US labour demand is recovering but firms remain cautious, preferring to use existing workers more intensively and employ temporary staff rather than expand permanent jobs.
January figures show that non-farm payrolls were essentially flat over the last three months: the establishment survey measure fell by 0.1% while an alternative measure from the household survey rose by 0.1% – see first chart. With the average workweek lengthening from 33.0 to 33.3 hours, however, aggregate hours worked in the private sector grew by 1.0% – the largest increase since late 2006. Firms, meanwhile, added a record 205,000 "temporary help" jobs over the last three months.
Global industrial output should continue to recover solidly in early 2010, judging from OECD leading indices for December, also released today – second chart.
