Hiring in the Modern Marketplace
MSCI is grateful to the leadership at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for allowing MSCI to reprint data from this report for its members.
As the U.S. labor market becomes one of the most competitive talent markets in recent history, hiring managers are faced with a greater number of challenges. Additionally, as workers become more confident in seeking better employment opportunities, employers of all sizes across multiple industries are also struggling to hire qualified candidates.
In fact, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Worker Availability Ratio has found that there are currently 0.88 U.S. workers available for each job opening, and more than half of U.S. states (28) have more open jobs than available workers to fill them. Hypothetically, this means that even if every single individual in that state who wants a job – and is available to work – could find a job, there would still be positions left unfilled.
As competition for prospects increases, hiring mangers face pressure to get innovative and deliver qualified candidates who are the ‘right fit’ for their organizations. New data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation expands on this dilemma, finding that: hiring managers are looking for different ways to identify the right talent, and that skills are proving to be the most important factor they are considering in that process; there is a new shift in how employers work with higher education to equip individuals with in-demand skills; and that hiring managers are reevaluating their hiring requirements to find the candidates they need.
The U.S. Chamber advises, “As organizations look to find qualified candidates, they should use data to inform and strengthen decision making in the hiring process. According to respondents, many organizations are already using data in their hiring practices and future workforce planning, such as state workforce projections (38%), real-time LMI data (30%), and government resources (26%).” The report concludes, “While this is a start, organizations should integrate job data in hiring and planning in order to find qualified candidates and better anticipate needs in their organization.”
The U.S. Chamber’s data is based on a survey conducted from November 20-27, 2019 and was commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The objective was to better understand the current hiring landscape. The survey was of 500 U.S. HR hiring decision makers. The margin of error is +/- 4.4 percentage points.
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