Why Most Economic Estimates Have Been Wrong

According to many economic estimates, the U.S. labor market could have gone either way but has shown unexpected signs of improvement in January 2022 with 4% unemployment numbers. While the latest news around the world has everyone on edge, February’s numbers are also expected to come in strong. How long will this trend continue? How do you predict the unpredictable U.S. labor market trends?

In a recent Bloomberg Businessweek podcast episode hosted by Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec, CareerBuilder Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Susan Arthur, joined the show to share her exclusive insights on trends she is seeing in the job market and key things to consider when trying to predict the future market needs. When assessing how to predict the unpredictable in this labor market, having data on overall trends is key.

Susan Arthur, who has access to millions of jobs flowing through the CareerBuilder site each month, sees many of these industry trends first in their job posting data. She shares some industry insights about the top number of postings, including:

• Transportation & Logistics, especially moving cargo, is the number one industry.
• Healthcare jobs are up 300+% YoY.
• Work from home/remote work is a newly emerging, persistent trend.
• There has been a 540% increase in demand for community and social service jobs (i.e. Licensed therapists, substance abuse fields, mental health, etc.)

So, how do businesses find and keep qualified employees in this current hiring market and ever-changing economic landscape? Candidates are no longer shy about asking for what they want when it comes to important things like fair pay, a better work-life balance, and ongoing training for industry specific occupations – just to name a few. And, as it turns out, companies that are listening have tapped into momentum with candidates that is setting them up for long-term hiring success.