The latest report on corporate hiring – 31% of U.S. Firms Plan to Add Staff – is good news for the economy. However, the labor market is tightening up fast. This market is different from the tech bubble of the late 1990’s as the author points out:
On the whole, employers are still actively looking for workers in a variety of sectors, Joerres said. “They haven’t bloated themselves with excess people, so they’re consistently in the market. That’s very different from what we were seeing in 1999 and 2000,” he said.
If you are planning to hire, expect a slightly longer process to source strong candidates. We are seeing this fact in spades in our own sourcing activities for our customers around the country. The tightening market has been a steady progression and, by all accounts, will continue this positive trend.
The report marks the 10th straight quarter that more than 20 percent of the companies surveyed said they plan to add staff. The expected staffing increase was 30 percent for the second quarter of this year.