first short-term interest rate increase in nearly 10 years. Data show that long-term unemployment and high levels of part-time work signal slack in the labor market, and wage data indicates only slight growth. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar has surged against other currencies, with the IMF noting it is “moderately overvalued.”

“[Given the] significant uncertainty around inflation prospects, the degree of slack, and the neutral policy rate, there is a strong case for waiting to raise rates until there are more tangible signs of wage or price inflation,” said IMF. The call for a delay, however, comes at a time when critics have grown concerned about the risks building in the financial system, particularly in the insurance and money markets.