Dive Brief:
- There are few surprises in the American Staffing Association's Skills Gap Index for the final quarter of 2016. For example, in the technology sector, computer and information research scientists and Information security analysts are the hardest to fill occupations.
- The most difficult-to-fill occupations currently are physician assistants, food service managers, tellers, and sales engineers. In the last report, internists, bus and truck mechanics, sales floor stock clerks, and police patrol officers were considered the hardest to fill positions.
- On-demand and temporary staffing jobs increased by 3.39% from last year's figures during the second week of February.
Dive Insight:
HR people on the frontline know how difficult some positions are to fill. The ASA report is a quick way of validating what certain sectors are up against when searching for top talent.
The index shows that jobs in the STEM markets are continually hurting for talent. With the wave of discrimination cases roiling the tech sector, that talent hunt is likely to persist.
Another avenue that benefits current workers and also offsets staffing needs is proper training. In the wave of recent large staffing agency and job board acquisitions, this could be a sign that temporary agencies are not going anywhere for some time.
