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This year we got hit with one of the hardest “spring swoons” in a long time – that time of year when hiring slows down. Why so tough? Because the government has cut their spending by $85 billion and imposed a payroll tax; and then there’s the demands of Obamacare to consider. So what does that mean for the legal sector? The stats are in, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has spoken, and we’ve seen a gain of about 2,100 jobs in the legal sector as of April.
That’s not bad. It’s not stunning, but it’s in the right direction. The industry has about 1.13 million employed in the legal industry – it was at 1.18 million before this recession kicked in.
Not that things look great. Demand has dropped in just about every major practice this first quarter, as Reuters noted, including litigation and bankruptcy, but increased, and by a solid 5.1 percent, in intellectual property litigation.
Overall, the unemployment rate hasn’t changed all that much coming into the second quarter – it’s still around 7.5, 7.6 percent. After the spring swoon blows over, after businesses get used to funding Obamacare, and after employees get used to paying more taxes than before to fund this whole apparatus, maybe we will again start feeling cheerful enough to hire again?
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