CHICAGO – Hiring trends aren’t likely to change before the end of the year, according to the Q4 2008 Job Forecast report from issued by CareerBuilder.com and USA Today.
The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive between Aug. 21 and Sept. 9, 2008, and it included results from more than 3,000 hiring managers and human resources professionals, as well as over 6,100 workers in private sector companies across the U.S.
“Employers are maintaining a conservative approach to recruitment as they maneuver through a weaker economy that has produced its share of casualties,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com, in a statement. “Certain sectors, such as IT and healthcare, are still showing solid job growth while others struggle with reorganization, cost containment and other measures to stay afloat. Consistent with last quarter’s findings, there is a slight decrease in the number of employers planning to add new workers in the next three months.”
The survey found that 23 per cent of employers have plans to add full-time, permanent employees to their staff in the next three months, which was a slight decline from the third quarter. Only 10 per cent of employers said they plan to decrease headcount, and 63 per cent said they expect no changes in headcount. Four per cent were undecided.
Of employers with more than 250 employees, 27 per cent said they plan to add full-time, permanent positions in Q4, whereas 26 per cent of employers with between 51 and 250 employees plan to add such positions, and only 16 per cent of employers with between one and 50 employees plan to add full-time staff during the quarter.
Looking back at the third quarter, 14 per cent of hiring managers said there were layoffs at their locations, but 84 per cent said there were none (two per cent were unsure). Ten per cent of hiring managers expect layoffs at their locations in the fourth quarter, while 81 per cent don’t and nine per cent said they were unsure.
Also, raises are expected during the fourth quarter, with 65 per cent of employers stating they have plans to provide a salary increase for full-time, permanent employees. The size of the raises will vary, with 38 per cent projecting average raises of between one and three per cent, 24 per cent expecting raises of four to 10 per cent, and two per cent expecting to raise salaries by 11 per cent or more. Twenty-eight per cent of hiring managers said they expect no change in salaries. Only three per cent said they expect to see a decrease in salaries, and four per cent were undecided.
This column was written by Chris Talbot of ConnectIT, an IntegratedMarCompany
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