The Jobs Are Back In Town

The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 244,000 new jobs in April - a much better figure than most were expecting. For the third straight month, the American economy defied concerns of a slowdown and employers hired away.

In an interview on Varney & Co. on Friday, Joanie Ruge, senior vice president of field operations for SNF Group, said the news was an encouraging sign of recovery.

"Lots of people are starting to hire. We are seeing some optimism which is great," she said.

Ruge pointed out a number of areas where growth was particularly positive.

"Retail is up," said Ruge, "The leisure and hospitality sector was certainly up so that is a great sign. The temporary industry, where I come from, is up year over year about 11 percent, so companies are starting to hire again."

While there is certainly reason to celebrate, Ruge said the jobs are not coming back at the levels needed to move the unemployment rate. She said it will take gains of 500,000 to 600,000 a month over several years to eliminate the 8 million jobs that were lost in the recession, and said the decrease in average income is also troubling.

"The wages have not started moving and that needs to be the thing that comes next," said Ruge.

Ruge said that as jobs increase so too will wages.

"As these jobs are being created and it gets a little more difficult to fill the positions, less people will start applying to the jobs. That is what really gets those wages moving again."

In the meantime, Ruge says she is optimistic and says "we should have pom poms on" as it "does look like a recovery."