Confidence in jobs recovery continues to grow

The UK job market is on the road to recovery, with IT industries leading the way, according to a new jobs report.

The monthly study by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation showed that the demand for permanent employees across all sectors grew at the fastest rate in four months in December 2010.

IT workers were one of the groups that were most in demand in the period covered by the report.

Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG, said: “The latest data suggests again that the UK job market is on the road to recovery as growth of permanent placements remained solid and demand for staff rose strongly.

“A look at the sectors indicates that the private sector is mainly responsible for the overall positive picture, with IT and computing as well as executive and professional staff most in demand.”

The report is based on a survey of 400 UK recruitment consultants, and as well as asking consultants to name specific skills that are in short supply, uses a figure to represent demand in each job sector. A figure above 50 indicates an increase on the previous month.

Last month, the demand for IT and computing workers grew at the strongest rate out of all industry sectors, with growth picking up to a six-month high. Its report index figure for permanent IT staff was 60.5, down slightly compared with 63.6 December 2009, but up from 56.6 in November 2010.

For temporary IT staff, the figure was 56.6 in December 2010, which was also a small reduction from 58.1 the same time a year before.

However, Brown also warned that there was still the impact of government cutbacks in the public sector to be felt.

“[The impact] should start to bite over the coming months. Second, the impact of the recent VAT increase [to 20 percent] and whether this will affect UK consumer demand and job creation [will be the two big issues],” he said.

Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC, added: “Addressing the issue of one million young people under 24 not in education or employment is critical for the long-term success of our economy and must be a priority for the government in 2011.”

The skills that continue to be reported to be in short supply are those in .Net developing, for both permanent and temporary roles. In addition, Java developers were said to be in short supply in the contract market.

Permanent staff skills in short supply were reported as net developers. And in temporary skills, it was net developers and java developers.

IT jobs experts recently predicted that a skills shortage may be shortage by the end of the year, particularly in web-based skills, as customers increase their development in online and e-commerce.

David Cameron also this week hosted a jobs summit with some of the largest UK companies to solicit pledges from them to help the government’s agenda to boost jobs. Microsoft announced 4,000 jobs to this end.

Reference Link
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/011211-confidence-in-jobs-recovery-continues.html

Courtesy
Network World

Job Offers Rising as Economy Warms Up

As the economy gradually recovers, some big U.S. companies are cranking up their recruiting and advertising thousands of job openings, ranging from retail clerks and nurses to bank tellers and experts in cloud computing.

Many of the new jobs are in retailing, accounting, consulting, health care, telecommunications and defense-related industries, according to data collected for The Wall Street Journal by Indeed Inc., which runs one the largest employment websites. It said the number of U.S. job postings on the Internet rose to 4.7 million on Dec. 1, up from 2.7 million a year earlier. The company daily collects listings from corporate and job-posting websites, removing duplicates.

Its figures may undercount available jobs because some companies don’t post all listings online, an Indeed spokesman said. Farming, manufacturing and construction jobs tend to be under-represented in online postings, while skilled computer and mathematical jobs are overrepresented, said June Shelp, an economist and vice president for the Conference Board, a private research group.

To be sure, the postings data offer only a partial and unofficial look at the labor market. Job losses in the recent recession have been much worse relative to output declines than in previous slumps, and official payroll data so far haven’t shown signs of a big rebound in hiring. While some big companies are expanding, others are merely replacing workers who are retiring or otherwise moving on. And many of the available jobs require experience and technical expertise that few job seekers can muster. Jobs that don’t are still seeing a flood of applicants for each opening.

New claims for unemployment benefits fell just 3,000 last week to 420,000, indicating a slight slowing of job losses. A Wall Street Journal survey of 55 economists in early December showed they expect only moderate job growth in 2011, enough to reduce the unemployment rate to a still-high 9% at the end of 2011 from 9.8% last month.

But companies are racking up profits and now have built strong cash positions, and may be ready to hire again. As consumer confidence revives, the economy should continue a gradual recovery that encourages more companies to hire, says Robert A. Dye, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh. There is still a lot of spare capacity in the economy, so “some companies, particularly auto makers, can continue to see increasing sales without hiring many more workers,” he says.

Government data show a rising trend in openings. There were 3.2 million private-sector job openings at the end of October, up from 2.3 million a year earlier but well below the 3.7 million in October 2007, before the recession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among firms expanding their payrolls are accounting and consulting giants Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. As the economy revives, more companies are seeking their services.

