Despite Expected Hiring Gains, Rate of Job Growth Still Behind 2011

The hiring outlook for February 2012 shows a net gain in employment in the manufacturing and service sectors, although the pace of job creation lags that of January 2011, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey for February 2012. 

Hiring will be steady in both sectors in February. Forty percent of manufacturers responding to the survey report they will add jobs in February 2012; approximately 21 percent of service-sector companies responding report they will be hiring.

“Though we continue to see an overall positive rate of hiring for both sectors, the gains are not as strong compared to the same time last year,” said Jennifer Schramm, GPHR, SHRM manager of workplace trends and forecasting. 

Human resource professionals in both sectors reported increased difficulty with recruiting key candidates in January 2012 compared with January 2011. In addition, some new hires will see increases in starting compensation offers.

The LINE Employment Report examines employers’ hiring expectations, recruiting difficulty and new-hire compensation, based on monthly survey responses from private-sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing- and 500 service-sector companies. Together, these two sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation’s private-sector workers. Read More