>>By the Numbers: November 10, 2017

By the Numbers: November 10, 2017

Each week, we’ll brief you on notable stats and happenings related to current events impacting the job market now or in the foreseeable future.

Monster Releases List of Best Companies for Veterans

As Veterans Day approaches, Monster released its third annual, ‘Best Companies for Veterans’ list. “Our annual list of Best Companies for Veterans celebrates companies that are serious about hiring the brave individuals who have served our country,” says Jodi Hon, SVP and GM of enterprise business, Monster. “We’re gratified to see a continued commitment to veteran hiring across numerous industries. This year’s list shows increased acknowledgment that veterans’ experiences and skills are relevant beyond traditional industries like defense and aerospace, and also desired in transportation logistics, technology, financial services and more.” (The BountyJobs Agency Recruiting Benchmark Report gives trends in salaries, fees, and performance for these industries and more)

Topping the list for the second year in a row is ManTech International. Veterans make up nearly half of its workforce. ManTech was followed by Intelligent Waves, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Lockheed Martin.

BountyJobs Bites

Facebook Launches ‘Community Boost’ to Serve the Unemployed

Community Boost is a program that will work with unemployed folks in 30 U.S. cities in 2018. Those participating in the program will learn digital job skills, startup methodology, customer growth, etc…

Per the program:

“If you’re looking for a job, we’ll provide training to help you improve your digital and social media skills. According to the research, 62% percent of U.S. small businesses using Facebook said having digital or social media skills is an important factor in their hiring decisions — even more important than where a candidate went to school.”

American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Conference

“It may be time to update laws,” Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta stated at the Washington, D.C., event, mentioning that the gig economy was here to stay. Also referenced was reviewing the tip credit rule, the overtime rule, and the fiduciary rule — all of which have been delayed or are under consideration for revision.

LGBTQ Workforce Continues to Have Higher Unemployment Rate

A survey from CivicScience (with support from the National LGBTQ Task Force among other organizations) found that while 9% of working-age Americans overall are unemployed (30% who aren’t working are retired, students, or homemakers), 13% of LGBTQ people are currently out of work. And for trans and gender non-binary workers, the unemployment rate is even higher, at 16%. That finding reflects previous research suggesting that the unemployment rate among transgender workers is two to three times higher than it is for the overall U.S. workforce. (results through anonymous online polling that’s so far covered over 153,000 respondents, more than 10,000 of whom self-identify as LGBTQ)

Deutsche Bank to Have Cuts Due to Automation

Per Fortune, Deutsche Bank’s CEO, John Cryan, says the company plans to make massive job cuts. He cited automation taking over jobs as the cause and also highlighted the resulting cost savings. The report also states that Cryan noted that most banks employ about half the number of his 97,000 workers.

TJ Maxx and HomeGoods Pay Storm Affected Employees

The Boston Globe reported that TJX Cos. (parent company of TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, Marshalls) is paying employees in Puerto Rico whom are employed at the currently shuttered Puerto Rico locations of its stores post-hurricane. Spokesperson Erika Tower stated that it’s the right thing to do, and is something they’ve done in the past for other disaster situations.

College Degree Requirements Hurting Talent Pools

Researchers from Harvard Business School, Accenture, and Grads of Life held a survey, “Dismissed by Degrees”, which found that ‘employers who require college degrees for middle-skill jobs might be making six million jobs unnecessarily difficult to fill.’

“Two-thirds of employers in the survey said they think the demand for four-year degrees makes filling middle-skills jobs more difficult. But three in five said they still reject qualified middle-skill candidates with relevant experience in favor of recent college graduates.”

Arizona State Agencies ‘Ban the Box’

State agencies in Arizona will “ban the box,” removing questions about criminal history from job applications, according to the Arizona Daily Sun. The state joins several other Arizona cities with the move, including Flagstaff, Tucson, Tempe and Phoenix, the paper reports.

