With the national employment picture showing signs of revival, April may no longer be the cruelest month. Last month's job report showed 244,000 jobs added to the employment rolls, confirming a positive trend in the job market. Strong April numbers followed good numbers for March, when 221,000 jobs were added.
According to Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, these gains represent the strongest performance of the past five years. The private sector accounts for all of the improvement, with state and local governments continuing to shed jobs in the face of shrinking revenue.
One facet of the recent report that deserves special note is the decline in temporary jobs that has accompanied an increase in permanent positions. Economists see this as a potential early indicator that employers have become more comfortable with hiring and more optimistic about their ability to sustain robust permanent payrolls.
All of this is consistent with 2010 trends that often presage better times on the employment front. One early indicator, venture capital investment, had not shown a year-to-year increase since 2007. In 2010, however, venture investment grew to $21.8 billion, a 19 percent over 2009 levels, with a 12 percent increase in the number of deals made.
One particularly optimistic note is the marked increase in funding for companies tapping venture capital for the first time. Compared to 2009, investment in companies without previous venture funding increased 30 percent.
Much of the year's venture capital went to software companies, highlighted by $200 million invested in Twitter, and to firms concentrating in clean technology, including a $350 million investment in Better Place, a Palo Alto company involved in building infrastructure for electric vehicles.
General economic news has also been heartening. In March, the Department of Commerce announced an upward revision of its estimate of gross domestic product for the final quarter of 2010. Strong corporate earnings have been accompanied by an increase in industrial production and retail sales that increased 8.9 percent in April, one of the biggest monthly boosts in several years. Bolstered by these numbers, the stock market has more than held its own, with the Dow Jones industrial average showing substantial support after breaching the 12,500 barrier.
The picture is not entirely rosy. Jobs in construction and in the private sector show continued weakness and economic growth must battle high commodity and energy prices. The real estate market has yet to show the kind of strength that would constitute a real recovery. Despite it all, the recent reports hint at better times for job seekers, welcome news indeed after such an extended period of gloom.