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The U.S. economy shed more than a quarter of million jobs in the first quarter of 2023 led by more than 100,000 tech sector layoffs. On the other hand, the broader job market remains resilient and historically tight.
Forget the headlines, job recruiters and companies are finding skilled labor still hard to find in 2023.
“Ever since April of last year, I’ve seen an explosion in headlines about layoffs and warnings about the labor market being weaker than it appears … but these headlines don’t align with what I, as a recruiter, am experiencing on the ground or even official labor market statistics,” writes Atta Tarki in Harvard Business Review on Jan. 30, 2023. “In fact, the economy in early 2023 is not being roiled by layoffs — which are currently abnormally low compared to historical standards. This means the labor market remains really tight, despite arguments to the contrary.”
While “White Collar” layoffs dominate the headlines in 2023, businesses are still facing a shortage of skilled workers and other “blue collar” applicants to fill open jobs.
Try to glean anything out of the 24/7 media spin regarding the economic outlook for the next year and it will be one word: recession, recession, recession.
It may sound counterintuitive, but with the possibility of a recession looming, your company’s hiring decisions are more important than ever. While others downsize, you could be adding top talent that helps you ride out the business storm ahead.
The U.S. economy faces a multitude of challenges including the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, spiraling inflation, and worldwide supply chain issues. Add to that list a lack of skilled tradesmen in the workforce that has industry experts concerned.
The economy and markets are constantly changing. While past markets can definitely be used to construct probabilities, they don’t stay the same. Over time, the primary market players shift, regulations change the operating rules, market territories grow and shrink, and new services and products become gamechangers.
The recent pandemic had a massive effect on society, and not just from a health perspective. Thousands of people working remote re-evaluated their career, what they were doing, and where they wanted to be in life. That in turn triggered what has become known in the early 2020s as the Great Retirement, a wave of separations across many industries where people triggered their retirement or decided to leave early for a different path.
Company Culture has always been important to the success of your organization, but it may be more important than ever.
Light industrial jobs generally require less experience and training than other sectors, but skills assessment tests can be useful to successfully match applicants with the right employment opportunities.
Employers fulfilling light industrial staffing orders, especially those on the most demanding shifts, must pay close attention to details such as common sense problem-solving, ability to function with minimal supervision, and workplace attitudes towards issues such as punctuality, safety and drug use.
