10 Signs That the Job Market Is Improving

By Cindy Perman, CNBC.com Staff Writer

NEW YORK (CNBC) --Job growth hasn't been as robust as many were hoping for (I'm looking at you, March jobs report) and projections are that it will take at least until 2014 to regain the millions of jobs lost during the recession -- even longer, if the March pace turns out to be a trend and not an anomaly. I saw one projection of 2020 that nearly made me swallow my tongue.

But this is America, where anything is possible -- our glass can be half full if we want it to!

OK, it's not just that the smell of fresh-cut grass lends a feeling of optimism in the air -- there are some hard stats to back up that positive thinking.

"I think people no longer have to whisper about the recovery, they can actually say it out loud in conversation," quipped Katy Bardaro, the lead economist at PayScale.

So shake off that March jobs report. Put on something pretty. Here are 10 signs that the job market is improving:

10. Jobs have been added to the economy for 18 straight months, according to the Labor Department, after more than two years of job losses.

9. Planned layoffs hit a 10-month low in March, down 27% from February and 8.8% from a year ago, according to the latest report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

8. The number of job openings jumped 16% in February from a year ago, according to the Labor Department's latest JOLT survey (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey).

7. Hiring plans rose nearly 16% to 12,390 in March from the prior month, according to the Challenger report.