Engineers are scarce:  Nearly a million engineering roles were advertised across the country in August, according to RS, a product and service provider for industrial customers, placing engineering among the top ten most in-demand professions. But the profession has a dearth of new, incoming talent.  Around 141,000 U.S. students graduate with engineering degrees each year, RS said, suggesting that about 15% of open roles could be filled by new talent — leaving a deficit of 825,000 employees, not accounting for people retiring. This field includes software developers, civil engineers, electrical engineers, manufacturing engineers, mechanical engineers, and more. Software developers are the largest part of the engineering workforce, but electrical engineers are most in demand in 2024.  “Salaries have been raised to help businesses lure the experts they need, but this isn’t necessarily attracting more people into the industry overall. Instead, it is understood to be largely leading to the reallocation of existing employees,” according to a release announcing the findings.  Source:  HR Dive 11/5/24

Job hopping on the rise:  Job hopping has become far more normalized in recent years, with workers unafraid to seek roles elsewhere and with ideas around loyalty to one’s employer rapidly shifting.  Workplace experts say two factors are driving this: a larger shift with changing attitudes and values around what professional success looks like, but also employers dropping the ball on internal talent mobility programs and not effectively supporting staff to help them reach new, satisfying professional opportunities. Workers have been job hopping much more frequently in the past few years than they have traditionally. Those who would typically start as interns and stay with an organization for three to five years are now leaving within a year or two after getting a full-time role.  Formally educating staff about what a career path at the organization would look like is the first necessary step to help them see themselves at the company and stay for longer durations says Justin Hirsch, CEO of JobPlex, a recruitment firm, and HR practice group leader at DHR Global.  Source: Worklife 11/5/24

Want older workers to stay? Offer them training:  A new survey from career-aligned education platform InStride found that employees ages 50-69 — falling in the Gen X and baby boomer generations — are anything but passive about growing their knowledge and skills. Sixty-three percent of respondents aged 50-59, and 55% of those aged 60-69, said they would be interested in going back to school for further education, such as an associate's, bachelor's, or master's degree, if their employer covered tuition. Tapping into the career needs of older workers is more important than ever, as one in five employees are age 65 or older, according to Pew Research Center. Ensuring that all members of a workforce have the opportunity to expand their career knowledge should be a part of an organization's overall wellness plan, along with such areas as financial and wellness, Westfort says.  Source: EBN 11/6/24

Pensions or 401Ks? According to the National Institute on Retirement Security's (NIRS') new survey, What Do Americans Think About Pensions for Public Employees?, NIRS finds strong support among Americans for retirement benefits provided to state and local government employees: 86% of Americans say all workers, not just those employed by state and local governments, should have a pension. This support holds strong across political party lines, with Democrats in agreement at 89%, Independents at 86%, and Republicans at 83%.  Americans also view pensions as an effective workforce tool for recruiting and retaining public service employees: 82% of Americans agree that pensions are a good way to recruit and retain qualified teachers, and 84% say that pensions are a good way to attract and keep qualified public safety employees.   Source: Benefits Pro 11/5/24

Minimum wage increases in 2025:  See chart below.

Source:  Govdocs 11/24