Economy – Canada

Employment in Canada rose by 34,500 jobs in January compared to December to a total of nearly 19.2 million jobs, according to seasonally adjusted data from Statistics Canada. In addition, the unemployment rate edged down to 5.5%.

Canada added 25,900 jobs in January compared to December, according to the ADP Canada National Employment Report. The gain is down from an increase of 46,700 jobs in December.

Economy – US

The Institute for Supply Management’s Purchasing Manager’s Index for manufacturing returned to expansion territory in January for the first time since July. "Global trade remains a cross-industry issue, but many respondents were positive for the first time in several months," said Timothy Fiore, chair of the ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. "Overall, sentiment this month is moderately positive regarding near-term growth." The PMI reading for January was 50.9%, up from 47.8% in December. Readings above 50 indicate growth.

The US added 291,000 nonfarm, private-sector jobs in January from December, according the ADP National Employment Report. The gain exceeded forecasts from economists surveyed by Econoday, who expected an increase of 154,000, MarketWatch reported, and was the largest gain since May 2015.

Economic activity in the US nonmanufacturing expanded in January. The Institute for Supply Management’s index on nonmanufacturing economic activity rose to reading of 55.5% in January, up 0.6 percentage point from December. Readings above 50 indicate expansion. The index is based on a data from purchasing and supply executives across the US.

Employment in the US tech sector rose by 15,800 new positions in January, according to an analysis by CompTIA, the trade association for the global IT industry. January’s numbers represent a bounce-back after several lackluster months, according to CompTIA.

Job growth has picked up after several weaker quarters, and the US is on track for solid job growth in the early part of this year, The Conference Board reported. Its Employment Trends Index rose in January to a reading of 110.24, up from December’s reading of 108.84.

Job openings posted a steep year-over-year decline in December. However, a separate report released by The Conference Board found that online labor demand was flat in January with indicators of continued solid growth. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the number of job openings fell by 14.9% year-over year in December to a total of 6.4 million.

The outlook for US economic growth in 2020 looks stronger now than it did three months ago, according to the Survey of Professional Forecasters released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Forecasters now predict real GDP will grow at an annual rate of 1.7% this quarter, down from the previous forecast of 1.9%; however, for each of the next three quarters, the panel sees higher output growth than they predicted previously. Real GDP growth for the full-year 2020 is now projected to be 2.0%, up from the prior forecast of 1.8%.

US gross domestic product will grow between 2.0% and 2.25% this year, and unemployment is expected to drop further, according to commentary released by Robert Kaplan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. However, how the coronavirus will affect the economy remains an unknown.

The US labor shortage — especially for blue collar workers — will continue through at least 2030, according to a new study released by The Conference Board. It released a study is based on a survey of more than 200 human resource executives. Findings included 85% of companies in "mostly blue-collar industries" reported recruiting difficulty compared to 64% of companies in "mostly white-collar industries."

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index picked up in January, sending another signal of continued economic expansion for the first half of this year. "The LEI’s six-month growth rate has returned to positive territory, suggesting that the current economic expansion — at about 2% — will continue through early 2020," said Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economic research at The Conference Board.

A recession is no longer likely to happen this year in the US, according to the Economic Policy Survey report released by the National Association for Business Economics. The survey of NABE members put the odds of a recession this year at 25% or less.

Consumer confidence improved slightly in February, indicating that consumer spending will continue to support economic growth through the first half, according to The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index.

Economy – outside North America

Nearly three quarters, or 72%, of UK firms reported recruitment difficulties in Q4 2019 according to the latest quarterly Recruitment Outlook from the British Chambers of Commerce, in partnership with Totaljobs. The survey also showed that 55% of firms were looking to hire during the quarter.

The number of temporary employees in the UK fell by 8.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis to a total of approximately 1.42 million for the three-month period from October through December 2019 when compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The UK employment rate was estimated at a record high of 76.5%, 0.6% higher than a year earlier and 0.4% up on the previous quarter. The highest employment rate estimate in the UK was in the South West (80.1%) and the lowest was in the North East (71.1%).

Nearly 28% of Indian companies are set to increase hiring by 15% to 30%, according to Naukri’s Hiring Outlook 2020. The biannual survey covering the January to June 2020 period saw participation from over 2,400 recruiters spanning across 15 major industries. It found that 32% of companies indicated an increase in hiring between 5-10% and 7% of recruiters suggested an increment of under 5% in their companies.

New Zealand’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.0% in the December quarter, down 0.3% when compared to the same period in the previous year, according to data from Statistics New Zealand. When compared to the previous quarter, the unemployment rate fell by 0.1%. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted under-utilisation rate fell to 10.0% in the December quarter, down 2.0% when compared to the previous year and a decrease of 0.4% compared to the previous quarter.

The unemployment rate for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries remained stable at 5.1% in December 2019. Across the OECD area, 32.6 million people were unemployed in December.

In the euro area, the unemployment rate declined to 7.4% in December (from 7.5% in November), with declines of 0.3% in Lithuania (to 6.1%) and the Netherlands (to 3.2%), and increases of 0.2% or more in Latvia (to 6.7%) and Portugal (to 6.9%). In the EU, the unemployment rate reached 6.2%.

Outside Europe, the unemployment rate fell by 0.5% in Israel (to 3.4%) and by 0.3% in Canada (to 5.6%) and Mexico (to 3.2%), while it increased by 0.2% in Korea (to 3.8%). The unemployment rate was stable in Japan (at 2.2%) and the US (at 3.5%). In Australia, it stood at 5.1% down from 5.2%.

South Africa’s jobless rate remained steady in the fourth quarter when compared to the third quarter of 2019, according to data from Statistics South Africa. The data also found that the number of employed persons increased by 45,000 to 16.4 million and the number of unemployed persons decreased by 8,000 to 6.7 million in Q4 2019 when compared to Q3 2019. This resulted in an increase of 38,000 in the labour force.

Malaysia‘s government published labour force statistics showing that the unemployment rate stood at 3.3% in December 2019, steady when compared to December 2018, according to data published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. When compared to November 2019, the unemployment rate increased by 0.1%.

Chinese ecommerce platforms are hiring or planning to hire thousands of temporary workers amid the coronavirus outbreak, reports Tech in Asia. Some platforms are scrambling to hire thousands of temporary workers, as the new virus’ outbreak and government-imposed travel restrictions have increased consumer demand for online grocery delivery services.

Hong Kong’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased slightly to 3.4% during the three-month period from November 2019 to January 2020, when compared to the previous three-month period ended December 2019 (3.3%), according to the latest labour force statistics published by the Census and Statistics Department.

The majority, or 71%, of Malaysia-based respondents in a survey expect the local economic situation to improve in this year, according to Randstad. Randstad found that 82% of the respondents expect their employers to perform better financially in 2020 compared to 2019.

Australia‘s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 5.3% in January 2020, up 0.2% on when compared to the same period last year, according to data published today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The number of unemployed people stood at 725,900 in January 2020, up 7.1% compared to the previous year.

The seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in Taiwan stood at 3.71% in January 2020, down 0.01% when compared to January 2019, according to data from the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics.