44 per cent of employers to hire full-time staff, up from 36 per cent
While the jobs recovery continues to lag that of previous recessions in the United States, the outlook for the back half of 2012 shows continued improvement over 2011, according to a survey released by CareerBuilder.
Forty-four per cent of private sector employers reported they are planning to hire full-time, permanent staff from July 1 through Dec. 31, 2012, an increase of nine percentage points over the same period last year, found the survey of 2,298 U.S. hiring managers and HR professionals and 3,892 U.S. workers.
In last year’s forecast, the number of companies planning to hire full-time, permanent employees (35 per cent) increased seven percentage points over 2010.
“The rate of job creation has been slower than what we would have expected at this point in the recovery, but the market is stable,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. “Two years ago, the hiring activity in the U.S. was driven primarily by large employers recruiting in metropolitan areas for a handful of industries or job functions. Today, we see job listings in all industries, market sizes and company sizes. The outlook for the remainder of the year is better than 2011, but it will follow the same pattern of steady progress rather than a surge in job growth. Employers will remain careful as they assess barriers and opportunities for growth in the economy and their own businesses.”
Employers plan to add a mix of new employees over the next six months, with each category trending up from last year:
•Hiring full-time, permanent employees — 44 per cent, up from 35 per cent in 2011
•Hiring part-time employees — 21 per cent, up from 15 per cent in 2011
•Hiring contract or temporary employees — 21 per cent, up from 12 per cent in 2011.
Where employers are hiring first
The top functional areas for which businesses plan to hire first are those directly impacting revenue and innovation:
•customer service: 24 per cent
•information technology: 22 per cent
•sales: 21 per cent
•administrative: 16 per cent
•business development: 13 per cent
•accounting/finance: 12 per cent
•marketing: 11 per cent.
Emerging occupations
More employers are also reporting their organizations have created entirely new job functions at their organizations to respond to evolving business demands, found CareerBuilder. When asked if their organizations currently have positions that didn’t exist in their firms five years ago, employers pointed to positions tied to:
•social media: 16 per cent
•storing and managing data: 15 per cent
•cyber security: 12 per cent
•financial regulation: 10 per cent
•promoting diversity inside and outside the organization: nine per cent
•green energy and the environment: eight per cent
•global relations: eight per cent.
