Hunt Scanlon: US economic rebound gains momentum in March.

March economic numbers reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that the unemployment rate had dropped to 6%. To put that in perspective, the rate was 3.5% in February 2020 before the pandemic took hold. While there’s still recovery needed to go to get back to where we were, hard-hit industries like leisure, hospitality, education and construction are on the upswing.

Two leaders from global staffing firm Randstad shared their comments on what this means to the economy. Karen Fichuk, CEO, Randstad North America and Randstad N.V. executive board member, reports on what she’s seeing in her role: “We are actively recruiting for more than 15,000 new full-time jobs for our largest clients. This quantity is the largest we have seen in 24 months and represents a 38% increase over the fourth quarter of 2020.”

Michael Smith, global CEO of Randstad Sourceright, agrees that things are trending in the right direction. “The volume of jobs added in March is a clear signal that the U.S. economy is strengthening,” he says. “As organizations look to hire, we are seeing increased interest in recruitment processing outsourcing which provides a turn-key workforce, technology stack and talent analytics for companies to scale up and down as needed.”

It is expected that growth will continue on pace with increased vaccine eligibility and fewer business restrictions. Get a full picture of the March BLS statistics in Hunt Scanlon. You can also keep on top of emerging news with Randstad Sourceright’s Talent Continuity & COVID-19 Insights stream.