Newest Data Shows Economy Is Set For Jobs Rebound.

The Wall Street Journal (8/10, A3, Lahart) reports, "The rapid pace at which businesses shed jobs during the recession comes with a flip side: Workers will need to be hired back quickly as the economy improves." So "deep have companies cut jobs that Friday's employment report, which showed that the U.S. economy lost a quarter-million jobs in July, was seen as a relief." Businesses say "they are running lean" and "to be sure, even as more companies begin to hire as the economy recovers, it could take years before payrolls reach their prerecession level." But "one thing different about this recession -- and one more reason the job market may come back more quickly than in the downturns of 2001 and 1990-91 -- is that so many of the job losses have been at the service-related companies that have come to dominate U.S employment." Many service-related firms "may have a more pressing need than manufacturers to rehire workers as demand comes back."
The New York Times (8/8, A1, Uchitelle, Healy) reported on its front page, "The most heartening employment report since last summer suggested on Friday that a recovery was under way - and perhaps gathering steam - despite the reluctance of the nation's businesses to resume hiring or even stop shedding jobs." Employers "eliminated 247,000 jobs in July, a huge number by the standards of an ordinary recession, but the smallest monthly loss since last August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported." And the unemployment rate "actually ticked down, to 9.4 percent from 9.5 percent in June, mainly because so many people dropped out of the hunt for work, ceasing to list themselves as unemployed." But the employment report released Friday "included some unsettling information. ... never in the 61 years of recordkeeping has one-third of the unemployed, currently 14.5 million people, been out of work for 27 weeks or more."
Reuters (8/8) added that the government revised data for May and June to show 43,000 fewer jobs were lost than previously reported, but the White House said it still expected the unemployment rate to hit 10 percent this year.