The unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.9% against expectations it would hold steady at 3.8%.
Job gains occurred in health care, in social assistance, and in transportation and warehousing.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or
more), at 1.3 million, was unchanged in April. The long-term unemployed accounted for 19.6 percent of all unemployed people.
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000 in
April, lower than the average monthly gain of 242,000 over the
prior 12 months.
Looking Forward:
The surprisingly weak report paints a picture of a job market that is
beginning to sputter as the result of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive
interest-rate hike campaign, and boosts the odds of rate cuts sooner
rather than later.
Consistent with recent trends, health care led job creation, with a
56,000 increase. Other sectors showing significant rises included social
assistance (31,000), transportation and warehousing (22,000), and retail (20,000).
Construction added 9,000 positions while government, which had shown solid gains in
recent months, was up just 8,000 after averaging 55,000 over the previous 12 months.
Higher prices have been putting upward pressure on wages, part of an inflation picture that has kept the Fed on the sidelines despite widespread market expectations that the central bank would be cutting interest rates aggressively this year.
The report also showed modest revisions to job gains earlier this year. Gains for February were revised down by a total
of 34,000 jobs to 236,000, the government said, while March’s gain was slightly higher at 315,000 jobs. Until Friday,
the labor market had remained historically tight over the past year, defying economists’ expectations for a slowdown.
Economists say it is beginning to cool after last year’s blistering pace, but is still nowhere near breaking
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – The Employment Situation – April 2024
In the last few years, AI has become a big part of who we are and how we go about our everyday lives. From automated ordering and integrating processes into one easy-to-use software, AI has helped make our lives much more accessible.
So, why not expand your hiring efficiency as a company further? You might already be using it to ensure your business works fast, efficiently, and to the highest quality. Expanding AI into your day-to-day back-end operations will work wonders for your business and customer relationships.
What AI Means for the Future
You need to understand that AI technology isn’t going away. As time goes on, it will only expand and evolve to become more involved in certain processes of our lives. If you want to stay ahead of the game regarding recruitment, you need to ride this AI wave, not ignore it.
More and more businesses are looking at ways to make their recruitment process much quicker and more accurate. AI affords them the tools to do so. By utilizing this technology, other employers can rest easy knowing they’ve found the best candidate for the job and that their entire hiring process is as fast as it possibly can be.
But what is the best way to integrate AI into your business’ hiring process? After all, just like most things, AI takes an adjustment period to work out all the kinks and ensure you’re using it to the highest advantage for your company.
Here are some steps to consider when thinking about integrating AI into your hiring process.
Analyze Your Current Processes – The first step should always be to assess what you are currently doing. This way, you can determine the best way forward and the most effective use of AI for your business.
Select The Right Tools – Once you know where you currently stand, you can look at what AI tools are available to businesses and decide which ones might be the best for your recruitment process.
Get Your Team on Board – You don’t run your business alone, therefore, any AI decisions and implementation should also be run by your team. This allows them to provide feedback and gain much-needed information about the new processes and how they work.
Integrate AI Into Your Existing Systems – The next step is ensuring that your chosen AI program will integrate well with your current systems. The integration process can be confusing at first, so it’s essential to take your time and give it your full attention.
Do a Trial Run – We all know how important it is to test drive a new car before we buy it. Well, integrating AI into your hiring process deserves the same thing. You should always do an internal test run before making it official to ensure all the kinks are discovered and worked out.
Adjust Your New Process – Once you’ve completed your trial run, you can go back to the drawing board and smooth out any wrinkles you observed or that your team provided feedback on. This will ensure that the launch of your new hiring process will be successful.
Ready To Go – Now that you’ve completed all the previous steps, you are ready to launch your new process and see results. Just remember that everything needs monitoring to ensure it continues working effectively and efficiently.
