Mixed Signals on Jobs

There were a couple of contradictory reports on the employment situation yesterday. The bad news first: The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas reported that the number of downsized employees leapt to 66,000 in July, an astonishing 60 percent jump over the previous month. Chief among the layoffs was of course, New Jersey-based chemical giant Merck, which has announced it would cut 13,000 jobs. All told, more than 26,000 jobs have been lost in New Jersey in 2011, second only to California.

At the same time, ADP estimated that the private sector created some 114,000 jobs in July. Moody's Analytics, a division of the ratings agency, estimated job growth for July at just 100,000 - but it also came out with a report saying it expects much stronger growth through the end of the year. They forecast that we'd be seeing 200,000 new private-sector jobs a month by the end of 2011.

We'll get another, more official look at the jobs picture on Friday, when the federal government releases its official employment report for the month of July.