, Columnist
Will U.S. Avoid a Recession in 2012? (Part 2)
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Employment in the U.S. has gained in recent months because businesses have, at least temporarily, run out of productivity enhancements that had allowed them to cover output gains with reduced staff.
Payroll-employment growth has risen in recent months, though an unseasonably warm winter may have provided a temporary boost. (The disappointing report for March, released last week, may be a case in point.) Furthermore, this growth is benchmarked to an extremely low recessionary base, and the unemployment rate, while down from 9.1 percent in August, is still high, at 8.2 percent.