Over Half of U.S. Workers Find Their Workplace Has a Negative Effect on Well-Being

Per a Thomsons Online Benefits survey, 64% of American workers believe their workplace has a negative effect on their well-being. Survey respondents also said that “they want employers’ support for their broader needs beyond salary and retirement plans, such as buying a home or financial management.”

Pay Perception More Important than Actual Compensation

PayScale released results from a new study that found that their ‘organization’s approach to pay fairness and transparency had a higher impact on their job satisfaction than the amount they were paid.’  As well, only 11% of people thinking they were underpaid actually were.

Sexual Harassment Insurance on the Rise

Per The Washington Post, there has been a recent large increase in companies buying insurance policies for sexual harassment claims.  The increase follows a rash of high-profile complaints. Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) covers an umbrella of claims such as sexual harassment, racial discrimination, wrongful-firing, etc.

 

Walmart to Support New Career Advancement Program

Generation, a nonprofit global youth employment group, received a $4.8 million grant to launch its Retail Career Advancement program. The new program comes out of Jacksonville, Florida, where 1,700 openings for supervisors in the retail industry were open in 2016 alone.

Workforce More Stressed During Holidays

Per a recent survey from Accountemps, while 51% of respondents said they were happier at work during the holidays, 35% said this time of the year was even more stressful.  The biggest stressors were balancing work with holiday events (32%), taking time off work (23%), and having a skeleton crew (18%).

Prediction of Gender Pay Gap to Close is 200 Years

According to records from the World Economic Forum, there has been a decline in gender equity over the past year when looking at compensation as well as leadership.  At the rate we’re going, the prediction is that the pay gap will not close completely for another 217 years. Recent ‘salary ban’ laws have been adopted by multiple cities/states in the U.S. as an attempt to narrow this pay divide.

Stop Asking Interview Questions about Age and Marital Status

A recent poll from Associated Press-CNBC states that 35% of respondents have been asked about their age in an interview setting. Around the same amount were asked about marital status and a whopping 21% were asked about medical history and disabilities. The findings are the result of a poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It polled 1,054 adults.

Shatter the Glass Ceiling

Of all Fortune 500 companies, 6.4% have a female CEO.  The good news is, we are seeing progress, though it can feel painstakingly slow. In 2016 there were 21 female CEOs and this year there are 32. Fifty-seven female CEOs were interviewed during a research project by Korn Ferry (funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation with a goal to have 100 female CEOs within the Fortune 500 by 2025 – the ‘100×25’ initiative) to “help organizations better identify and leverage their highest-potential female leaders and to ensure more women succeed in the future.”

Jobless Claims Hit 44 Year Low

“The US four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 231,250 last week, down 1,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by the US Department of Labor. This is the lowest level for this average since March 31, 1973, when it was 227,750.”

Job Openings Steady in September

“The number of U.S. job openings edged up by only 3,000 in September from the prior month to 6.09 million, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hires and separations were also little changed.”

Employment Trends Index Makes a Comeback in October

“The bounce back in the Employment Trends Index in October was one of the largest monthly increases ever, and comes after two declines because of the hurricanes,” said Gad Levanon, chief economist, North America, at The Conference Board. “As expected, the ETI picked up and continued its strong upward trend, suggesting that employment growth will remain solid in the coming months.”

New Grads Value Skills Development

The Class of 2017 Student Survey Report from NACE inquired as to what aspects of a job or employer were most important to members of the class of 2017.

The top-5 factors students look for in a job include:

  1. Opportunity to develop job-specific skills: 84.0%
  2. Opportunity to develop applied skills: 82.6%
  3. Job security: 82.2%
  4. Friendly co-workers: 81.2%
  5. Good benefits package: 74.3%
By |2017-11-09T21:51:53+00:00November 10th, 2017|Categories: Talent Acquisition Trends|Comments Off on By the Numbers: November 10, 2017

About the Author:

Erin Geiger is a seasoned Content, Editorial, and Product Engagement professional with two decades of experience creating content as well as overall content direction and strategy. Her background stems from a variety of online verticals ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations.