Today’s employment report was a case of less bad news being good news.

Wall Street knew there would be job losses in April. But it believed they would be in the 80 thousand payrolls range.

So, when it turns out only 20 thousand positions were lost, the cuts don’t seem so bad!

Not surprisingly, the construction and manufacturing sectors were particularly hard hit.

But other troubled sectors began to rebound.

Banks, mortgage companies and other financial firms added jobs for the first time since the credit market turmoil began.

There was also a big increase in temporary-help jobs. On the one hand, they’re only temporary. So, if the economy deteriorates, they’ll be the first to be let go. But an increase in hiring temps is sometimes be a sign that a company needs workers—but isn’t quite ready to commit to staff positions.

So I guess the best news coming out of today’s report is that things don’t seem to be falling off a cliff. Companies don’t appear to be panicking and cutting jobs willy-nilly to reduce costs.

What’s your experience? Do you have layoffs at your company or are you hiring? If you are hiring, are the full-time or part-time? How is worker morale?