Good News for the Recruiting Industry!
On Thursday March 18, President Obama signed into action a new bill, which will directly affect the staffing industry over the next few years. Our industry has taken one of the largest hits over the past two years, since many companies reduced their hiring initiatives, which left many staffing and recruiting companies with half the volume they were used to in prior years. However, President Obama has made it one of his top concerns to get the whole country and economy back on its feet, starting with reducing unemployment. February saw little progress in decreasing nonfarm unemployment. The current unemployment rate has remained at 9.7% and February only saw 36,000 more employed Americans in comparison to January. The new bill will directly respond to these sluggish numbers by creating $18 billion in tax breaks for companies who hire in the next year. The bill is proposed to create 250,000 new jobs over the next year. Although that may not seem largely significant, it will bring new business for the recruiting industry, something that we can all look forward too!
Byron West
President
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Generation Y
As we look forward to emerging out of this recession and reducing unemployment, a new and highly anticipated generation of employees is moving into the workforce. There seems to be a lot of skepticism about how effective the “me” generation will be. Growing up in a culture centered on instant gratification and focused on efficiency, this new generation of the workforce will bring a new set of cards to the table. No longer is the time dedicated to a job, a justified means to being promoted. Generation Y will now see their performance as the most justified reason for upward mobility in the company. In addition 35% of Generation Y employees wish to communicate with their boss several times a day. What is to be expected from these new employees should be clear, obtainable, and concise. Focused on efficiency, the more communication will be essential in obtaining the optimal performance from new workers.
In addition, Generation Y, or the “me” generation, seeks to obtain the security and status their parents obtained much earlier in life. In a recent survey Generation Y respondents ranked “working with a manager I can respect and learn from” as an 8.74 on a 10 point scale. With most new employee’s eyes set on upward mobility, the ability to gain wisdom from their managers is becoming ever more crucial. Skepticism about this new workforce has led Generation Y to be referred to in a negative connotation. However, I believe that the new mold of employees can bring new effectiveness to companies through their aptitude with technology and ambition to jump through the necessary hoops to achieve success. Most of Generation Y has grown up with computers and has become extremely proficient at navigating the Internet. Their awareness with new developing technologies will bring technology options that may have gone unnoticed. Nevertheless, with the new employees coming into the workforce, I think we can all anticipate what Generation Y will bring to the table.
Resources:
Questions and Answers about GENERATION X/GENERATION Y. www.bc.edu/wfnetwork. Sloan Work & Family Research Network, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. <wfnetwork.bc.edu/pdfs/GXGY.pdf>.
Byron West
President
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Temporary Employment On the Rise
The American Staffing Association began compiling data related to temporary and contract employment in June of 2006. Since then, the ASA Staffing index has served as an indicator of the level of temporary employment across the country. During the early months of 2007 & 2008, temporary employment hovered around the 100-point mark. However, with the onset of the recession, we saw a steady decrease in the later months of 2008. This remains consistent with the previous state of our economy.
This past July, temporary employment hit rock bottom and has since risen 23%. The significant increase doesn’t seem very evident on the graph in comparison to previous years, but in contrast to the steady decline we saw in November and December of 2008, the increase is reassuring.
So what does this mean for businesses, the recruiting industry and the greater economy? Temporary employment has always served as a great indicator for the direction in which permanent employment will head. With temporary employment increasing throughout the past two months and a relatively small drop in temp employment in the last week of the year, we can expect unemployment to decrease in the near future. Since August of 2009, unemployment has remained around 10%, but as we begin the new year, temporary employment indicates that the unemployment rate will once again fall below 10%. A strong recovery is not clear, but a recovery nonetheless is nearing. With the beginning of a new year, we are excited to see a recovery in the staffing and recruiting industry.
Karaer, Alexandra. “BLS: Temporary Help Continued to Add Jobs in December.”
Staffing Week: n. pag. Web. 14 Jan. 2010.
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Byron West
President
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With 10% of the team on the sidelines… What play will you call?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released that unemployment rose by 558,000 people to 10.2% in October. The 0.4% fluctuation from September’s (.8% unemployment rate brought into question the relapse of the economy and what the forecast for the future might be. However history has shown us that the last thing to decrease after a recession, especially one as severe as 2007’s, is unemployment (See Figure 1). As a result, it’s time to realize that soon, the economy will begin expanding again.
With projected growth in several industries topping over half a million in new jobs over the next seven years, its important to understand that the economy is in the process of bouncing back. Hospital Healthcare is projected to add almost 700,00 jobs by 2016, and the tech industry is expected to add almost 500,000. Thus, the current set-back, is nothing more than a set-back. With GDP growing, companies will soon be in search of new employees to relieve current workers of the stress that comes along with their increasingly heavy workloads.
Figure 1
Berchem, Steven. Annual Economic Analysis Puzzles Through the Data and Explains the Trends. N. pag. American Staffing Association, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2009. <http://www.americanstaffing.net/statistics/economic2009.cfm>.
Byron West
President
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