the economy, stupid. you ll have 650,000 people hired for part-time holiday jobs. those will be the highest paid jobs in a long time. it looks as though retail jobs seasonal wages will be up 54% from last year. in part because amazon is going to pay $15 an hour, walmart is paying $11, target is paying $12, but the holiday workers are in super high demand. that s something voters will be feeling. this 3.7% unemployment rate, it s a really good time to get a job. the holiday workers in particular. noncash incentives. employee discounts. paid time off. jcpenney is offering a chance to win a paid vacation. retirement benefits. i have never seen seasonal work in such demand. it s just, i think, emblematic of how strong the economy is, the labor market is for the seasonal jobs, working real hard to try to get your time and your business. for more on holiday retail and on jobs and the tight labor
americans plan to spend $935 on gifts. second only to last year. mobile was a bright spot. macy s and kohl s trying to make it easier for shoppers. also appointment bump. as many as 690,000 workers scored jobs this holiday season. that is in line with 675,000 positions. many jobs will disappear in the new year. a steady line of holiday jobs shows consumer demand is wrong. retail sales in the first quarter will be important to the economy because it has been a sluggish past few years. retailers have a lot of ground to make up. a big difference over the lasts few years. things are looking up. part of it is confidence with the stock market. dow almost at 20,000.
a dismal jobs report, and a half million stopped looking for work. alison kosik has more on what is shaping the markets this week. hi, miguel. the jobs report was a huge underestimate. 88,000 jobs added last month, and that brought back worries about the jobs market and the economy. and it tends to happen in the labor market anyway after all the temporary holiday jobs are cleared off the payroll, and 24,000 retail sectors jobs were erased, and 16,000 jobs lost at clothing stores should rebound later in the year. and then the home and garden jobs dropped off and spring is
we begin today with the money lead. the bell ringing on wall street ending the week on a sour note after a dismal jobs report dragged the dow to a loss. nearly 500,000 people gave up looking for jobs last month. their exit from the work force had the deceptive effect of dropping the unemployment rate to 7.6%. the economy only added 88,000 jobs in the month of march. not enough to keep up with population growth. our alison kosik is standing by at the new york stock exchange. alison, companies have money. why are companies not hiring? you know what this is about, jake? it s about uncertainty of what s coming, what s ahead. what we saw were companies reigning in their hiring plans last month because they re not completely sure how the government spending cuts are going to affect the economy. so this really could be the beginning of a spring slump for the jobs market and maybe the economy as a whole even though it often happens anyway at this time of year when temporary holiday jobs are
the month of march. the smallest gain in nine months. and it s about half of what economists were predicting overall. the jobless rate fell to 7.6% because that s because a half million people gave up looking for work. that s all factored in. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange for me. what is spooking the companies on the hiring front? you know what it is, it s about the uncertainty of what s ahead, what s to come. we saw companies rein in their hiring plans because they aren t completely sure how the government spending cuts will impact the economy when they really get going. so this could be the beginning of a spring slump for the jobs market and the economy as a whole. ben bernanke cautioned this is a possibility especially since it often happens anyway at this time of year because you often see the temporary holiday jobs cleared off payrolls. but the reason we re roered about the report today is because while, why, we ve been