The nation's unemployment rate remains at 9.5 percent, with more than 14.6 million people in the United States currently unemployed, according to the latest data.

"After two years of job losses, private payrolls expanded at an average of about 100,000 per month during the first half of this year, an improvement but still a pace insufficient to reduce the unemployment rate materially," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said earlier this month.

The Fed chief followed up last Friday, stating, "Private-sector employment has grown only sluggishly, the small decline in the unemployment rate is attributable more to reduced labor force participation than to job creation and initial claims for unemployment insurance remain high."

Manufacturing has been a relative bright spot in hiring the last few months, as employment in the sector has expanded by 183,000 since December 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

As with Labor Department data, manufacturing continued to rise in Monster.com's employment index for July, as did transportation and warehousing industries, adding to longer-term trends that reflect continued growth in overall production and business. In total, the index grew 21 percent year-over-year in July, reflecting six consecutive months of positive growth.

"The fact that hiring is more robust than a year ago points to a general improvement in the nation's hiring conditions as the economy continues its slow but steady recovery," according to Jesse Harriott, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at Monster Worldwide.

In fact, U.S. employers anticipate "favorable hiring plans" for the third quarter this year, according to the seasonally adjusted results of Manpower Inc.'s latest quarterly Employment Outlook Survey. Nationally, 98 percent of states have a positive hiring outlook.

Of the more than 18,000 U.S. employers Manpower surveyed, 18 percent expect to add to their workforce, and 8 percent expect a decline in their payrolls during Q3 2010. Seventy percent of employers anticipate making no change to staff levels, and the remaining 4 percent of employers are undecided about their hiring plans for the period.

Employers in 11 of the 13 industry sectors surveyed have a positive Q3 outlook, including: mining; professional and business services; wholesale and retail trade; non-durable goods manufacturing; durable goods manufacturing; transportation and utilities; and construction.

"Manpower's survey results show a positive trend in employers' hiring plans," Jonas Prising, the workforce solutions provider's president of the Americas, said in an announcement of the findings. "Although we are still facing a difficult labor market, more employers indicate confidence about the direction of their businesses, and with that comes an intention to increase their workforces.

"We are in the early stages of the jobs recovery, and although we have a long way to go, the job market will continue to improve from here," Prising said.

According to CareerBuilder.com's Mid-Year Job Forecast, hiring in the second half of the year is "likely to mirror the first half."

Based on the online employment website's survey of 2,500 hiring managers and HR managers and 4,400 workers across industries and company sizes, 41 percent of hiring managers expect to hire in the months of July through December. One in five plans to hire full-time, permanent workers in Q3.

In the latest edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's (PwC) Manufacturing Barometer (free registration required), hiring plans also made a significant jump in Q2 2010 over Q1.

Based on interviews with 60 senior executives of large, multinational U.S. industrial manufacturing companies, the PwC's quarterly report says 47 percent of respondents plan to add employees to their workforce over the next 12 months, up 20 points from last quarter. Only 7 percent plan to reduce the number of full-time equivalent employees, and 46 percent expect to stay the same.

Of those planning to hire, the most sought-after employees will be production workers and professionals/technicians, along with skilled laborers, PwC reports.

According to CareerBuilder, in the second half of the year, employers will be looking for personnel to fill emerging positions that are relatively new to the workforce, including areas like green energy, cyber-security, global relations and health care reform.

Understandably, not everyone is convinced hiring will rise to a meaningful level in the second half of the year.

While increasingly more companies are seeing business pick up, 473,000 people filed new claims for unemployment benefits, according to the latest weekly data. "Economists say that the weekly claims number needs to get into the low 400,000s and stay there before employers will start hiring new workers and bringing back laid-off ones," the Washington Post explains.

According to the majority of PwC panelists (58 percent), the U.S. economy is believed to have grown in Q2 2010, marking the first quarterly survey since Q3 2007 for which a majority reported growth.

Yet the number of unemployed Americans is considered a "lagging" indicator, meaning that there will be many other signs of economic recovery before companies once again start hiring in large numbers.

"Corporate profits are soaring. Companies are sitting on billions of dollars of cash. And still, they've yet to amp up hiring or make major investments — the missing ingredients for a strong economic recovery," a separate Post report explains:

They blame their profound caution on their view that U.S. consumers are destined to disappoint for many years. Executives see little evidence that the economy is slipping back into recession. But they describe a business environment in which sales come in fits and starts and their customers can't predict what they will want to buy in the future. ... When companies decide whether to hire workers or invest, say, in a new factory, this kind of volatility and uncertainty about future conditions makes for a strong disincentive.

"The levels of uncertainty cited about prospects for both U.S. and global economies over the next year show that companies are still carefully navigating the sector's landscape with cautious hope for the future," Barry Misthal, U.S. industrial manufacturing leader for PwC, said in an announcement of the latest quarterly survey findings. "While international sales dropped from last quarter, the fact that they are still significantly above the last three quarters of 2009 indicates that global manufacturing sales will most likely continue their upswing in performance, despite the present uncertainty."

Even as we slowly emerge from the first global recession since World War II, the threat of long-term unemployment looms, and many economists and analysts continue to refer to a "jobless recovery."

"In all likelihood, significant time will be required to restore the nearly 8.5 million jobs that were lost over 2008 and 2009," according to Bernanke.

Resources

Speech: Challenges for the Economy and State Governments
Ben Bernanke, Aug. 2, 2010

Speech: The Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy
Ben Bernanke, Aug. 27, 2010

Employment Situation Summary - July 2010
U.S. Department of Labor, Aug. 6, 2010

July Monster Employment Index Grows 21% Year-Over-Year...
Monster.com, Aug. 5, 2010

Manpower Employment Outlook Survey: United States - Q3 2010
Manpower Inc., June 8, 2010

...Survey Reveals Continued Momentum in U.S. Hiring Outlook
Manpower Inc., June 8, 2010

Mid-Year Job Forecast
CareerBuilder.com and USA Today, July 1, 2010

Manufacturing Barometer - Q2 2010
PricewaterhouseCoopers, July 29, 2010

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report
U.S. Department of Labor, Aug. 26, 2010

Jobless Claims Jump to Nine-Month High
by Frank Ahrens
The Washington Post, Aug. 20, 2010

With Consumers Slow to Spend, Businesses are Slow to Hire
by Neil Irwin
The Washington Post, Aug. 21, 2010

...Uncertainty About the Global Economy Lingers Among U.S. Industrial Manufacturers...
PricewaterhouseCoopers, July 29, 2010