Slower, but Steady Hiring Expected for the New Year, CareerBuilder.com's Annual Job Forecast Reveals
26 December 2007 - 10:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
- Higher Pay, More Flexible Work Arrangements, Candidate Screening
Online, Better Healthcare Benefits and Rehiring Retirees Among
Major Trends for 2008 - CHICAGO, Dec. 26 /PRNewswire/ --
CareerBuilder.com, the nation's largest online job site with more
than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.5 million jobs, released
the results of its latest survey, conducted by Harris
Interactive(R), tracking projected hiring trends for 2008. The
survey, titled "2008 Job Forecast," was conducted from November 13
through December 3, 2007 among 3,016 hiring managers and human
resource professionals in private sector companies. "The job market
of 2007 showed resilience amidst economic uncertainties and
produced north of 1.3 million new jobs, according to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com.
"Looking forward, plans for hiring are tracking below last year's
projections, but point to continued job creation. Thirty-two
percent of employers CareerBuilder.com surveyed plan to add
full-time, permanent employees in 2008, down from 40 percent who
planned to do so in 2007. Employers are taking caution in the New
Year, anticipating the advent of a slower, but still steady hiring
environment." Full-time Thirty-two percent of employers plan to
increase their number of full-time, permanent employees in 2008.
Eight percent plan to decrease staff levels in 2008 while 47
percent expect no change. Thirteen percent are unsure. Part-time
Twenty-one percent of employers plan to increase their number of
part-time employees in 2008, down from 23 percent who expected to
do so in 2007. Six percent plan to decrease headcount in 2008 while
58 percent expect no change and 15 percent are unsure. Hiring By
Industry Comparing select industries, solid job creation in
Professional and Business Services and Information Technology is
expected to carry into the coming year. Forty-five percent of
employers in these sectors plan to add full-time, permanent
employees in 2008, followed by 37 percent of employers in
Transportation and Utilities, 34 percent in Financial Services and
32 percent in Hospitality. Healthcare and Retail employers are also
planning to expand staffs at 28 percent each. Hiring By Region
Staff expansions are expected to remain strongest in the South and
West in 2008. Thirty-six percent of employers in the South and 34
percent of employers in the West plan to add full-time, permanent
employees compared to 31 percent in the Northeast and 28 percent in
the Midwest. EIGHT MAJOR TRENDS FOR 2008 "Time-to-hire continues to
be a challenge for employers as they struggle with a shortage of
qualified candidates," said Ferguson. "Nearly one-in-five employers
report it typically takes them two months or longer to fill their
open positions and 40 percent say they currently have open
positions for which they can't find qualified candidates.
Recruitment and retention efforts are becoming increasingly
competitive and job seekers are likely to benefit in the New Year
in terms of higher paychecks, more allowances for flexible work
arrangements, special perks and better career advancement
opportunities." #1 Bigger Paychecks Continuing an existing trend
designed to attract and keep top talent, employers plan to offer
more lucrative compensation packages in the coming year. -- 80
percent of employers report their companies will increase salaries
for existing employees in 2008, similar to last year; 64 percent
expect to raise salaries by 3 percent or more while 17 percent
anticipate increases of 5 percent or more. -- 56 percent of
employers expect to increase salaries on initial offers to new
employees, up from 49 percent in 2007; 40 percent will raise
salaries by 3 percent or more while 17 percent anticipate increases
of 5 percent or more. #2 More Flexible Work Arrangements Sixty
percent of employers report they currently offer flexible schedules
to employees and 39 percent plan to provide more flexible work
arrangements in 2008 such as: -- Alternate schedules -- come in
early and leave early or come in later and leave later -- 78
percent -- Compressed workweeks -- work the same hours, but in
fewer days -- 38 percent -- Telecommuting options -- 33 percent --
Summer hours -- 21 percent -- Job sharing -- 18 percent --
Sabbaticals -- 8 percent #3 Screening Candidates Via the Internet
To ensure they are recruiting the right talent, more employers are
leveraging the Internet as a vehicle for screening potential
employees. -- 45 percent of employers report they use online search
engines and social networking sites to research job candidates. --
Nearly one-in-five (19 percent) say they are likely to start using
or increase their use of these resources to research job candidates
in 2008. #4 Rehiring Retirees Nearly three-in-ten employers (29
percent) report concern over the loss of intellectual capital at
their organizations as a large number of Baby Boomers approach
retirement age. -- Twenty-one percent say they are likely to rehire
