Software Company
Tibco Software Inc. plans to hire 500 people in the U.S. this year as the economy improves and Europe works out its debt crisis, Vivek Ranadive, chief executive officer of the Palo Alto, California-based company said in an interview.
"We are hiring quite rapidly now, all in sales and service," Ranadive said last week at the World Economic Forum's annual conference in Davos, Switzerland. "It's a good time to hire."
The Institute for Supply Management said today that its index of non-manufacturing industries, which account for almost 90 percent of the economy, rose to 56.8 in January from 53 a month earlier. The Tempe, Arizona-based group's measure was projected to climb to 53.2, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Readings above 50 signal growth.
Construction companies added 21,000 workers last month. The number of people unable to go to work because of bad weather, a proxy for the climate's effect on the labor market, was 206,000 last month, less than half the 424,000 average for the month since 1976. The shortfall signals mild weather may have played a role in the gain in employment, according to Neil Dutta, an economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York.
Government payrolls decreased by 14,000 in January, reflecting cuts at the federal and local levels.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.2 percent to $23.29, today's report showed. The average work week for all workers held at 34.5 hours.
The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who'd prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- decreased to 15.1 percent from 15.2 percent.
The Fed said on Jan. 25 after a two-day meeting that it would keep its benchmark lending rate low "at least" until late 2014 from a prior target of mid-2013.
Bernanke, speaking at a news conference after the meeting, said that the option of a third round of large-scale bond purchases, known as quantitative easing, is still "on the table."