Remember, as you integrate AI into your hiring process, you can do as little or as much as you want. AI can be utilized only on the candidate selection level or throughout your hiring process. Whatever you decide, AI is here to help through accurate candidate matching, faster screening processes, and predictive analytics.
Finding the Best Candidates Through AI
Starting small is an easy way to jumpstart your business’ integration with AI for recruiting. If you aren’t sure how much you want to rely on AI for the job recruitment part of your business, it’s very easy to try it out on candidate selection first.
As with all AI technology, humans should always be a backup for quality control and monitoring. When starting, AI candidate matching can be easily monitored and tested to see if AI is something that you want for your business staffing needs. AI can help you in significant ways to ensure the candidates you are interviewing are the best ones for the job, but if you go through the process and feel it isn’t doing enough, you can step in and try using AI in a different way.
Here are four simple ways to utilize AI to help find the best candidates for your open positions.
Predictive Analytics
With the immersion of AI, there have been advancements in analyzing data – in all areas of your business. This technology can also be used in recruitment. There are certain AI tools specific to recruitment that ensure employers are getting accurate data about their current and future employment needs.
AI technology can also predict whether or not a candidate will be successful in the job you offer. Over the years, employers have discovered that candidates with a resume that fits the job requirements aren’t always going to work out with their specific company. This is where AI predictive analytics comes in.
Using predictive analytics is a way to integrate AI into your business hiring process in a way that will benefit you now and in the future. This form of AI for recruiting will look at a candidate and assess not only their qualifications but also their work history and how they answer pre-screening questions to determine whether or not they will fit best with your company culture and goals.
Finding Candidates on Various Platforms
AI can also be a great tool to find candidates who might be looking for work but haven’t seen your exact job posting on their own. This allows you to expand your reach without any extra time taken out of your day to focus on combing other websites to find them.
By utilizing AI to comb job boards, job forums, and other professional business platforms such as LinkedIn, you are ensuring the best candidates are made aware of your openings without you having to spend the hours it would take to reach out to them manually. AI can do the work by sending these potential candidates an automated email describing your position and your business and allowing them the opportunity to submit their resumes and applications.
The work of this form of AI technology can take minutes, whereas doing it yourself could take hours. Utilizing AI here ensures that this portion of your hiring process can become even more streamlined and efficient with minimal effort.
Chatbots for Initial Candidate Screenings
Another great way to use AI to your advantage when it comes to finding the best candidates for your positions is through Chatbots. This tool, in particular, is ideal for doing those initial candidate screening questions to see how the candidate fairs beyond their resume.
Using a Chatbot will allow you to assess a candidate’s viability within your organization quickly. As stated above, a resume doesn’t always ensure that the candidate being presented will succeed at your company. By utilizing this AI recruitment tool, you can see how each candidate measures up against what you are looking for in your company culture and job requirements.
Using a Chatbot will work with the suggested predictive analytics advantage mentioned before.
Resume Screening
Integrating AI as a recruitment tool can be the most successful way to screen resumes. Running candidates’ resumes through an AI program to catch those who have the required qualifications will save you hours of manual labor going through each one on your own.
This tool will save you time and help eliminate the possibility that one candidate can be favored over another due to unconscious biases. Utilizing AI in this portion of your recruitment process ensures that the best candidates for the job are being selected for the next steps based on their resume and qualifications alone.
After all, a machine doesn’t know one name from the next. It ultimately gives each applicant a fair chance.
Using AI to Enhance Your Hiring Process
There are various ways that AI recruitment tools can be utilized beyond simply finding the right candidates for the job. Various AI tools can help you throughout your recruitment process, ensuring everything runs quickly and smoothly.
A few years ago, we published a blog talking about ways you could manually ensure that your recruitment process is the quickest and most efficient option for candidates. While at the time, we didn’t mention the use of AI to speed up your process, these suggestions paired with AI will ensure your process is quick, efficient, and reliable.
What AI tools can you utilize to ensure your entire process is as short and quick as possible? Take a look at the options below.
