The 4th Quarter of 2010 is upon us and the unemployment rate remains at or near all time highs. Economists tell us the recession is over, corporate earnings continue to rise and the political mood of the country is uncertain. Even with all of this mixed negativity I continue to see signs of major employment improvements on the horizon.
Some positive signs:
1 – Employment jobs wanted advertisements continue to increase. Pointing to the fact that companies are aware that they are approaching stress levels and will need to add staff if they want to continue to service their client base and continue to grow.
2 – The temporary employment index continues to add additional payroll numbers pointing to a resumption of direct hiring. I am surprised this has not already happen…but I am optimistic for the immediate future.
3 – Hiring companies are beginning to realize that a person who has the skills of at least 2-3 former employees is a dream and not a reality.
4 – At BLK (www.jobsbl.com) we continue to see the number of jobseekers landing multiple interviews and some fortunate ones multiple job offers.
5 – We are witnessing a small growth in new business development from new clients who are having challenges servicing their openings from the job boards.
6 – Established long-term clients are slowly increasing the number of requirements in comparison to 09. We are seeing this increase across different specialties with a special concentrated growth in Information Technologies.
7 – Once the Federal releases QE2 money will flow and companies will need to expand rapidly.
However although this movement appears positive for some; we have a long hard road to restore the employment opportunities to the 17 million that are counted amongst the unemployed, underemployed and the new workers that enter the job marker every month.
We at Berman Larson Kane continue to do our best attempting to assist all of the job seekers in need. But this employment challenge is larger then any one person, firm, specialty, and political party can handle. Beside these small improvements I remain confident in the belief that this too shall pass. I have been in this field for over 35 years and it always comes back to a labor shortage!