Although the unemployment rate is nearly hitting 10 percent, approximately 2.7 million jobs remain open, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Even though we are in a deep recession and unemployment remains high in many markets, employers worldwide still report that they cannot find the talent they need when they need it," says Joyce Gioia, workplace futurist and CEO of Employer of Choice International Inc.
[See also: Businesses post most job openings in 3 years]
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Based on Manpower's 2011 Talent Shortage Survey, it appears that while the international economic downturn may have disguised the talent shortage for several years, the global recovery has resurfaced talent shortage issues. In fact, employers that reduce staff are finding that they need more of the right people in place to continue and support their business strategies.
According to the survey, 34 percent of employers globally say they have trouble filling positions because of a lack of available talent, which is a 3 percentage point increase since 2010. Of the respondents, 24 say they cannot find anyone available in their markets while 22 percent say their applicants do not have necessary technical competencies or hard skills. Fifteen percent of respondents say candidates lack business knowledge or formal qualifications. Fifty-seven percent of respondents believe the talent shortage impacts key stakeholders, such as customers and investors.
Skilled tech workers are particularly valuable right now, as 70 percent of technology professionals anticipate mass turnover in their departments as the job market recovers.
"Not since the dot.com bubble have we seen a tech job market this tight," Gioia says. "Given the exploding fields of mobile computing, social media, analytics, cloud computing, etc., skilled tech workers hare in high demand." Nationwide, online job ads for software engineers have been up 6 percent since the early 2011. There is approximately an average of eight potential candidates in the U.S. work force for each new job posted in July, with California having the largest tech talent shortage.
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