Video Interviewing Tools
Sometimes, the interview process is the most tedious part of narrowing down your candidate options. While eliminating in-person interviews isn’t suggested, you might benefit from your initial interview stage being conducted through an AI program.
By utilizing AI video interviewing tools, you free up your schedule to focus more on the candidates likely to be a good fit for your company. The initial interview is a great way to assess whether you want to see a candidate face-to-face and potentially offer them a job. It prevents you and the candidate from wasting their time unnecessarily.
It’s also a great way to weed out candidates that won’t fit your company culture. If they aren’t willing to do pre-screening through a video interview program, they aren’t likely to put the right level of effort into the job.
Automated Interview Scheduling
AI recruitment tools don’t always have to be extensive programs that encompass a massive part of your process. Sometimes, something as simple as automating how interviews get scheduled is enough.
It saves the time usually spent going back and forth via email with a candidate to find a date that works best for you both. By sending one email that contains a link to your calendar of potential dates and times, you are eliminating the time wasted waiting for a candidate to reply.
Calendar automation tools are so easy to integrate into your process, and they are simple to navigate on the candidate side of things. This makes getting an interview on the books as easy as 1,2,3.
Assessment Tools
Conducting preliminary assessments is another part of the recruitment process that could take up quite a bit of time. Some positions, such as skilled workers or higher qualified professionals, require a series of assessments to determine whether they are knowledgeable enough to hold the position they are applying for.
Before the days of AI, employers had to conduct these assessments themselves, taking precious time away from their actual job duties. Currently, a variety of AI recruitment tools are available that give employers options on how to assess each potential candidate before meeting with them in person for an interview.
These tools are crucial to speeding up your hiring process and putting the progression of a candidate back into their own hands, by allowing the candidate to determine when and how fast they get through the assessment process, you are ensuring that only those serious about the job are moving forward.
Offer Letter Generation
Finally, AI can also help you in the final stages of your process. Many companies already have templates for sending out offer letters to candidates. There are now AI tools that can take these templates and personalize them for you.
It’s a simple tool that can save you time and effort in the long run. Candidates won’t know the difference, but you’ll see a change in how quickly your process concludes with the integration of this vital tool.
J & J Can Help You Find The Best Options
At the end of the day, what you decide for your business has to be more helpful than not. J & J Staffing is here to help you determine the best way to use AI to speed up your hiring process. If you are still curious about what might work best for your recruiting process, give us a call.
Staffing Services In Greater Philadelphia
J & J Staffing Resources is a professional staffing agency that connects local businesses to job seekers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We bring over 45 years of expertise in office, industrial, technical, and professional staffing placements as well as payroll management, and offer a wide range of services for both employers and job seekers.
Need help? J & J Staffing has offices in Newark, Bridgeport, Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Ewing, Princeton, Langhorne, and Horsham. Visit your local J & J staffing center or get started below.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 303,000 in March,
and the unemployment rate changed little at 3.8 percent.
Both the unemployment rate, at 3.8 percent, and the number of unemployed people,
at 6.4 million, changed little in March.
Job gains occurred in health care, government, and construction.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more),
at 1.2 million, was little changed in March. The long-term unemployed
accounted for 19.5 percent of all unemployed people.
In March, the number of people not in the labor force who
currently want a job, at 5.4 million, was little changed.
Looking Forward:
The March jobs report confirms the labor market remains resilient,
despite high interest rates and slowing economic indicators. The U.S.
labor market added 303,000 jobs in March, representing an acceleration in the
pace of hiring. January’s nonfarm payroll gains were upwardly revised to 256,000,
while February’s nonfarm payroll gains were revised down to 270,000.
The number of job openings in February rose slightly to 8.76 million from 8.75 million the
prior month, according to the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary report
released this week. This keeps the jobs opening rate unchanged at 5.3%.
