You heard this last year, but you are hearing it again with even more urgency: despite the record number of people out of work and looking for jobs, employers are struggling to fill positions because they can’t find people with the right skills.
This week, global staffing giant Manpower released its sixth-annual Talent Shortage Survey, and it found that 52 percent of U.S. employers are experiencing difficulty filling “mission-critical” positions within their organizations.
That’s up a whopping 14 percent from 2010, and the number of employers struggling to fill positions is at an all-time high in the Manpower survey despite an unemployment rate that has diminished only marginally during the last year.
The survey also found that U.S. employers are struggling to find qualified talent more than their global counterparts, where one in three of whom are having difficulty filling positions, the highest level since before the recession in 2007.
According to the more than 1,300 American employers surveyed by Manpower, the jobs that are most difficult to fill include skilled trades, sales representatives, and engineers, all of which have appeared on the U.S. list multiple times in the past. The survey also found that the most common reasons employers say they are having trouble filling jobs, including candidates looking for more pay than is offered, a lack of technical skills, and, a lack of experience.
Here’s the Top 10 list of the hardest U.S. jobs to fill in 2011:
“The fact that companies cite a lack of skills or experience as a reason for talent shortages should be a wake-up call for employers, academia, government and individuals,” said Jonas Prising, Manpower Group president of the Americas, in a press release about the latest survey. He added this:
The tremendous spike in U.S. employers that are having difficulty filling positions tells us that we’re in the thick of the much-anticipated global talent mismatch. As we know from the persistently high unemployment rate, job seekers are plentiful, but employers are engaged in an ongoing struggle to fill positions. Ultimately, the underlying reason for this gap between available talent and desired talent is simple: jobs have structurally changed over time, and the skills needed to fulfill these roles have too. While talent cannot be ‘manufactured’ in the short term, a robust workforce strategy will ensure that companies can find the people to support their business strategy, and that employees have the opportunity to pursue meaningful career paths.”
Yes, that phrase that “jobs have structurally changed over time” speaks to the notion that all-too-many American workers haven’t continued to improve their job skills, leaving them unprepared to really compete for the changing job market as the economy slowly improves and hiring expands.
Is that the full reason for the talent shortage? Some would say “no,” that part of the problem is the unwillingness of some employers to compete for talent by boosting wages to attract better and more qualified) candidates with so many workers still looking for jobs.
Jonas Prising of Manpower makes this very point, saying about the survey, “There may also be an increasing imbalance between employers willingness to pay higher salaries in what is still a soft general labor market compared to the salary expectations of prospective employees, especially those with skills that are in high demand.”
So, make of this survey what you well. If anything, it seems to reflect the difficult challenges that the U.S. faces rebuilding the national workforce after the long and difficult recession, and, that the national unemployment picture isn’t going to magically get a whole lot better any time soon.
Of course, there’s more in the news this week than yet another employment survey. Here are some other HR and workplace-related items you may have missed. This is TLNT’s weekly round-up of news, trends, and insights from the world of HR and talent management. Yes, I do it so you don’t have to.