Uh-oh: Those 1 million jobs created last spring were a figment of the feds’ imagination

Remember those rosy employment figures the Bureau of Labor Statistics put out last year? More than a million jobs added during the second quarter of 2022, to be specific?

Turns out the feds were off by a bit. And no, not off by a few thousand jobs or so. Try more than a million.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve corrected the Bureau’s wildly inaccurate projection for that period to less than 11,000 jobs created. And thanks to the Philly Fed for setting the record straight even if it took half a year for someone to tell jittery employers the truth.

Now some CEOs and CFOs who’d hoped the economy wasn’t quite as terrible as cynics kept warning will be looking to slash jobs. Perhaps the job cuts to come won’t drive as deep as those impacting technology and media companies in recent months. But it’s a good bet employers will be lopping heads at a 5% to 10% rate over the next three to six months.

Keep in mind we’re being conservative compared to what a lot of employers and economic forecasters are saying in private and publicly. Don’t forget how Amazon’s Jeff Bezos warned 2023 would be a very rough year for Americans. Thousands of Amazon employees who were recently laid off got the message loud and clear.

It’s going to a hirer’s market, for sure

If you’re leaning toward laying off people come January or you’ve got no plans to boost hiring anytime soon, you might as well stop reading this article right now.

But if you’re open to bringing new talent on board – or are in real need of an experienced financial pro – the pool of job candidates is about to improve in your favor.

You’ll improve your chances of landing that top-notch accountant or persistent accounts person if you avoid the “8 practices that turn off today’s job candidates.” HR Morning’s Michele McGovern warns if too much time passes “between the time you have contact with candidates, they will likely think twice about your organization and the role they were initially interested in.”

Lesson: Be prepared to pounce quickly for the right person. Chances are he or she is weighing offers from other employers. Make sure the other decision makers you may be leaning on don’t keep you waiting.

Also: “Review and revamp every role with hiring managers before posting [a job opening.] Be sure to clearly define the duties and expectations [and] emphasize expected outcomes beyond the actual duties.”

Many “candidates will walk away when they don’t have a clear picture of the job and how they fit into it. That happens when hiring managers and HR pros don’t pull together a current job description, plus duties and expectations” and instead, for example, post a job description that’s changed substantially since the start of the COVID pandemic.