Legal News

Jobs are Back! (But Just Not in the Legal Industry)

By Ashby Jones

The economy may be picking up steam — unemployment fell to 8.9 percent in February, according to the monthly employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But don’t expect law firms to start flooding law school campuses, looking for warm bodies to hire. The recovery still hasn’t hit the legal industry in force.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the industry lost 2,900 jobs in February.

Really? The legal industry lost nearly 3,000 jobs at the same time the economy in general picked up 192,000? LBers, we’re as surprised as you are. The American Lawyer puts it this way:

The latest BLS report is a harsh dose of reality, given that the adjusted January numbers that it contains show that the legal industry actually gained 500 jobs that month–a modest boost that pales next to the job losses of both November (-900) and December (-1,600).

Overall, the legal industry lost 1,300 jobs between February 2010 and February 2011, according to the latest BLS report.

Harumph. Well, we haven’t lost hope. Maybe all these newly employed souls will put some of their dollars toward hiring a lawyer for something or another.  [End of post.]

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 07, 2011 (boomark / email).