Employers continue to struggle filling open positions

The balance of power in the US labour market looks to be shifting, with job vacancies at record levels, historically low layoffs, and millions of Americans departing their employment willingly. More people are holding out for better, safer, or higher-paying employment as the economy recovers from the COVID recession and firms try to staff up. The number of job opportunities outnumbered the number of unemployed Americans by the greatest margin on record in September, indicating oversupply in the labour market.

The leisure and hospitality business, which was hardest hit by pandemic-related unemployment last year, is now at the core of the labour shortage, with nearly one out of every ten positions vacant at the end of September. Despite 1.27 million new recruits in the leisure and hospitality sector, 1.59 million positions remained unfilled at the end of the month, as about 987,000 workers resigned in pursuit of a better job.

Based on data from the most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, the graphic below shows which industries had the highest rate of job openings at the end of September. The job openings rate is calculated by dividing the number of job opportunities by the total number of jobs in a certain industry, whether filled or unfilled. Aside from the hospitality industry, firms in transportation and warehousing had the most difficulty filling positions, while construction, financial services, and government had the fewest openings.

According to a fresh report from the governor’s office, 84,000 new employment were generated in the previous month.

In order to develop a company culture that encourages job searchers to apply, business owners are now thinking outside the box.

Human resource professionals urge businesses to be aware that the employment process is competitive.

“We’re looking at workers or saying, ‘No, this is what I demand, I demand to be treated this way. I’m leaving and going somewhere else that’s going to do that,'” said Nicole Anderson, CEO and Founder of Mend HR.

The labour force has grown in the state over the last month, but there are roughly twice as many new positions as there are new people to fill them.

Source: Statista and WPTV