Global Employability Crisis Persists; One in Three Employers Worldwide Cannot Find Qualified Talent, Reveals ManpowerGroup Annual Survey

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"Talent shortages are endemic but employers have gotten used to doing more with less and hesitate to hire until they see demand and can find talent with the specific skills they need," said Jeffrey A. Joerres, ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO. "Surprisingly, employers are now less concerned about the impact of these shortages on customers and investors, a perspective which signals acceptance of the new normal.

"Employers should not presume that stakeholders will continue to look past shortcomings in service and performance resulting from lean structures," Joerres added. "Leaving positions unfilled may be a short-term fix, but it's a short-sighted and unsustainable approach to addressing talent shortages in the Human Age, when talentism, the new capitalism, is valued as the driver of business success. Employers must find solutions to help them address shortages and close specific skills gaps, such as investing in training and partnering with educators."

Among the most common reasons employers say they can't fill roles is simply a lack of applicants, an increase from 24% last year to 33% in 2012.  An equal percentage named "lack of technical competencies/hard skills"—in particular the lack of industry-specific qualifications in both professional and skilled trades categories—up from 22% in 2011.

However, employers who are sufficiently concerned about the ongoing levels of talent shortages, are becoming slightly more proactive about closing the skills gaps.  One in four employers are now seeking to address talent shortages by providing training and development for existing staff and more employers are adopting ManpowerGroup's "Teachable Fit" approach by hiring individuals without all the prerequisite job skills, but who have the potential to learn and grow into the specific job role.

The increased in employer-sponsored training reflects that positions are changing rapidly, demanding new levels of sophistication, knowledge and skills and requiring employees to adopt a continuous learning mindset to keep their skills current. Training helps address the crisis by upskilling current staff and promoting staff who demonstrate the potential to grow and develop, particularly among those employers who report that talent shortages are having a high impact on their business. 

Hardest Jobs to Fill

The hardest jobs to fill globally are skilled trades workers, engineers and sales representatives, according to ManpowerGroup's survey of nearly 40,000 employers across 41 countries and territories. Skilled trades and engineers have become harder to find since last year, as demand outstrips supply.  Sales representatives' continued presence in the top 10 is a result of companies continuing to seek out experienced sales people who can help drive revenue growth. 

Talent supply and demand issues are generally more acute in the Asia Pacific and the Americas region than in EMEA.  Globally, employers having the most difficulty finding the right people to fill jobs are located in Japan (81%), Brazil (71%), Bulgaria (51%), Australia (50%), USA (49%), India (48%), New Zealand (48%), Taiwan (47%), Panama (47%), Romania (45%), Argentina (45%), Mexico (43%) and Germany (42%). Talent shortages are least problematic in Ireland and the Netherlands. The percentage of employers reporting difficulties has remained relatively consistent over time, however India has displayed volatility where the proportion dropped 19 percentage points since last year, but jumped 51 percentage points the year before that. The number of employers struggling to fill roles in France has jumped 9 percentage points whereas it has dropped 15 percentage points in Italy.

Americas

Regionally, employers in the Americas are having more trouble filling jobs than the global average, with 41% of employers reporting difficulty filling positions due to lack of available talent. This figure represents the highest proportion of employers reporting difficulty since the start of the global economic downturn in 2008, and a 4% increase over last year's survey.  Despite this,  employers are less concerned about the impact talent shortages have on key stakeholders with more than half (58%) believing the talent shortage will have little or no impact, up from  38% in 2011.

For the first time in the survey's seven year history, employers in the Americas report engineering roles as the most difficult to fill across the region, up from fourth last year. While the role does not top the list in any individual country, it ranks second in Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica and the United States.  Employers in Brazil (71%), the USA (49%) and Panama (47%) are having the most difficulty finding staff.  Year-over-year, employers report greater difficulty filling vacancies in seven of the 10 countries.  The most common strategy implemented by employers in the Americas to address talent shortages is additional training and development for existing staff, up from 32% in 2011 to 37% this year, and considerably more than the global average of 25%.

Asia Pacific

Nearly half (45%) of Asia Pacific employers report difficulty filling job vacancies due to lack of available talent. This represents an increase of 17 percentage points over the survey's seven years and 11 percentage points more than the global average.

