The jobs mismatch
Jobs are out there – so why is it taking employers so long to fill them?
“The key reason is that there’s a mismatch in the jobs market going on,” says Robert Johnson, Director of Economic Analysis at Morningstar.
Like trying to pair plaid with polka dots — there are many patterns to follow. First, while there are jobs, some are part time and workers may be holding out for the real deal of a full-time gig. Next, some industries may be looking for skilled workers who don’t exist.
“There definitely is a shortage in the labor market right now – everybody is experiencing it in construction,” says Kristen Ripmaster, sales and operations manager at Constructionjobs.com. There are jobs on the site says Ripmaster, but applications are down or nonexistent.
Construction, notes Ripmaster, took a hit during the downturn and so the flow of young people choosing to go into the industry stopped. Furthermore, anyone still in the market is already working because of the boom in the industry.
But Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy research, has another take on the mismatch. “It doesn’t seem that skills are the issue,” he says.
The biggest disconnect, he says, between available jobs and how long it takes to fill them, is in the retail and restaurant industries.
“It’s a little hard to believe that the reason restaurants and retail stores have all these openings that are going unfilled, is because they can’t find qualified workers,” Baker says.
DiceHoldings, a company that tracks how long it takes to fill jobs, says both employers and workers have been getting pickier about what they want – which makes it harder to find a match.
But if employers need workers, Baker says, they’ll have to begin offering higher salaries.
“We all understand that if you want a really good quarterback, you’re willing to pay $20 million a year to get a really good quarterback” he says. “And you’ll get a really good quarterback.”
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