Constructions jobs are increasing, and skilled labor is in high demand.
Job prospects are looking good these days, and a tight market means more and better opportunities for those seeking employment. In fact, 47 percent of companies plan on hiring contract or temporary employees, and 40 percent plan to hire full-time permanent employees this year.
These figures come from an annual survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 1,021 hiring and human resource managers and 1,010 employees between Dec. 20, 2018 and Jan. 16, 2019.
Jobs most in demand
The most in-demand types of jobs and the increased percentages in hiring, according to the survey:
- Skilled labor: 25 percent
- Data analysis: 21 percent
- Digital marketing: 12 percent
- Cyber security: 11 percent
- AI/Machine learning: 10 percent
- Healthcare: 10 percent
While CareerBuilder looked at types of jobs, the ManpowerGroup looked at 13 industry segments in its Q2 2019 ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey of more than 11,500 U.S. employers.
Industry segments increase hiring
The strongest industry segments and their increased percentages in hiring:
- Transportation and utilities: 25 percent
- Leisure and hospitality: 25 percent
- Wholesale and retail trade: 24 percent
- Professional and business services: 23 percent
- Mining: 19 percent
- Construction: 19 percent
- Durable goods manufacturing: 19 percent
“As U.S. employers continue to report double-digit hiring outlooks, demand for talent is growing across the board from cyber security experts and data analysts to delivery drivers needed to keep up with 24/7 online retail,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of ManpowerGroup North America.
Companies willing to train
Don’t have the exact skills employers are looking for? Don’t worry. If you have potential, many employers may be willing to train you in some of the skills you might need.
“While a skills gap has created an environment where employers are having trouble finding qualified talent, employees’ and companies’ mutual dedication towards competency-based training indicates we have made leaps and bounds toward eliminating these obstacles. We’ve found that 59 percent of employers plan to train and hire workers who may not be 100 percent qualified but have potential,” says Irina Novoselsky, CEO of CareerBuilder.
And they’ve already been doing this. Sixty-three percent of employers in the CareerBuilder poll reported hiring someone without the required skills with plans to train them. And more than half have paid for an employee to get training or education to bring them up to speed.
Beyond technical and practical skills, soft skills are becoming increasingly important in the workplace. Ninety-two percent of employers say soft skills help determine whether they will hire candidates. And eighty percent also said that soft skills would be at least as important as hard skills. The top skills that employers mentioned to CareerBuilder are the ability to be team-oriented (51 percent), attention to detail (49 percent) and customer service (46 percent).
