Week End Roundup: March 5th

In this week’s Week End Roundup: Rise in internal transfers; lowest planned layoffs in February; and mixed employment outlook for Canada.

New Hiring—Lately, It's More of an Inside Job (Wall Street Journal)
In 2009 employers filled more than half of job openings with existing employees. Internal transfers and promotions accounted for 51% of all full-time positions filled in 2009, up from 39% in 2008 according to CareerXroads.

Job Cuts Fall in February to Lowest Since 2006 (Washington Post)
The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell to the lowest level in February since 2006, and employers appear to have shifted away from downsizing. Employers announced 42,090 planned job cuts last month, the lowest level of monthly job cuts since 37,178 were announced in July 2006.

Hiring to go Hand-in-Hand with Layoffs in 2010 (HR Canadian Reporter)
The Canadian employment picture looks mixed in 2010, with the majority of Canadian organizations planning to hire new staff (87%) while more than one-third are still planning targeted layoffs.

Don't Blame Snow: Feb. Jobs Data Likely to be Weak (Daily Times)
The February job report is likely to be bleak. The White House states that last month's snowstorms are expected to have artificially inflated job losses by at least 100,000. Private economists counter by stating that once the snow effect is filtered out, the data will still signal weak hiring.