Posted on 08/14/2013 6:37:24 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
An odd puzzle is taking shape in the labor market: Over the past three years, the number of job openings has risen almost 50 percent, but actual hiring has gone up by less than 5 percent. Companies are advertising a lot more jobs, in other words, but not filling them.
To get some sense of how significant this is, consider that if, since June 2010, hiring had risen a third as much as advertised jobs have (rather than only a 10th), and nothing else were different, job creation would be roughly 500,000 higher each month, and the unemployment rate would already be back to normal levels.
So what explains the yawning gap between jobs open and jobs filled?
One possibility is that there is a mismatch between the work that companies need done and the skills that workers have. As Peter Newland of Barclays Plc has said, “We believe that this divergence between openings and hiring is consistent with our view that some of the loss of employment during the recession was structural, rather than purely cyclical, in nature.”
Such a structural mismatch may well explain part of the gap, yet it seems unlikely that it explains most of it. After all, job openings in the retail trade have doubled over the past three years, while hiring has been flat. Is it really plausible that we lack qualified workers for these jobs?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonmonthly.com ...
I’m in the market for a developer position directly due to the actions of Eric Holder, but I won’t get into that.
What I’ve seen is that there is great demand for skilled and experienced developers that are stable individuals,
and the employers just can’t find them. That’s not saying, though, that they’re willing to step up to where the supply and demand curves cross, though, if you know what I mean.
Additional reasons for so many job openings and so few actual new hires:
* HR software that posts the same job on every board inflates the apparent total
* Use of recruiters and posting a job as the employer results in duplicate job postings
* Illegal immigrants take many low skill positions through recruiters, so citizens see no apparent hiring from job postings
* Internal job positions are reserved for existing staff but they have to post externally in the name of fairness, so the position is designed to be impossible for anyone but the existing staffer
Answer in one word: Øbamacare
Hiring: 28 hours a week for free, as interns, until such time as you even mention being paid, then you are downsized.
Hiring: 28 hours a week for minimum wage, with zero chance of ever getting a salaried position. With mandatory union dues.
Hiring: Cash only, no W-2 form, paid less than minimum wage but making more money because it is tax and FICA free.
Hiring: Petty criminals. $50k/yr tax free, smuggling heroin for Oxy-junkies. Employers until arrested.
It is an updated version of the scam with the clip from the 2007 seminar which I was telling you about. Gee, who would have ever thunk that the Democrat controlled immigration lawyer lobby and the RINO controlled cheap labor lobby were in bed together?
I had this very conversation with an intern this past spring. He was amazed that he was getting passed over for (IT) jobs. People who only had HS diplomas, plus experience, were getting hired full time over him ... and he had a college degree....
Putting my contempt in the happy box, I told him that I handled hiring all the time, and, "Rather than emphasizing your college degree, emphasize the experience you gained as an intern, as it will get you farther."
Fat chance, as arrogance at his level will always shine through. But, I thought that it was pretty good advice.
"Training and Experience:
No previous experience required.
Applicant must currently be enrolled at or recent graduate of an accredited university or college, majoring in the field of the internship, with a plan of working in that field as a career."
My favorite is the girl (!) who called me for the phone interview - that's a little out of protocol, usually I'm supposed to call the interviewee, but no matter.
Anyhoo, she started the conversation with "Yeah, I'm calling about the &%&#ing interview?" and went downhill from there. :-)
We hired a chinese kid who only lasted 1 day. His mother called and told us that the work we gave him to do was below him.
Too many businesses want you to have four year college degrees, which necessitates building a debt of $40 grand or more.
Many young people might be willing to start at the bottom, but they cannot afford to do so.
"48 hours."
cll, you have to share first prize with poobear.
You got half of the right answer, poobear got the other half.
There is no mystery. It’s simple cause and effect.
RE: there is great demand for skilled and experienced developers that are stable individuals
Are people who have worked on CONTRACT ( as consultants ) considered stable or not?
I am a software developer ( with a full time position ). However, I get calls from recruiters all the time looking for people who can work on CONTRACT ( 6 months, 9 months, a year ).
AND...have to put up with supervision, co-workers and the general public (that's the hard part).
There’s quite a broad spectrum of reqs out there,
but very few direct hire. Almost all are contract for hire at best.
I think this is a symptom of the “stable candidate” issue.
It costs a lot of money to full time hire someone, and what if the guy’s a flake?
So, they have a 6 month “contract” then convert at the end if he’s not a flake.
One reason is the employers are offering salaries sharply lower than what the same job paid only five or six years ago — and people are turning them down! This is especially true for professional positions. Some pay no more and sometimes less than what secretaries earn. Thus, people could find ways to earn more money doing something else.
The other problem is how difficult it is to fire someone, because it seems these days everyone who is fired finds a reason to try to sue the company, especially if they are a minority.
Agreed, that's why all of the non-entry level positions that I hire for ask for "BS in XXXX, or equivalent experience".
Now, the question is, how do you get experience? That's stickier, but I'd start with volunteering, attending user groups, network network network, and so on.
I'm in IT, and one of the questions I always ask at entry level interviews is, "How many computers do you have at home?" "Zero" is the wrong answer.
"One" or "Two" is adequate. The correct answer is "Twelve, but most of them are torn apart and in a box under my bed. Man, let me tell ya about this sweet setup I have....."
The reason is no one wants to train anymore.
So you want the clone of the guy who just left. Which doesn’t exist.
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