“A family-run concrete business in Michigan, the U.S.’s second-biggest carmaker, the largest railroad and a solar power provider in California are all hiring as industrial companies lead a broad labor-market rebound that’s on pace to add the most jobs in 15 years.
Employment may be headed for a “breakout year” as companies feel more secure adding to payrolls following several years of demand rising only to stumble on threats from U.S. budget standoffs, a debt-ceiling induced default and a European credit crisis, said Marisa Di Natale, a director at Moody’s Analytics.
“It’s the first year in several where we haven’t had some kind of manufactured fiscal showdown inWashington, which weighs on business confidence and consumer confidence,” Di Natale said.
Industries from construction to autos to oil and gas are increasing jobs as growth accelerates after a harsh winter stunted business. As some sectors, such as floor retail sales, have yet to rebound and wages have been kept in check, the recovery is likely to be a steady climb rather than a boom, according to Jeffrey Joerres, executive chairman of Milwaukee-based staffing company Manpowergroup Inc.
Nonfarm payrolls may rise by 215,000 in June, which would mark a fifth straight month of increases topping 200,000, according to the median of 89 economists’ estimates ahead of the Labor Department’s monthly employment report on July 3. That also would be the longest streak of monthly gains since September 1999-January 2000.
Help Wanted
Help-wanted signs at concrete company Kent Cos. is one indication of a hiring rebound that could create more than 2.56 million jobs, the most since 1999, if the pace is sustained. Warren Buffett’s BNSF Railway Co. plans to grow by 2,100 positions in 2014. SolarCity Corp. (SCTY) is adding 400 people a month at the rooftop power-system installer backed by Elon Musk. At Ford Motor Co., hiring is so strong that the automaker predicts it may beat a 2011 plan to bring on 12,000 new workers by 2015.
“We do see and feel and hear from our clients that there is a building of demand,” Manpower’s Joerres said. Many employers that once held off on hiring now can’t wait any longer because “they have stretched everyone for the most part to the maximum.”
Jeff VanderLaan, chief executive officer at Kent Cos., plans to add 100 people this year, a 27 percent jump in his workforce to a record 475. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based provider of services such as pouring floors and installing piers is seeing business boom in Texas, North Carolina and Ohio.
