A slew of recently released surveys
forecast strong hiring in the first half of 2016.
A survey of 598 hiring managers and
recruiters conducted by job board operator DHI Group Inc. found that 61 percent
are planning to do more hiring in the first half of 2016, as compared to the
second half of 2015. Nearly one-fifth (17 percent) of companies surveyed plan
to hire at least 30 percent more professionals in the first six months of 2016,
up five percentage points as compared to when asked in early 2015.
According to technology job board
Dice’s latest hiring survey, 71 percent of companies are looking to bolster
their technology teams by 11 percent or more in the first six months of 2016.
Just over three-fourths (78 percent) of 397 hiring managers anticipate adding
technology professionals in the first half of 2016, compared to the second half
of 2015.
According to ManpowerGroup’s first
employment outlook survey for 2016, U.S. employers reported the strongest
first-quarter hiring plans since 2007. The survey of over 11,000 U.S. employers
found that one-fifth plan to increase staff in the first quarter, 6 percent
plan to decrease staff and the majority expect no change. That results in a net
employment outlook of 17 percent, holding steady with Manpower’s fourth-quarter
2015 employment outlook.
“We’ve seen strong jobs growth in the
U.S. throughout 2015, along with declining unemployment and increasing wages,
which brings a continued optimism for the start of 2016,” said ManpowerGroup
CEO Jonas Prising. “We expect these broad trends to continue going into 2016,
despite ongoing challenges in certain sectors like energy and manufacturing, as
well as in export-driven industries. As the unemployment rate comes down and
the labor market continues to tighten, employers will increasingly feel the
impact of rising wages and the ongoing skills mismatch.”
Employers in Florida, Hawaii, Kansas
and Michigan indicated the strongest net employment outlooks, while Alaska,
Illinois, New Jersey and Wyoming projected the weakest outlooks.
Employers in all industry sectors
reported a net positive outlook, with the highest forecast coming from leisure
and hospitality (30 percent), transportation and utilities (23 percent),
wholesale and retail trade (22 percent), and professional and business services
(18 percent).
Mining had the lowest net employment
outlook at just 1 percent.
The strongest job prospects are
expected in Cape Coral, Fla.; Washington, D.C.; Honolulu; Dallas; Grand Rapids,
Mich.; and Provo-Orem, Utah.
The weakest outlooks are projected in
Hartford, Conn.; Chicago; Kansas City, Mo.; Worcester, Mass.; and Tulsa, Okla.,
according to Manpower.
Recruiting Difficulty
The recruiting environment for
certain highly skilled professionals is “the toughest I’ve seen in nearly a
decade,” said DHI President and CEO Michael Durney. Almost half of respondents
(45 percent) to the DHI survey said that the time to fill open positions has
lengthened since 2014. The primary reason cited is the inability to find
qualified professionals (53 percent), followed by hiring managers saying
they’re waiting for the perfect match (29 percent).
Nearly half (49 percent) of hiring
managers responding to the Dice survey said the time to fill open tech
positions has also lengthened since last year. “The environment for a talent
crisis in tech has been growing over the past few years and as the level of
interest in technology professionals rises, it doesn’t appear the challenging
recruitment market will lighten any time soon,” said Bob Melk, president of
Dice.
More than a third (37 percent) of
respondents to the DHI survey reported seeing more candidates receiving
counteroffers from their current employers. About half (47 percent) said
positions are going unfilled due to unmet salary requirements. In response, a
majority of hiring managers (56 percent) foresee higher salaries for new hires
in 2016.
“In addition to bulking up budgets to
pay desired candidates, companies have to consider ongoing sourcing and
identifying professionals ahead of the creation of a specific job opening,”
Durney said. “Recruitment has to be more about relationship building today than
ever before.”
Positive Global Forecast
Employer hiring confidence is also
forecast to be strong globally. Of the nearly 59,000 employers interviewed
across the globe by Manpower, organizations anticipate increasing staffing
levels in 39 out of 42 countries and territories, compared with 36 of 42 in the
last quarter of 2015. Manpower found the five strongest staffing projections in
India, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey and the United States. The only negative forecasts
were reported in Brazil, Finland and France.