Trends in the US Hiring Market
Despite some tepid news about growth in the US economy, hiring is expected to remain strong with more than a third of employers expecting to add full-time, permanent employees over the course of the year, according to a new survey by Careerbuilder. With this in mind, what does the hiring landscape look like for full-time, part-time, temporary, and contract workers?
According to the survey, conducted for Career Builder by Harris Poll, the first half of 2015 will see strong growth in the US jobs market, with one of the best jobs outlooks since 2006. Salary increases- including those for minimum wage workers- are also on the cards, according to the survey.
“The U.S. job market is turning a corner as caution gives way to confidence,” said Matt Ferguson, the CEO of Careerbuilder. “The amount of companies planning to hire in 2015 is up 12 percentage points over last year.”
Full-Time Permanent Hiring
According to the survey, 36 percent of US employers plan to hire permanent workers in 2015, a 24 percent increase on the previous year. 9 percent of employers said they have plans to decrease employment, while 48 percent said they see no changes in sight for employment. Hiring remains quite strong in areas like Information Technology (54 percent), Financial Services (42 percent), and Manufacturing (41 percent).
The study’s findings are validated by US jobs data, which showed US employers added 233,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate at 5.4%.
Temporary and Contract Hiring
Temporary and contract hiring is expected to increase over the next half of 2015. 46 percent of employers plan to hire temporary or contract workers, according to the survey. This number stood at 42 percent the previous year.
Part-Time Jobs
The number of part-time jobs is also one the increase. 23 percent of employers expect to recruit part-time workers over the next year, according to the survey. According to the survey, a number of factors will “influence this trend”, for example, 14 percent of all employers said they will “likely” hire part-time workers, which may be due to the continuation of the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care).
Minimum Wage Increases
The survey found that 46 percent of employers expect a minimum wage increase in 2015, an issue that has become massively controversial over the past few years. Of these, 53 percent of employers said they will raise the wage by $2 or more, while 32 percent will raise it by $3. 47 percent of employers said they will limit the increase to $1 or less. However, the majority of employers, some 69 percent according to the survey, will pay $10 or more, while 39 percent will pay $12. 18 percent of employers will pay $15 or more.
The issue has also attracted some national attention, with President Obama making exhaustive calls on the US Congress to increase the minimum wage from f $7.25 an hour to $10.10. In 2014, after a long push, the President signed an executve order for a minimum wage increase for Federal contract workers, raising the wage to $10.10 an hour which started this year. Recently, Los Angeles set out plans to increase their minimum wage to $15 an hour, despite pushbacks from unions. While New York, will raise its minimum wage to $9 an hour by the end of 2015.
If you would like to learn more about how to streamline your hiring process why not speak with one of our team today and see how we can help your business to onboard contractor and temporary staff in the coming year.
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