Signs of improvement

When previous labor reports showed that 409,000 jobs were lost in September and October, you knew the economy was going through some rough times.

But a new employment report that shows jobs losses of 11,000 for November and a decrease in unemployment to 10 percent, down from 10.2 percent in October, really could be a bright sign of things to come.

After a recession that has dampened the job prospects of recent graduates and predicted a slow recovery hanging over the heads of those in school now, recent reports are a genuine sign that young people should be more optimistic for the future.

Not only did new labor reports show that 50,000 more workers were hired and that workers were getting more hours, it also scaled down job loss numbers for the last few months.

The new September data shows a job loss of only 139,000 and the loss in October number was changed to 111,000.

This all comes on top of other good news for the economy, including the fact that the U.S. economy is finally growing again by a rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter of this year.

It’s hard to say precisely what deserves credit for the greater optimism young people should have for future job growth and their employment outlook over the next few years.

Good information on how the $787 billion stimulus affected the economy probably won’t be available for many years. But it seems safe to say, given how pessimistic people were about the recession less than a year ago, that the stimulus and attempts to save failing banks – although both policies might have had flaws – have helped the economy get back on track.

The recovery will probably still be slow. Its pace will depend significantly on the fate of new tax cuts and public spending recently proposed by President Barack Obama to compliment the stimulus.

A high-ranking economist at Goldman Sachs said it could take as long as five years for unemployment to fall to a normal rate of five percent, which is a compelling reason for the government to soften the strains of recovery.

Regardless of government policy, the economy probably is on the right track and we will be pulled out of this decline eventually.

That is good news for all young people worried about their future.