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IT staff, engineers among top 10 toughest jobs to fill in US

ManpowerGroup survey finds talent shortage worst in US
by Michael Cooney


Forty-nine percent of US companies are having a hard time filling what workforce management firm ManpowerGroup calls mission-critical positions within their organizations with IT staff, engineers and "skilled trades" among the toughest spots to fill.

The group surveyed some 1,300 employers and noted that US companies are struggling to find talent, despite continued high unemployment, over their global counterparts, where 34% of employers worldwide are having difficulty filling positions.

According to ManpowerGroup, the most common reasons employers say they are having trouble filling jobs, including lack of available applicants, applicants looking for more pay and lack of experience.

In the United States, the top 10 hardest jobs to fill include:

1. Skilled Trades

2. Engineers

3. IT Staff

4. Sales Representatives

5. Accounting & Finance Staff

6. Drivers

7. Mechanics

8. Nurses

9. Machinists/Machine Operators

10. Teachers

US Hardest Jobs to Fill in 2011

1. Skilled Trades

2. Sales Representatives

3. Engineers

4. Drivers

5. Accounting & Finance Staff

6. IT Staff

7. Management/Executives

8. Teachers

9. Secretaries/Administrative Assistants

10. Machinist/Machine Operator

Across the globe, employers having the most difficulty finding the right people to fill jobs are located in Japan (81%), Brazil (71%), Bulgaria (51%), Australia (50%), USA (49%), India (48%), New Zealand (48%), Taiwan (47%), Panama (47%), Romania (45%), Argentina (45%), Mexico (43%) and Germany (42%). Talent shortages are least problematic in Ireland and the Netherlands, ManpowerGroup found.


Bull crap. Plain and simple. It's not that there aren't people out there. It's that corporations don't really want to hire and train. They want them to come in pre-trained, knowing everything they need to know to function in the environment and not spend a dime to teach them what they should be doing. When you look at it that way, it is indeed a harsh landscape to find talent and skill. This is followed by the idea that corporations and businesses should just pay minimum wage for those sought after talents and skills. That some how the function of demand does not enter into the equation of pay.

That outlook is unrealistic. I don't think I've ever had a job that did not require some on-the-job training in the first days. The company has to tell you what they think is mission critical. What they expect out of you for the pay. You can't just show up and start out with out some sort of direction and that is the beginning of on-the-job. Every company and corporation has tools it favors to do that job and they are necessarily different than the next corporation. So you have to come up to speed on that set of tools, under than environment, which is again on-the-job.

Lastly, there are some jobs that are far more complex, with requirements for the worker, beyond those of ditch digging. Some require certifications, licensing, and testable skills. Finding some one with just the set of requirements isn't easy and isn't going to come rolling into your door out of the blue.

What you don't hear in all this bemoaning of lack of qualified workers is the mention that these same corporations and companies that are crying about the lack of qualified workers aren't telling you that in the last decade most of them stripped their training programs. They aren't willing to spend a dime to teach the worker what they expect that worker to know.

These corporations and businesses are getting pressure to put people to work and they have to come up with some reason why they are sitting on tons of cash but aren't hiring to kick off the economy. They are in a golden era of making all sorts of income but they aren't spending unless it is to buy laws, lobbyists, or political support. The economy is in shambles mainly because our politicians are cutting the one place they get the greatest bang for the buck, which is to say benefits such as SNAP, Social Security, and Medicare. Instead they would rather cut there so they can buy another $80,000 missile to go with the armaments room of them they already have.

The only way to get the economy going is to make sure there is a growing middle class and to make sure that middle class has discretionary funds to spend. 70% of economic spending powers the economy and it is the middle class that does that. The rich don't have the numbers and don't spend enough themselves to power the economy which is where we are now. There is no state in the US where you can rent a 2 bedroom place for less than 58 hours of work a week.

...the federal minimum wage is actually 25 percent lower today than it was in 1968. When it comes to housing costs, for example, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) suggests applying no more than 25 percent of your gross income towards rent. But almost no one earning minimum wage would be able to pay the national median rent using that formula.

This is the problem with the economy. As long as it is a hirer's market place there will be no recovery. As long as hirer's can put up such trash as not being able to find qualified workers when they aren't willing to train and teach what they need done, it will remain the same way. It can't be different.

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