As a follow-up to a post I made just a few days ago about some employers still struggling to fill positions, relocation could take on new meaning.
According to research by Manpower Inc. in its 2009 Talent Shortage Survey, the hard to fill job situation is less severe in the U.S. than in many places around the world. The survey says, 19% of 2,019 respondents reported difficulty in filling positions.
This might seem odd since yesterday the U.S. Department of Labor announced unemployment hit 9.4%. The fact that so many employers can’t find what they need in labor markets indicates that “while more people may be looking for jobs, they don’t generally have the skills that organizations are looking for,” the survey report states.
While only 1 in 5 U.S. employers are struggling to find skilled workers, the employment famine is worst in Romania and Taiwan, where nearly two-thirds (62%) of would-be hirers have positions going begging. Peru (56%), Japan (55%), Australia (49%), Costa Rica (48%), and Poland (48%) are almost as bad. In contrast, there’s not much of a talent shortage in Ireland, (5%), Spain (8%), the United Kingdom (11%), China (15%), or the Czech Republic (17%).
In the U.S., engineers top the lost of hard to fill positions with nurses in close second. On the world labor market, skilled trades and sales representatives are #1 and #2. Technicians are the third hardest to fill jobs. In the U.S., the skilled trades are number 3 in order of difficulty, and technicians come in at number 6.
Jeffrey A. Joerres, chairman and CEO of Manpower, thinks that “legacy mindsets and leadership philosophies” are blinding many employers to demographic shifts and other “mega trends” that they should be factoring into their recruiting strategies.
