What’s the job market like? It depends
January 12, 2009 by Jim GiulianoPosted in: Hiring, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Marketplace, Retention and turnover
The latest figures on unemployment are anything but encouraging. Still, if you’re looking to hire, you could find it hard to bring in qualified applicants, depending on what part of the country you live in and what types of jobs you’re looking to fill.
Adecco, one of North America’s biggest placement and outsourcing firms, released its analysis of the labor market, which included the cities where you’ll have a hard time filling positions:
- First of all, if you’re in the areas of Boston, Washington, DC, or Milwaukee, don’t expect a tide of unemployed workers to come knocking on your door. The unemployment rates in those areas are well below the latest national average of 7.2%.
- In contrast, you can expect lots of out-of-work applicants if you’re in or around Detroit, Las Vegas or Los Angeles. All three of those have unemployment rates well above the national average.
- Looking for college grads? The unemployment rate for those with a four-year degree is only 3.9%. If you have low-skill jobs to fill, however, the field is wide and deep: Unemployment among workers who haven’t finished high school is 10.9%.
All HR managers should mark mid-February on their calendars. That’s when President-elect Obama hopes to pass his $800-billion stimulus plan that’s aimed at opening up millions of public-works jobs. If that plan passes, expect the labor market to tighten up a bit.
Tags: Adecco, boston, Detroit, HR, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, obama, unemployment, washington
January 19th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
the information regarding College Grads is not exactly accurate and understated – see below –
“On Friday, David Leonhardt pointed out that the increase in the unemployment rate in November understated the weakening of the job market because many workers have given up looking for work. This is an important and ominous development in the economy. There is even more to the story.
The gap between declining employment and rising unemployment is greatest for college graduates because they are leaving the labor force at a rapid rate.
Last month, the number of college graduates who were working fell by 282,000, while only 2,000 more college graduates were classified as unemployed. Why this gap? Laid off college workers, who are unaccustomed to unemployment, may feel a stigma if they report themselves as actively looking for work, so they are uncounted among the unemployed.
Additionally, many nonworking college graduates may retire or return to school in response to weak job prospects.
Since March 2008, college-educated workers have been abandoning the labor force while high school dropouts have been joining it. Over the same period, the unemployment rate has risen more than twice as much for high school dropouts as for college graduates. “
the following was an excerpt from The Job Market for College Graduates By Alan B. Krueger
On a personal Note, I often am concerned at the information that is provided with regards to the job market. Rather than looking at the Most Important Criteria, which portrays a more accurate indicator of the economy — Payroll Per Thousand – many have consistently researched the unemployment numbers, which Extremely Understates the developing problem with regards to employment
The Labor numbers do not recognize the most Valuable numbers that define the Economic Stance of the country, they do not count the Long Term Unemployed, the Under Employed, the drop of wages and hours.. All which are stringent Indicators of the Misery Index.
We unfortunately for many years were mislead re the economy, as were told that the economy was doing well, and unemployment was consistent around the 4.3 – 4.7 mark for near 5 years, even though Long Term Unemployment for the past 5+ years was at historical Levels ; wages were continuing to drop, and we saw misclassification of “employees” grow at exhorbant numbers, and discrimination lawsuits were at an all time high. All indicators of the economic and employment stress that was coming our way
Unfortunately due to the misinformation we accepted that there was a looming war for talent and ignored that the CEO’s of companies were cheapening themselves out of labor and jobs.. Focusing on a Short Term reward, rather than a long term benefit for the company and the employees.. and today we see what happens when Reaganomics In Reverse takes effect
Karen Mattonen