A story in the weekend's New York Times suggested that there's a growing belief that the recession may be nearing an end. A report from Watson Wyatt, a human-resources consulting firm that talked to HR directors nationwide, found that most companies assume the bulk of their layoffs and cost-cutting measures are now behind them.
That may not mean a whole lot in and of itself, but one of the things that needs to happen to get the economy moving again is for consumer confidence to be restored. If businesses are starting to regain confidence, that's a healthy first step.
Now, as I said the other day, I don't know when the economy and the markets are going to recover, and these HR executives don't know either. But I would also point out that the recession started way back in November 2007, or 18 months ago. That's already a pretty long time, historically speaking, for the American economy to be in recession. So saying "I don't know when it will end" shouldn't be taken as too pessimistic; it can also mean, as the Watson Wyatt survey suggests, that daylight might be right around the corner.
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