“Job Postings Suggest a Pickup in Employment” plus 2 more |
- Job Postings Suggest a Pickup in Employment
- Unemployed Americans Face Challenging Job Search
- Unemployed say new NC website makes job search even harder
| Job Postings Suggest a Pickup in Employment Posted: 29 Jan 2011 10:56 AM PST WILL businesses ever start hiring again? The numbers from last month — with unemployment at a painful 9.4 percent — didn't seem to offer much hope. But often, before hiring occurs, a job is posted on a Web site of some sort. If we look at job-posting numbers — a more recent snapshot of employers' needs than the hiring data — the picture is more encouraging across a range of industries. At Simply Hired, a job search engine, postings rose more than 50 percent last year over 2009, and they increased almost 70 percent in December 2010 over December 2009. Simply Hired, which started in 2005, culls data from job boards and the Web sites of individual companies, newspapers, staffing agencies, government agencies and nonprofit groups. An average of about 5 million job postings are now on the site at any given time, said Gautam Godhwani, C.E.O. of Simply Hired — and that is approaching pre-recession levels. It's always possible, of course, that a company posting a job will decide not to hire someone after all. Or, it may not find someone with the skills it seeks. Still, the latest data offer reason for some optimism, Mr. Godhwani says. Some people may be shaking their heads at this assessment. Almost half of the unemployed have been out of work for six months or more. They may have sent out hundreds, even thousands, of résumés, with little or no response, and despair of ever having paychecks and co-workers again. The sad reality is that people who have been out of work for months have a harder time being hired than those who have been idle for mere weeks. And, beyond that, there are huge variations by geography and industry. It is instructive to look at Simply Hired's breakdown of job postings by industry and occupation. Maybe your field isn't as moribund as you think — or maybe you can adapt your skills to a more vibrant industry, or move to an area where your skills are in demand. Mr. Godhwani was surprised to see a huge rebound in postings for manufacturing jobs — up 94 percent in December 2010 over December 2009. Automotive job postings, which Simply Hired breaks out separately from manufacturing ones, were up even more — 137 percent — as automakers got back on their feet. Transportation-related jobs (involving the shipping of cargo, for example) rose by a staggering 337 percent. Openings for financial specialists and accountants rose sharply in December over the year-earlier period. Other occupational categories showing big increases were lawyers, judges and legal support workers; office and administrative workers; and retail sales staff. But many of these openings are clustered in certain metropolitan areas, and people looking for jobs outside those regions will have a harder time finding work. Last month, areas with the most unemployed people per job opening were Miami/Fort Lauderdale (at 5 to 1) , Detroit, Sacramento and Los Angeles (all at 4 to 1), according to Simply Hired. Areas with a 1-to-1 ratio of unemployed people to job openings, and therefore offering a much better chance of landing work, included Washington, D.C.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Baltimore; Boston; Milwaukee; Minneapolis/ St. Paul; Oklahoma City; the San Francisco Bay Area; and Denver. And certain cities are stronger in specific industries. For retail and wholesale trade, Seattle and New York are the best places to be; for media and telecommunications, San Francisco and New York are hot spots. For health care, you can improve your odds by heading to Boston or San Antonio. Don't restrict your job search to big-name companies. Employment by companies in the private sector rose by 297,000 last month, according to ADP, a payroll firm that conducts a regular employment survey. Companies with 500 or more employees were responsible for only 36,000 of that number. The lion's share of the hiring was done by smaller firms. In general, ADP said, "nonfarm private employment grew very strongly in December." Over at Indeed.com, a big job search engine similar to Simply Hired, numbers are also on the rise. Retail, hospitality, transportation and manufacturing are all rebounding, said Paul Forster, Indeed's C.E.O. (The New York Times is an investor in Indeed.com.) Though real estate postings are up, they are "definitely recovering more slowly," he said, and health care hasn't grown as much as many other industries, "but that's because it didn't decline as much" in the recession. A persistent problem is that many of the unemployed don't have skills that are in demand, Mr. Forster said. Want to get a job quickly? Just learn HTML 5 , a Web development language. It's among the skills that employers now covet the most, along with experience in mobile apps, the Android operating system and Twitter, according to Indeed.com data. Beyond seeking training in a high-demand field, job seekers may need to think about switching industries, moving to a different type of job within an industry, or relocating, Mr. Forster said. "People have to find a way to adapt their skills to the jobs available." