While on hiatus, I came across a variety of good news on employment. First, weekly unemployment claims continue to move downward:
Manufacturing hours continue to climb, at some point factories will have to start hiring as hours are maxed out.
Third, the unemployment rate is at 8.30% and moving down while the long-term unemployed rate is also going down.
Lastly, the Washington Post recently noted that there is a shortage of skilled workers.
If the employment picture continues to get better so will the economy. That will in turn lead to more positive feedback loops that are self sustaining. This is one of, if the not main reason, why I think we can have a really good year in the market – absent a large negative event (e.g. European credit about face, middle east escalation).