Since June 30, PwC has hired 2,500 people, excluding college students, nearly four times more than it hired in the year-earlier period, says Holly Paul, U.S. recruiting leader for the firm. Ms. Paul first noticed the pickup in March, and by May hiring was in full swing. The most-needed professionals will have six to eight years’ experience, she says.

“It’s really hard to convince those people to leave [their existing jobs],” Ms. Paul says.

Deloitte’s U.S. work force numbers about 50,100, up from 45,730 a year ago, says Jim Wall, global managing director of talent. He says the firm has a growing need for seasoned people who can provide advice to clients in such areas as mergers and acquisitions, health care and information technology.

AT&T’s work force at the end of the third quarter was 272,450, down 3.6% from the end of 2009, partly because of the shrinkage of the land-line phone business. But AT&T is scouring for highly technical workers and retail sales people.

“We’re looking for very skilled folks” in such areas as network engineering and cloud computing, which allows smartphones and computers to tap applications via the Internet, says Scott Smith, vice president for staffing at AT&T Inc. in Dallas. “There are not many of them out there.”

It also is hiring briskly to maintain staff levels at its 2,300 U.S. stores selling cell phones and other gadgets. The retail sales openings pay between $30,000 and $45,000 a year, including commissions. AT&T also regularly hires heavily for call centers that deal with customer inquiries and people who sell products and services to companies.

For simpler jobs, such as in retail sales and call-center work, applicants still far outnumber positions. AT&T is getting about 50,000 applications a month, or around 30 for each person it hires on average, Mr. Smith says.

WellPoint Inc., an Indianapolis-based health insurer, mostly is seeking information-technology specialists, registered nurses to advise policy holders over the phone, actuaries, insurance-policy underwriters, salespeople and call-center employees, says Randy Brown, who heads human resources for WellPoint.

The call-center jobs generally don’t require a college degree, but WellPoint does put candidates through simulations to see whether they are patient and good at solving problems. “There are a lot of people who want those jobs,” Mr. Brown says.

Science Applications International Corp. of McLean, Va., has openings for intelligence analysts, including translators and people who analyze data; engineers; cyber-security experts, and project managers. The jobs are nearly all full-time and the vast majority require at least a four-year college degree. More than half the jobs require U.S. government security clearance because of the sensitive nature of work the company does for the military and other agencies.

Health-care companies have major needs in information technology as they upgrade electronic-record systems. Tracie Grant, director of recruitment at Catholic Health Initiatives, a Denver-based operator of hospitals and long-term care facilities, believes competition for application analysts and software developers specializing in medical records will be acute in 2011. CHI may need to raise salaries by as much as 10% for such people, who typically earn $70,000 to $90,000 a year, she says.

Wells Fargo & Co. has a wide variety of openings. In Medford, Ore., the bank holding company needs a part-time teller with computer skills and at least a year of experience “interacting with people or customers.” In downtown Los Angeles, Wells is seeking a 24-hour-a-week assistant for a Wells Fargo museum, with at least six months of customer-service experience, computer skills, an ability to “think on your feet” and a “basic understanding of U.S. history.”

Big defense contractors are also scrambling for people with information technology skills. At Lockheed Martin Corp., “more than 80 percent of our skill needs are for technical talent in IT and engineering, specifically computer science and cyber security, systems engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and aerospace engineering,” says spokesman Christopher Williams.

Reference Link
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703548604576037612752480904.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_4

Courtesy
The Wall Street Journal

Economy Gains Impetus as U.S. Adds 290,000 Jobs

Despite growing unease in the financial markets, the American economy is gathering steam, adding an unexpectedly large number of jobs last month.

//

The Labor Department’s monthly snapshot of the job market, released on Friday, showed that employers added 290,000 jobs in April — the largest gain in four years — and that they did so across a broad swath of industries. The United States has now added jobs for four consecutive months.

The unemployment rate, however, crept up to 9.9 percent, from 9.7 percent in March, mostly because of a significant increase in the number of people who had previously given up deciding to look for work again.

Major stock gauges in the United States rose briefly on the unexpectedly strong job growth report before gyrating in a trading day marked by continuing fears about spreading European debt woes and concern about structural weaknesses in the stock markets that may have contributed to a terrifying sell-off on Thursday.