A string of positive gains has kept unemployment below 4% since January 2022, though there
have been some signs of cracks. For instance, the level of household employment had grown
only modestly over the past year, while temporary employment has declined sharply.
Markets have been keeping close watch over the employment data particularly as the Federal Reserve weighs its
next moves on monetary policy. Stocks have tumbled this week amid concerns that a strong labor market and
resilient economy could keep the central bank on hold for longer than expected.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – The Employment Situation – March 2024
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 275,000 in
February, and the unemployment rate increased to 3.9 percent.
The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 3.9 percent in February, and the
number of unemployed people increased by 334,000 to 6.5 million.
Job gains occurred in health care, in government, in food services and drinking places, in
social assistance, and in transportation and warehousing.
Employment showed little change over the month in other major
industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction;
manufacturing; wholesale trade; information; financial
activities; professional and business services; and
other services.
Looking Forward:
The US economy created more new jobs than expected in February,
while an increase in the unemployment rate for the first time in four
months and downward revisions to job growth in prior months suggested
signs of some softening in the US labor market.
A revised 229,000 jobs were added in January, according to the report, down from the
353,000 initially reported. In total, revisions showed there were 167,000 fewer jobs
added in December and January than previously expected. Meanwhile, wages increased
0.1% on a monthly basis in February, slower than the 0.2% economists expected.
Job creation skewed toward part-time positions. Full-time jobs decreased by 187,000 while
part-time employment rose by 51,000, according to the household survey. An alternative
jobless measure, sometimes called the “real” unemployment rate, that includes discouraged
workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons rose slightly to 7.3%.
Job creation has stayed strong despite a spate of high-profile layoffs, particularly in the tech industry.
Most recently, companies such as Cisco, Microsoft and SAP have announced substantial
reductions in their workforces.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – The Employment Situation – February 2024
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 353,000 in
January, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent.
Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, retail trade, and social
assistance. Employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction
industry.
In January, the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent for the third month in a row, and the number of unemployed people was little changed at 6.1 million.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or
more), at 1.3 million, was little changed in January. The long-term
unemployed accounted for 20.8 percent of all
unemployed people.
Looking Forward:
The nation’s employers delivered a stunning burst of hiring to begin
2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January in the latest sign of the economy’s
continuing ability to shrug off the highest interest rates in two decades.
Friday’s government report showed that last month’s job gain — roughly twice what
economists had predicted — topped the December gain of 333,000, a figure that was
itself revised sharply higher. The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7%, just above a
half-century low.
Wages rose unexpectedly fast in January, too. Average hourly pay climbed a sharp 0.6%
from December, the fastest monthly gain in nearly two years, and 4.5% from January 2023.
January’s blowout job gain is all but sure to cause the Fed to take a cautious approach
toward cutting its key interest rate, which affects many consumer and business loans. A
March rate cut now seems definitely off the table.
In another show of strength for the economy, the report contained sizable upward revisions to job growth during the
previous two months. Gains for November and December were revised up by a total of 126,000 jobs to a respective
182,000 and 333,000, the government said, suggesting that the labor market is stronger than it previously appeared.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – The Employment Situation – January 2024
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 216,000 in December.
The federal unemployment rate was unchanged 3.7 percent.
Employment continued to trend up in government, health care, social assistance, and
construction, while transportation and warehousing lost jobs.
The unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent in December, and the number of unemployed
persons was unchanged at 6.3 million. These measures are higher than last
year, when the jobless rate was 3.5 percent and the number of
unemployed persons was 5.7 million.
The number of persons employed part time for economic
reasons, at 4.2 million, changed little in December.
Looking Forward:
Hiring was revised down in both October and November. For all of
2023, employers added 2.7 million jobs, or an average monthly gain
of 225,000 jobs. This was lower than the increase of 4.8 million in 2022
(with an average monthly gain of 399,000), but a bigger gain than in the
years preceding the pandemic.