Employers having the most difficulty finding the right talent to fill jobs are those in Japan (81%), Australia (50%), India and New Zealand (both 48%). The talent shortage is least problematic in China (27%). There continues to be a clear shortage of skilled sales representatives in Asia Pacific, as this position remains the most difficult to fill for the seventh consecutive year.  There is also a notable rise in the proportion of employers who feel talent shortages have a low or medium impact (up from 32% to 48%).

Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

Across the 23 countries surveyed in EMEA, one in four employers reported difficulty filling jobs due to lack of available talent. This proportion is considerably lower than in the Americas (41%) and Asia Pacific (45%), indicating that a weaker recovery trend continues to suppress employer hiring trends and making talent supply less of an issue in the region.

The most acute shortages are reported in Bulgaria (51%), Romania (45%), Germany (42%), Turkey (41%) and Austria (40%).  Those having the least difficulty finding the right talent to fill jobs are in Ireland (2%), the Netherlands (7%), Spain (9%) and South Africa (10%).  The polarity of the survey findings in EMEA reflect that bifurcation of the workforce in the region is accelerating.  Surprisingly, employers are not considering strategic migration as a solution, Currently, only 9% of employers in EMEA are looking outside of their local region for talent and only 4% are considering looking outside their national borders. 

EMEA employers named skilled trades as the most difficult position to fill for the seventh year in succession, followed by engineers and sales representatives.  This year, EMEA employers are considerably less concerned about the impact talent shortages are likely to have on key stakeholders, with the proportion of employers say they see no impact almost tripling, increasing from 14% to 39%.

Full results of ManpowerGroup's seventh annual Talent Shortage Survey and Fresh Perspectives Paper, "Break the Crisis and Complacency Cycle, Get Ahead of the Global Talent Shortage" can be downloaded at www.manpowergroup.com/research/research.cfm.

ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN) surveyed nearly 40,000 employers in 41 countries and territories during the first quarter of 2012 to explore the impact of talent shortages on the global labor market and how employers are responding to the challenges raised by the lack of available talent in specific job categories. This is the seventh consecutive year that the survey has been conducted.

About ManpowerGroup

ManpowerGroup™ (NYSE: MAN), the world leader in innovative workforce solutions, creates and delivers high-impact solutions that enable our clients to achieve their business goals and enhance their competitiveness. With over 60 years of experience, our $22 billion company creates unique time to value through a comprehensive suite of innovative solutions that help clients win in the Human Age. These solutions cover an entire range of talent-driven needs from recruitment and assessment, training and development, and career management, to outsourcing and workforce consulting. ManpowerGroup maintains the world's largest and industry-leading network of nearly 3,800 offices in over 80 countries and territories, generating a dynamic mix of an unmatched global footprint with valuable insight and local expertise to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, across all industry sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises, local, multinational and global companies. By connecting our deep understanding of human potential to the ambitions of clients, ManpowerGroup helps the organizations and individuals we serve achieve more than they imagined – because their success leads to our success. And by creating these powerful connections, we create power that drives organizations forward, accelerates personal success and builds more sustainable communities. We help power the world of work. The ManpowerGroup suite of solutions is offered through ManpowerGroup™ Solutions, Manpower®, Experis™ and Right Management®. Learn more about how the ManpowerGroup can help you win in the Human Age at www.manpowergroup.com.

ManpowerGroup is the most trusted brand in the industry, and was once again the only company in our industry to be named to the Ethisphere Institute's 2012 World's Most Ethical Companies list for our proven commitment to ethical business practices, including an outstanding commitment to ethical leadership, compliance practices and corporate social responsibility.

In January 2011, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, ManpowerGroup announced the world has entered the Human Age, where talent has replaced capital as the key competitive differentiator. This concept of talentism as the new capitalism continues to resonate and was echoed as a core theme of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Learn more about this new age at www.manpowergroup.com/humanage

Gain access to ManpowerGroup's extensive thought leadership papers, annual Talent Shortage surveys and the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, one of the most trusted indices of employment activity in the world, via the ManpowerGroup World of Work Insight iPad application. This thought leadership app explores the challenges faced by employers navigating the changing world of work and provides in-depth commentary, analysis, insight and advice on strategies for success. 

Follow ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO Jeff Joerres on Twitter: twitter.com/manpowergroupjj. Joerres is one of only six Fortune 500 CEOs who leverages a Twitter account to get his message out.

SOURCE ManpowerGroup