European leaders were meeting in Brussels over the weekend on ways to reassure investors that the heavily indebted countries within the euro zone would not face debt defaults and to restore confidence in European banks.

The stock market has raced higher this year, before retrenching the last few days, and some American companies have posted record profits. But stock investors increasingly fret that the economic recovery in the United States could be threatened by a European-led debt crisis.

Economists suggest that as long as the debt crisis is primarily contained to Greece, or even a few other countries, the effect on the United States will be minor.

A full-blown financial crisis across Europe, however, could affect banks in the United States, and in turn, how much credit they offer American companies or consumers.

Another potential risk for the American economy is foreign investors fleeing to the dollar and abandoning the euro. That would strengthen the dollar, making it difficult for American companies to sell their goods abroad.

“I think at this point the U.S. economy has a very good chance of being able to continue its recovery despite the uncertainty in Europe,” said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group. “But the threat is real, and we have to be vigilant and very nimble.”

President Obama called April’s job report “particularly heartening.” He noted that “this week’s job numbers come as a relief to Americans who’ve found a job, but it offers, obviously, little comfort to those who are still out of work.”

All manner of businesses were hiring, including those in manufacturing, leisure and hospitality and health care. One of the strongest gains occurred in manufacturing, which added 44,000 jobs, the largest increase since 1998.

The Census Bureau contributed 66,000 temporary jobs last month.

Yet, in a sign that many people will struggle to find a job even as the economy improves, the number of people who have been out of work for more than six months hit 6.7 million, nearly 46 percent of the unemployed. “The economic recovery and expansion is entrenched, sustained and sustainable,” Allen L. Sinai, chief global economist at Decision Economics, said. But he warned that the economy faced numerous challenges, including the need for the United States to deal with its own domestic debt and a possible downturn in exports to Europe.

“It’s like having symptoms of a heart attack,” Mr. Sinai said, “either you ignore them or take preventive action to make sure there will be no heart attack.”

The increase in April was accompanied by a revised gain for March of 230,000 jobs, up from 162,000. While the levels of the last two months exceeded the 150,000 jobs a month that many economists say is necessary to accommodate new entrants to the job market, they were still not nearly as high as the average after previous recessions.

The number of unemployed people actually rose slightly from March, to 15.3 million. And the so-called underemployment rate — which includes people whose hours have been cut as well as those working part time because they cannot find full-time jobs — rose to 17.1 percent, from 16.9 percent in March.

At the current rate, the economy will take years to absorb the more than eight million people who lost their jobs during the recent downturn.

Thomas J. Duesterberg, president and chief executive of the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a trade association, said that increases in exports as well as consumer demand for automobiles and computers were driving part of the rebound. But he pointed out that 16 percent of all manufacturing jobs were lost during what has come to be known as the Great Recession and that a tiny portion of those had been added back so far.

//

Mr. Duesterberg said the alliance was forecasting that slightly more than half of all manufacturing jobs lost during the recession would return — but not until 2014.

On the home front, he said consumers were only cautiously returning to the market, battered by declines in housing and personal savings.

Leisure and hospitality added 45,000 jobs, and the health care industry, which has shown growth throughout the recession, added 20,100.

Economists were of two minds about whether to be worried about the rise in the unemployment rate. Some suggested that it was a temporary move associated with transitions in the labor market, while others saw extended pain for the unemployed.

The rise in the unemployment rate was associated with a growing willingness by people who sat on the sidelines during the recession to once again look for work as the economy picked up. The government figures showed that 195,000 people returned to the work force in April.

“The unemployment number went up for the right reasons,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist for MFR. “It was a sign of strength, because you just had more people reentering the labor force, which is typically what happens in turning points.”

As expected, state and local governments lost 6,000 jobs in April. Their budget cuts probably foreshadow further job losses in the public sector.

Labor market experts also focused on wages and average hours worked in a week. Although the average workweek inched up to 34.1 hours, suggesting that workers are taking home slightly bigger paychecks, actual hourly wages were up only 1 cent, to $22.47, in April. Average hourly earnings were up 1.6 percent over the last 12 months.

Economists suggested that such anemic wage increases, if they were to slow any further, could contribute to a deflationary environment. And labor market specialists said they were concerned about what would happen as the effects of the government stimulus package wound down and unemployment benefits began to run out.

Such fears confront Antoinette F. Vitacco, a 53-year-old Queens woman who worked as the supervisor at a New York call center in 2007 when her company downsized.

In early 2008, she found herself unemployed and, for the first time in her life, receiving unemployment benefits. “I went from making $65,000 a year to making $430 a week,” said Ms. Vitacco.

Over the last two years, she said, she has sent out 200 to 300 résumés, tailoring each one to fit the potential job.

She has been unable to find any work, she said, and her unemployment benefits ran out this month. She has no health insurance and she fears she is aging out of the work force.

“I have worked my whole life,” Ms. Vitacco said. “Now I have no more safety net, and it terrifies me.”

Reference Link
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/business/economy/08jobs.html?pagewanted=2&nl&emc=aua

Courtesy
The New York Times Company

New mall to create over 4,000 jobs

‘It is the second largest mall in the State’

---

MANGALORE: The “City Centre”, the super mall which was inaugurated here on Sunday will create direct employment to 2,700 people and indirect employment to 1,500 people, according to S.M. Arshad, Chairman and Managing Director, Mohtisham Complexes Pvt. Ltd., the promoters of the mall. Speaking at the inauguration of the mall, he said that the mall had 5.4 lakh sq. ft. of gross leasable area. It is the second largest super mall in the State and 10th largest in the country, he claimed.

It has retail space in seven floors with a parking facility for 850 cars in five levels. Mr. Arshad said that it had 27 escalators, eight passenger lifts, five freight lifts and two travelators.

Later, Amit Bagaria, chairman and chief executive officer, Asipac, the mall’s leasing consultants, told The Hindu that the mall would contribute to the growth of the country’s economy.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/26/stories/2010042659690300.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

102 physically challenged persons get jobs at mela

DINDIGUL, India: For the first time, private companies offered jobs to 102 physically disabled persons and persons with developmental disorders through a mega job mela organised by the district administration here recently. Most of them joined duty in the respective companies on Saturday itself.

While one disabled got supervisory job in a spinning mill to check quality of yarn, another one joined as warden and yet other one became a legal adviser to a spinning mill. Thirteen persons joined duty as computer operators and rest of the recruits as industrial workers.

The job mela also provided opportunity and financial assistance to enterprising disabled to set up their own businesses.

Collector M Vallalar, who inaugurated the mela, said that disabled persons and persons with developmental disorders tend to have special skills in a particular field. Opportunity should be given to such persons. They were not weak, as perceived by many.

Disabled persons should not hesitate to grab an opportunity. Over 40,000, out of a total population of 20 lakhs in the district, had some developmental disorder or other. They could not expose their skills owing to lack of opportunity, he said.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/29/stories/2010032953760300.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Wipro to provide job offers to 4,000 B.Sc graduates

Students can also do MS from BITS -Pilani

---

Students will be selected based on written test and interview

Students can apply on http://careers.wipro.com/wase

---

HYDERABAD, India: Here’s some good news for B.Sc graduates as Osmania University in collaboration with Wipro Technologies is providing exciting job opportunities for more than 4,000 graduates of 2010 batch.

Informing this to presspersons here on Monday, OU Vice-Chancellor T. Tirupati Rao said the Wipro Academy of Software Excellence (WASE) programme is based on the theme “earn while you learn.” This programme will provide job opportunities to students.

They can also pursue MS degree from BITS – Pilani simultaneously while doing their job.

Students registered will be selected based on written test followed by an interview.

Mr. Rao said the company has also come forward to conduct road shows for students pursuing B.Sc in university constituent and affiliated colleges to educate them about the programme.

The company is planning to conduct two or three road shows accommodating 1,000 students in each programme. The first programme will be held on March 21 at University College for Women in Koti. Similar events will be organised on March 28 and April 4 based on the response from students.

Students enrolling for WASE programme must fulfil the following criteria: B.Sc (CS/ IT/Electronics/Physics/Maths/Statistics/BCA/BCM) with 60 per cent pass percentage in tenth class, Intermediate and graduation. Maths as a subject in Intermediate is mandatory.

Students can also apply on http://careers.wipro.com/wase.

If candidates are selected, then stipend will be paid to them and on successful completion of the course, M.S. Degree will be given from BITS-Pilani.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/16/stories/2010031662090400.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu