Worldwide Jobs in Demand Are Still Skills, Sales, and Techs

Unemployment might have reached record highs within the past year, but global talent shortages still run amok. According to an annual survey from Manpower Inc. that polled 35,000 employees from across 36 countries, 31 percent of employers have difficulty filling key positions within their organization. In addition, the seats for jobs that have been in demand for four years running remain tough to fill.

The top jobs for 2010 are skilled trades, sales representatives, technicians, and engineers, which are exactly the same as in 2009.

“As the global economy slowly recovers, employers will remain focused on maintaining financial flexibility and doing more with less,” says Jeffrey A. Joerres, CEO and chairman of Manpower Inc. “Applying the same mindset to their workforce, employers have gotten more specific about the combination of skill sets that they are looking for, not only seeking technical capabilities in a training jobs, but holding out for the person that possesses the additional qualities above and beyond that will help drive their organization forward. This conundrum is upsetting to the ubiquitous job seeker, who will need to take more responsibility for his/her skills development in order to find ways to remain relevant to the market.”

A copy of the survey, including additional information on the specific job shortages in different global regions, and a whitepaper on how employers can address the talent mismatch are available at Manpower Inc.’s Research Center.

Productivity at All-Time High

Last week, news surfaced that productivity—basically the amount of work per hour—increased at an annual rate of 6.6 percent during the second quarter. That’s the best performance since the summer 2003 and easily exceeded the 6.4 percent gain economists expected, according to the Labor Department.

So what does that really mean? Are workers being asked to do more in less time? If so, how is workplace training playing a part in this productivity?

Are the workers who are remaining on the jobsite the older, more experienced group or are those workers left behind during a RIF being upskilled quickly to meet the demands of the organization?

Workplace Readiness

Just as the Obama administration pledged to provide $12 billion to community colleges this week and focused a light on the training and skills workers will need for the jobs of tomorrow, a new report shows that U.S. employers continue to struggle with an ill-prepared workforce, finding new hires lack crucial basic and applied skills. For the most part, employer-sponsored readiness training is not successfully correcting these deficiencies, according to the report, The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce: Exploring the Challenges of Employer-Provided Workforce Readiness Training, produced by Corporate Voices for Working Families, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), The Conference Board, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

“In any economy, having a knowledgeable, skilled workforce is critical for organizations to grow and be successful,” said Tony Bingham, ASTD President and CEO. “As the skills gap widens among new entrants to the workforce, it's clear that all stakeholders –employers, education, and the public workforce system – must collaborate to effectively prepare workers to be successful on the job.”

This topic is crucial if laid off individuals are going to find new jobs, spark the economic recovery, and compete in a challenging global business climate.