retirees from other companies in 2008. Another 14 percent plan to
provide incentives for workers at or approaching retirement age to
stay on with the company longer. -- At the same time, workers have
expressed interest in postponing retirement. Twenty-three percent
of employers report they have received requests from workers
approaching retirement age to stay on with their company longer. #5
Diversity Recruitment When asked if there is a particular segment
of diverse workers they plan to target more aggressively in 2008,
employers pointed to Hispanic workers, women, African American
workers and mature workers. -- 85 percent of employers report they
will be placing the same or greater amount of emphasis on
recruiting bilingual candidates in the next 12 months. -- 48
percent said, in addition to English, Spanish is the most important
language for bilingual hiring. #6 Freelance or Contract Hiring
Employers are turning to freelance or contract workers to help
support business initiatives as they monitor their pace in
recruiting permanent employees. -- Thirty-one percent of employers
anticipate working with freelancers or contractors in 2008. #7 More
Comprehensive Healthcare Benefits and Special Perks In light of
rising healthcare costs, nearly one-in-five employers (19 percent)
report their companies plan to offer more comprehensive or better
health benefits to employees in 2008. -- One-in-ten employers (10
percent) plan to offer more special perks such as bonuses,
discounts, company cars, stock options, free childcare, educational
reimbursement, transit passes and wellness programs. #8 Career
Advancement With more than half of workers stating that a company's
ability to offer career advancement is more important than salary,
employers are taking action to carve out career paths for
employees. -- One-in-four employers (26 percent) are likely to
provide more promotions and career advancement opportunities in
2008. HIRING AND COMPENSATION IN Q1 Hiring Thirty percent of
employers say they increased their headcount in the last three
months. Nine percent reduced headcount while 60 percent reported no
change and 1 percent were unsure. Employers are expecting similar
results for the upcoming quarter. Twenty-nine percent of employers
plan to add employees in Q1 2008. Seven percent will decrease
headcount while 60 percent anticipate no change and 5 percent are
unsure. Compensation With a large number of annual salary increases
taking place in the first quarter, 69 percent of employers expect
to raise compensation levels in the next three months. Forty
percent estimate the average raise to range between 1 and 3
percent, 27 percent anticipate an average raise of 4 to 10 percent
while 2 percent expect raises to be 11 percent or more. Survey
Methodology This survey was conducted online within the US by
Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 3,016
hiring managers and human resource professionals (employed
full-time; not self-employed; with at least significant involvement
in hiring decisions); and 6,704 US employees (employed full-time;
not self-employed) ages 18 and over within the US between November
13 and December 3, 2007, respectively. Figures for age, sex,
race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were
weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual
proportions in the population. The data have been weighted to
reflect the composition of U.S. employers, and propensity score
weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be
online. With a pure probability sample of 3,016 and 6,704, one
could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results
have a sampling error of +/- 2 and +/- 1.3 percentage points,
respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher
and varies. However that does not take other sources of error into
account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample
and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated. A
full methodology is available upon request. About CareerBuilder.com
CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more
than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.5 million jobs. Owned by
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB), The
McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), the
company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers
connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers
for more than 1,200 partners, including 150 newspapers and leading
portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 300,000 employers
take advantage of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 25
million-plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. CareerBuilder.com
and its subsidiaries operate in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia.
For more information, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com/. Media
Contact Jennifer Grasz 773-527-1164 DATASOURCE: CareerBuilder.com
CONTACT: Jennifer Grasz of CareerBuilder.com, +1-773-527-1164, Web
site: http://www.careerbuilder.com/
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