John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, said the reluctance to hire in part reflected uncertainty about the staying power of the economic rebound -- a common refrain of executives.
What's more, companies have complained that they face serious uncertainty over the future of employee-benefit costs given the Obama administration's far-reaching overhaul of healthcare.
Huge gains over the last year in worker productivity -- output per hour worked -- also have reduced the need for additional staff in the near term. The harder people work, the less their employers may feel the need to add to payrolls.
Non-farm productivity rose at a 6.9% annual rate in the fourth quarter of last year after surging more than 7.5% in both of the preceding quarters.
Noted for May 19, 2013
1 hour ago
3 comments:
add to that, any new hiring will tend to occur offshore, for the already mentioned productivity reason.
Business owners seem to be worse than economists when it comes to fighting the last recession. If they wait long enough the next recession will have to come.
Companies don't hire until they have a contract in hand to fulfill. This, with the fact that many companies now have some excess capacity (per CNBC) will keep hiring low for awhile yet.
Ken Rogoff co-authored a study pointing out that recessions typically rebound to pre-recession levels in three years, with employment making an equivalent rebound two years later.
The Obama health care initiative argument is a red herring offered by those who really have no idea and need to say something.
Post a Comment