The unemployment rate dipped slightly from 5.1 in March to 5.0 in April and we experienced more job cuts as well as core working hours are being cut more and more. 

Some positive gains were tracked in healthcare services last month, reflecting 37,000 new jobs as well as professional services (office jobs), which was up 39,000.

The interesting thing is that the underemployment rate has jumped dramatically to 5.2 million workers who are currently involuntarily employed on a part time basis or their hours have been reduced ? but they are all looking for full time work.  Involuntary part-time work is the highest it has been since November 2005 and has jumped from 4.4 million a year ago.

It?s also taking more time to find a new job.  The typical unemployment spell increased by over a week from March (at 8.1 weeks) to April (at 9.2 weeks). This is typical in recessions, as jobless workers are unable to find work.

The real question from April?s numbers is whether the less-than-expected losses are indicating a new positive trend or was April just a blip on the radar and we are still continuing from the negative trend?  All in all it still doesn?t look good for employment conditions nationwide. 

As companies lay off workers, their recruitment functions tend to slow down.  In this market it is safe to assume that the most talented employee is still employed.  It is also safe to assume that this top talent is open to explore new opportunities.  This is the time for recruitment to become even more active and develop relationships.  Research shows that more and more of the employed individuals are stretched and are open to exploring new opportunities. 

How are you taping into this talent?  In a down market it provides us the opportunity to move from a transactional recruiting model which only sees a snapshot of who is available at any given time to a more proactive recruitment model.  This is an opportunity for companies to combine all of their recruitment efforts and resources to proactively build and reinforce their talent database.  A proactive approach in a slow market will provide the opportunity to build relationships across multiple disciplines and build a database to pull from and act quickly when you have the open opportunity.  The worst thing we can do is nothing and just wait for open positions to start recruiting.