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Unemployed Americans Face Challenging Job Search Posted: 27 Jan 2011 01:49 PM PST PRINCETON, NJ -- Six in 10 unemployed Americans say the next job they get is not likely to be one they want; instead, they'll have to settle for one they don't really want. Four in 10 underemployed adults have similar expectations about a full-time job. Unemployed, Underemployed Relate a Discouraging Job Search Process Despite today's nearly double-digit unemployment rate, 4 in 10 unemployed Americans expect to get a job in the next four weeks and one in three underemployed have the same expectations with respect to obtaining a full-time job. On average, unemployed workers report that they have spent 27 weeks actively looking for a job. Further, they say they have applied on average for 45 different jobs, while the underemployed, on average, report applying for 19 different full-time jobs. Unemployed Americans, despite applying for far more jobs than the underemployed, report getting on average a similar number of job interviews. The unemployed have had on average five interviews with a specific employer about a specific job, and the underemployed report an average of four interviews about a specific full-time job. Most Unemployed, Underemployed Willing to Take Same Pay or Pay Cut Frequently, people forced to seek a different job lose some of the pay associated with the experience and skills they used in their prior job. The large majorities of the currently unemployed (73%) and underemployed (62%) made less than $60,000 a year before taxes in their previous job. Slightly more are willing to accept less than $60,000 a year in order to get a new job. Bottom Line It seems clear that the current unemployment situation does not result from unwillingness on many Americans' part to take a job they don't want. Nor are many Americans unwilling to take a job that provides them with the same or lower income. Instead, significant portions of unemployed and underemployed Americans believe they will have to take any job, even if they don't want it, and majorities are willing to take the same pay or a pay cut in a new job. Although many of the unemployed are discouraged right now and have stopped looking for work, those who are actively looking are making the job search a job in itself. Unfortunately, their relative lack of interview opportunities may partly explain why so many have become discouraged. Further, data from the same poll find that these Americans face more than financial struggles. Not only are one in four unemployed individuals experiencing financial distress, but similar numbers are experiencing major problems in their relationships, and, separately, have sought professional medical help for stress or other major health problems. On the other hand, the recent increases in economic confidence and the relative steadiness of the job market provide some hope that the job situation will improve, at least at a modest pace, during the months ahead. Similarly, 4 in 10 unemployed Americans expect their job search efforts to pay off in as little as four weeks, reflecting some added optimism that all unemployed, underemployed, and discouraged workers may want to keep in mind. Survey Methods Unemployed and underemployed results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking from Dec. 21, 2010-Jan. 9, 2011, with a random sample of 15,120 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, selected using random-digit-dial sampling. For results based on the subgroup of 1,145 unemployed Americans, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points. Unemployed Americans are defined as not currently working and either actively looking for work or not actively looking for work now, but saying they want to work 30 or more hours per week and saying they plan to actively look for work in the future. For results based on the subgroup of 675 underemployed Americans one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points. Underemployed Americans are defined as currently working a part-time job but wanting to work a full-time job. The national adult and non-unemployed/underemployed results reported for comparison in this article are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking on Dec. 21, 2010, with a random sample of 1,009 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, selected using random-digit-dial sampling. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points. Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each daily sample includes a minimum quota of 200 cell phone respondents and 800 landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday. Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, cell phone-only status, cell phone-mostly status, and phone lines. Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2010 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls. View methodology, full question results, and trend data. For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Unemployed say new NC website makes job search even harder Posted: 28 Jan 2011 03:09 PM PST By Melissa Hankins - bio l email CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - You can see the pain in his face, and hear it in his voice. "In June of this last year, I lost the position I was in..." says Jonathan Havis, of Lincolnton. It's clear the last thing he needs right now is another setback. But he says that's exactly what he got the last time he logged on to the North Carolina Employment Security Commission's job search engine, which the ESC recently updated. In fact, several of our viewers have written us to say they don't get the changes. "It takes twice as long to search for a job," one says. "and it is harder to navigate...I just don't understand why they had to change it." "Now you just have to jump through hoop after hoop," says Havis. "Can you see how frustrating this is for me? I've been around computers for 25 years!" The state, however, is defending and explaining the new system. The following text is from a statement the ESC provided WBTV: "The ESC recently implemented a new program called N.C. JobConnector. While users will notice a different way to input their information into the system, we feel that the time spent by customers to manage their profile will greatly benefit them in the long run. The more information the customer inputs the more jobs they are likely to be matched with. By allowing a more comprehensive profile, the employer will likely be matched up with the best candidate. While taking time to input information may seem like a "delay," features in the program actually make search results quicker. N.C. JobConnector allows staff to gather much more detail from job seekers and employers in order to utilize the key feature of the system — automatching. Copyright 2011 WBTV. All rights reserved. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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