Employers are getting more desperate to fill jobs
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Workers are still stalling the job search, and employers — from health care providers to trucking companies — are getting desperate.
Staggering stat: The share of job postings that use words like "hiring urgently" has spiked over 50% since the start of 2021, according to data from the jobs site Indeed.
There are certain industries in which the desperation is even more pronounced.
- Health care: 9.7% of personal care and home health care job postings are using terms like “urgent,“ and it's up to 6.6% for nursing jobs.
- Construction: 4.7% of postings mention urgency.
- Child care: 4.6% of postings mention urgency.
Employers are even offering perks like bonuses at higher rates. The share of job postings on Indeed with hiring incentives is at 4.3%, up from 1.8% in July 2020. Much of the increase has come in the last couple of months, says Indeed economist AnnElizabeth Konkel.
- 16.1% of Indeed driving job postings — trucking, delivery and ride-hailing — are offering hiring incentives. Driving jobs are spiking due to the growth of e-commerce during the pandemic.
- 14.0% of dental jobs, 12.2% of nursing jobs and 11.5% of veterinary jobs are offering perks.
What's happening: Health care jobs are at or near the top of both lists because the pandemic has both increased the demand for these workers and turned many away from the jobs due to the dangers of infection, Konkel says.
The restaurant industry, which is having a hard time filling jobs, is not displaying as much desperation in postings as some other sectors. On Indeed, 2.1% of food service jobs are using words like "hiring urgently," and 3.3% of them are touting cash incentives.
- Those employers may not be changing their behavior yet because they feel this is a temporary problem, says Konkel.
- Many restaurants are also dealing with staff shortages by cutting operating hours. But "health care facilities can't say we’re going to close early," she says. "You just have to have the staff."
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect accurate percentages of job postings mentioning urgency.
