Unless you’ve been hiding out in a cave somewhere, you’ve probably heard that the economy is suffering. The rising occurrence of layoffs and factories closing mixed with falling job listings has created a horrendous mix that is hurting the budgets of Americans from sea to shining sea. Most of last year was marked by an ever decreasing employment market, and, according to The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index (ETI) December’s reports showed no signs of an end in sight.
Data shows that the Index continued to drop during the last month of 2007, falling 1.6 percent from November’s 101.2 to 99.6. Although this may seem like a small decline, it is extremely significant when compared to data from the same time last year. Since December of 2007 The Conference Board has seen a decrease of almost 16 percent.
Worse than the fact that searching for jobs is getting much more difficult, is the fact that the employment situation is expected to continue to decay in this year.