Recent figures show that the job market is dramatically improving including the last Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job numbers for 2014 revealed 321,000 new jobs created. BLS also reported that the last two monthly unemployment rate figures for 2014 were 5.8%, which were the lowest figures since 2008! Also, the Illinois unemployment rate continued to fall. Its last two figures for 2014 were both 6.6%.
U.S. hiring gains have been across the board including the BLS job sectors:
- Professional & Business Services, which added another 86,000 new jobs for the last reporting month of 2014. This was an increase of 49,000 jobs over the previous month’s figures.
- Health Care, which rose by 29,000 jobs for the last reporting month of 2014. This sector also added an average of 22,000 new jobs per month during 2014!
- Retail, which grew by 50,000 new jobs for its last reporting period of 2014. It also added an average of 22,000 new jobs per month during 2014.
- Food Services & Drinking Places, which rose by 27,000 new jobs for its last reporting period of 2014. Furthermore, the sector added 321,000 new jobs during 2014!
- Manufacturing, which added 28,000 new jobs during the last monthly readings for 2014. Additionally, the manufacturing sector added 171,000 new jobs during 2014.
- Transportation and Warehousing, which added 17,000 new jobs during the last reading for 2014. It also added 143,000 new jobs for 2014.
Furthermore, as an executive recruiter that focuses on R&D, engineering, scientific, IT, technical and manufacturing sectors, I predict that robust hiring will continue, short of a major catastrophe (e.g. a war or oil embargo), to grow in 2015. Specifically, as I shared during an interview with First Business on December 23, 2014, 3 hot job sectors, with a lot more demand than supply in 2015, are:
- Big Data
- Lean Manufacturing
- The Trades
Big Data is the field of data scientists with the ability to uncover unique patterns among vast amounts of fragmented data. As I wrote “Hot Job: Data Scientist” this field has been growing exponentially as both the public and private sectors increasingly need people with these capabilities. For example, e-marketers like Amazon.com need to discover novel patterns of consumer behavior in order to engineer more targeted marketing campaigns.
Lean Manufacturing is the field involved with strategies to lower costs and improve efficiencies in manufacturing. Key terms include Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, Debottlenecking and Toyota techniques. As I wrote previously at: a) Digital Hubs A Good Start; More Lean Manufacturing Investment Needed! and b) The Economy And Job Market Are Improving: TIME TO ADD “LEAN” FOR INCREASED MUSCLE! this field has helped America to become increasingly more competitive in manufacturing. As a result, experts in this field will continue to be in short supply and high demand for all of 2015.
Finally, the demand for skilled Trades such as electricians and welders will continue to grow in 2015. As proof of this growth, the American Welding Institute recently said that the average age of welders is 54. As a result, there will be over 400,000 new openings for welders over the next ten years starting in 2015.
What are your findings?
