With the release of the 2 American journalists held in North Korea, it’s a day for good news, so let’s continue. In case you missed one of today’s top articles, there is certainly some good news on the job front. Almost half of workers who got laid off in the last 3 months have found jobs. And more good news, According to Careerbuilder, “Looking at workers who were laid off in the last 12 months and found new jobs, more than half (56 percent) reported they were able to negotiate comparable or higher pay for their new positions. Forty-four percent of workers took a pay cut, down from 49 percent in March.”

At STRe, we have seen a definite pickup in jobs that clients need help on, and pay has stayed fairly constant. This isn’t the time to look for a 10-15% increase when changing companies, but most companies aren’t expecting candidates to take pay cuts. The only area we’ve seen reductions in salaries has been in contracting. Both candidates and clients are putting pressure on rates for consulting positions. If you’ve been out of work for a while, hang in there, help is on the way.