U.S. employment gains exceeded expectations in November, with the country adding 228,000 total nonfarm positions. Bloomberg economists had predicted job gains of 195,000. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent in November, with 6.6 million people unemployed. Over the year, the jobless rate has decreased by 0.5 percentage point. "These are really strong numbers, which is pretty exciting, since this is our first clean read after the volatility associated with the hurricanes," said Josh Wright, chief economist at software firm iCIMS, in an interview with The Washington Post. The several consecutive months of larger-than-expected job gains and downward trending unemployment rate point to

Ahh, December! Time for cookies, strolls down streets twinkling with Christmas lights and fresh-fallen snow, naps by a crackling fireplace, laughs with friends and family, and best of all – HIRING! Yes, December can very well be the most wonderful time of year to find new talent for your company. While many people use this time of year to reflect on the past year, many are also looking ahead to the year to come. Turning the calendar to a new year can often spark motivation to change. Motivation to finally land that dream job, motivation to find a better work-life balance, or motivation to improve income can spark a potential candidate to make a career jump. As an employer, are you taking a

Last week, TCG/SpaE owners Bert & Shelly Wendeln were presented with local artist Julie Riker's rendition of their award-winning facility. The award was announced by Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation in April this year, but it wasn't until last week that the painting was ready to be revealed. A welcome addition to Silver Spring Township, the Cumberland Valley and the West Shore overall, TCG's facility offers a world class spa, salon and barber shop (SPAtacular Escapes) on it's first floor, offices for TCG on the second floor and a fully-equipped 50+ person conference room available for rental, also on the second floor. TCG is proud to have solidified its place in the community

Traditional business practices are being shaken up. Many companies are reviewing their long-held traditions in favor of more agile, responsive ways of managing workers. Some of these changes include providing employees with flexibility to work from home more often, and leveraging technology like Skype for Business or Yammer to better communicate and share information among team members and even the entire organization. One area experiencing a large transformation is performance reviews. For decades, the prevailing wisdom has been that a big annual review at the end of the year is enough to let employees know how they're doing. However, this is no longer true - employees are demanding more fr

Europe, Middle East and Africa While Germany goes through some political upheaval surrounding failed talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel's allies and the nation's opposition parties, its economy appears to be in excellent shape. According to Bloomberg, unemployment as of October 2017 stands at what is approximately a 25-year-low level of 5.6 per cent, while overall economic activity grew 2.5 per cent. In the most recent quarter, an uptick of 0.8 per cent was notably ahead of what German and international economists had predicted. Some experts, including Bloomberg's own Economics division, believe the German economy isn't out of the woods yet and are concerned about the country's politics.