Wage growth ticked up slightly last month. Average hourly earnings, an important
measure for inflation, rose 0.4% to $34.27. Over the past 12 months, average hourly
earnings have increased by 4.1%. The number of unemployed Americans who want a job
climbed to 5.7 million in December and was up by 514,000 overall in 2023.
With the labor market demonstrating continued resiliency, the Fed might not be in any rush
to initiate a rate cut. But, there are signs the job market is cooling – the number of job
openings fell in November to 8.79 million from 8.85 million in the prior month.
In the press conference following the Federal Open Market Committee decision last month, Fed Chair Jerome
Powell said that while “there’s little basis for thinking the economy is in a recession now… there’s always a real
possibility there will be recession in the next year.”
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – The Employment Situation – December 2023
Every year, we start off wanting to make changes and improve upon the work we were able to do the previous year. When it comes to the staffing industry, the best way to go about that is to assess last year’s job market and compare it to the trends predicted for the new year.
2023 was a year of great change, thanks in part to the ongoing job market boom. Jobs were aplenty, and unemployment remained low and steady. The added 216,000 jobs in December means 2024 is expected to be a highly successful year, putting fears of a recession even further from our minds.
Reviewing the 2023 Job Market
When 2023 started, there was frequent talk about a potential recession in the coming months. Economists were scared that increased inflation would cause a significant downturn in the labor market due to people spending less.
Fortunately, that fear never came to pass. Instead, the labor market saw some dips and peaks throughout the year but ultimately ended things on such a high note that the year is seen as one of the best in decades. People weren’t afraid to engage with the economy this year and thus, created a need for more positions in a variety of industries.
As of December, the industries with the highest gains were government, construction, and healthcare. The leisure and hospitality sector stayed steady all year, while other industries, such as transportation and warehousing, saw some decreases.
Meanwhile, wages increased about 4% across 2023, further proving the year’s overall successful growth trends. All of this is to say that things are looking positive for the coming year, with some strong trends already making themselves known.
Trends To Be On The Lookout For
Technology-Based Trends – One of the biggest surges during 2023 came from AI Technology. More and more industries are utilizing technology and automation to assist with the job’s duties. One big way we saw companies expand their technology was through AI, to automate or to help seek out the correct candidate for a job.
As we move into 2024, it’s important that you embrace this move toward the future and ensure your company leans into technology instead of away from it. Showing you have a positive relationship with these new trends will show potential candidates that your company is one they want to work for.
Remote and Flexible Work Culture – Since the lockdown of early 2020, more and more companies have realized that their employees would rather have the option to decide where they perform their work – whether it be the office, home, or both. We’ve only seen an increase in this trend as the years move forward.
With the dawn of the new year, most companies that can allow for flexible work schedules are leaning into it. And so should you. Giving your employees that option ensures you will keep them satisfied and motivated for longer. Not only that, but it can cut overhead costs for your company, so it can be a win-win for both sides.
This is one trend you want to be sure you are on the front lines of.
Focus on Skills and Upskilling – In 2023, it became harder to judge people solely on their work history and experience. Employers had to adjust their qualification process to ensure they picked the absolute best candidates out of a sea of qualified applicants.
Job titles were no longer enough of a qualifier during 2023’s job market. There were more people looking for work so employers had to be more accommodating with the skilled positions they needed to fill. Offering candidates the opportunity to enhance their current skill sets led to more flexible hiring trends to get employers through the worst of it.
Moving forward, this trend will only get more and more prevalent. Assessing candidates on a variety of skills instead of job titles and previous experience will become even more crucial as the job market evens out, and employers need to make themselves stand out. People want to work in a job that allows for career development and skill advancement.
Moving Forward and Staying Ahead
So, what does all this mean for you and your needs in 2024?
First and foremost, it gives you much-needed insight into what marked strides you can make to ensure your company continues to thrive this year.
Knowing how your industry faired in the job market for 2023 is vital to what decisions need to be made to keep your business ahead of the pack in 2024. If your industry saw some struggle throughout last year, this year, you need to push the envelope and discover tactics to keep your positions filled and your employees satisfied.
It’s essential that you look at the 2024 trends we’ve laid out above to get an idea of what you can expect in the coming year and see how you can expand your business. All of these trends involve easily attainable changes to your core company structure. None are huge, but they will make a decidedly positive impact.
If you need help navigating staffing while testing these trends, J & J is happy to help. We know the trends and outlooks better than anyone else and can help you pinpoint the best choices for your company.
Contact J & J Today to Get Started
Reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns about your hiring practices going into 2024. Let’s get back to work!
Staffing Services In Greater Philadelphia
J & J Staffing Resources is a professional staffing agency that connects local businesses to job seekers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We bring over 45 years of expertise in office, industrial, technical, and professional staffing placements as well as payroll management, and offer a wide range of services for both employers and job seekers.
Need help? J & J Staffing has offices in Newark, Bridgeport, Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Ewing, Princeton, Langhorne, and Horsham. Visit your local J & J staffing center or get started below.
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 199,000 in October.
The federal unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent.
Job gains occurred in health care and government. Employment also increased in manufacturing, reflecting the return of workers from a strike. Employment in retail trade declined.
The unemployment rate edged down to 3.7 percent in November, and the number of unemployed persons showed little change at 6.3 million.
In November, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) edged down to 1.2 million.
Looking Forward:
The U.S. economy continued to pump out jobs in November, suggesting there is still juice left in a labor market that has been slowing almost imperceptibly since last year’s pandemic rebound.
Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic Policy Research, noted a “small cause for concern” in this otherwise upbeat report: Excluding the 30,000-job gain because of the end of the auto strike, around three-quarters of job growth in November was in health care or government, he said. It’s one month, not a trend, but for economists the broader the gains the better.
Data released this week had shown signs of a cooling labor market. On Tuesday, thelatest Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, revealed the ratio of jobopenings to the number of unemployed fell to 1.34, its lowest reading since August 2021.
With a hotter-than-expected employment report and high tech valuations, markets are looking at volatility in the early part of next year, said Saira Malik, chief investment officer of asset management firm Nuveen. “Santa visited the markets early this year for three reasons and that’s inflation which is moderating, the Fed signaling a pause and economic growth which is cooling, but not too cold, and today’s jobs data supports that,” Malik told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier Friday. “But there is one wrinkle, and that’s average hourly earnings at 0.4% is inflationary, and I think this is going to set up a complicated backdrop for the markets in 2024.”
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 150,000 in October.
The federal unemployment rate increased to 3.9 percent.
Job gains occurred in health care, government, and social assistance. Employment declined in manufacturing due to strike activity.
The unemployment rate, at 3.9 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 6.5 million, changed little in October.
Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers increased by 164,000 over the month to 1.6 million. The number of persons on temporary layoff changed little at 873,000.
Looking Forward:
The unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, the highest level since January 2022, against expectations that it would hold steady at 3.8%. Employment as measured in the household survey, which is used to compute the unemployment rate, showed a decline of 348,000 workers, while the rolls of the unemployed rose by 146,000.
The Fed uses wage data as one component of its inflation watch. The central bank has opted not to raise interest rates at its past two meetings despite inflation running well above its 2% target. Following Friday’s jobs data, markets further reduced the probability of a rate hike in December to just 10%, according to a CME Group gauge.
From a sector standpoint, healthcare led with 58,000 new jobs. Other leading gainers included government (51,000), construction (23,000), and social assistance (19,000). Leisure and hospitality, which has been a top job gainer, added 19,000 as well.
Manufacturing posted a loss of 35,000, all but 2,000 of which came because of the auto strikes. Transportation and warehousing saw a decline of 12,000 while information-related industries lost 9,000.
