The U.S. job market will continue to expand in August with 53.5% of manufacturers and 58% of service-sector employers planning to hire, according to the August report of the Leading Indicator of National Employment (LINE), a collaborative effort between the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations.
Consistent with the usual seasonality patterns, the employment expectations index declined from July through August, but remained substantially above the August 2005 level.
In the manufacturing sector, employment expectations for August continue to expand and are substantially better than in August 2005. LINE's additional measures reinforce the fact that there remains a strong demand for skilled workers.
HR professionals appear to be making some progress in filling vacant positions, but continue to have challenges finding highly qualified individuals. However, few employers are increasing new-hire compensation. To view the full manufacturing report visit www.shrm.org/LINE.
For the service sector, employers planning to expand their workforce in August remains relatively unchanged from July. Like manufacturing, service employers made progress in filling vacant positions in the last month, despite difficulty finding qualified candidates.
While employers expressed little pressure to increase new-hire wages, nearly all service-sector employers and manufacturers indicated no push to decrease new-hire compensation either. To view the full service-sector report visit www.shrm.org/LINE.