Jobs, Hiring | featured news

Economists see a vicious cycle: The economy won't improve until businesses hire, but many won't hire without consumer demand, which is weak because of the slack job market and concerns about the future. The roofing supply yard in Long Beach is rumbling with activity these days, thanks in part to a wet winter that has property owners eager to make repairs before fall.

The U.S. labor market could stay sluggish for a while, with small-business executives reluctant to hire amid the murky economic outlook, a Chamber of Commerce survey showed.

Hiring slowed to a near-standstill last month, raising doubts that the economy will rebound in the second half of the year after a spring slump.

Signs of weakness in the U.S. economic recovery mounted as reports on Wednesday showed a sharp slowdown in the vast services sector and less hiring by private companies in April.

Fast-food chain McDonald’s said Monday that it plans to hire as many as 50,000 additional employees in the United States later this month.

Renewed fears of a so-called “double-dip” recession are weighing on investors, spooking consumers and slowing businesses from hiring.

Economists say the U.S. recovery continued during the second quarter of this year with more businesses hiring workers and fewer cutting jobs, but the pace of growth has slowed, a new survey shows.

U.S. employers expect to hire more new workers in 2010 than they did in 2009, a sign the U.S. recession may be easing its grip, research showed on Tuesday.

U.S. job openings and hirings fell in October, government data showed on Tuesday, highlighting the continued distress in the labor market.

When the best job Mikala Reasbeck could find after college in Boston was counting pills part-time in a drugstore for $7 an hour, she took the drastic step of jumping on a plane to Beijing.