Quick Hits - May 26, 2021 - American Society of Employers - ASE Staff

EverythingPeople this week!

EverythingPeople gives valuable insight into the developments both inside and outside the HR position.

Latest Articles

Quick Hits - May 26, 2021

Michigan unemployment rate is now 4.9%: Finding workers will be even more difficult for Michigan employers. Source:  BLS

Cutting the $300 pandemic unemployment assistance seems to bring workers back:  The number of workers seeking and receiving unemployment benefits through state and federal programs has reached pandemic lows ahead of this summer, when 22 states plan to end a $300 federal benefit early. The states, all Republican-led, are opting out of the $300 supplemental benefit, extended payments, and benefits for gig-economy and other workers not typically eligible for unemployment benefits. States have announced dates ranging from mid-June to mid-July for when they will stop processing pandemic-related benefits. That means nearly 3.7 million individuals could lose the $300 weekly benefits—which were set to expire in early September—beginning in mid-June, according to estimates by forecasting firm Oxford Economics. Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, sees unemployment benefits as one reason that employers are struggling to find workers. But, he said, other factors are also keeping unemployment recipients on the sidelines, such as parents’ increased child-care responsibilities during the pandemic and the persistence of the virus. Michigan employers will continue to feel the pinch for workers likely until October. Source:  Wall Street Journal 5/20/21

U.S. job openings are at an all time high:  The U.S. recorded 8.1 million job openings in March, the highest such mark since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began its series tracking the statistics in 2000.  That mark surpasses the pre-pandemic high of more than 7.5 million openings set in November 2018. The Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said the largest increases occurred in accommodation and food services, followed by the state and local government education sector and the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector.  BLS also noted that the U.S. recorded a net employment gain of 3.3 million workers in March.  Why aren’t workers coming back sooner? Observers have pinpointed a number of barriers to speedier recovery, including a lack of access to childcare that would enable some to re-enter the workforce. "Some employers may be looking for workers with specific skills but are unable to find them," David M. Smith, professor of economics and associate provost for online learning at Pepperdine University's Graziadio Business School said, pointing to the example of the construction industry, where employers are facing shortages of framers, plumbers, and electricians. Corporations are going to have to invest more in reskilling the workforce to take advantage of opportunities offered from automation.  HR Dive 5/18/21

What new grads want:  The coronavirus pandemic transformed the way students and professionals work and learn on short notice with universities and workplaces adopting remote operations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. iCIMS, a talent cloud company, released last week its Class of 2021 Report, and the company's sixth annual installment focuses on sentiments among college seniors regarding in-person collaboration, salary expectations and more. Overall, about two-thirds of college seniors said they want to "work in an office several days" per week or full time, compared to 2% of respondents who wanted to work from home full time. Virtually all college seniors (88%) said they wanted to meet with coworkers in-person "frequently" to "build relationships and network" and nearly half "consider the physical location of the job when considering whether to apply." Overall, respondent seniors anticipated their first job would pay an annual salary of $51,931 on average. Compared to March 2020, HR professionals said they expected to shell out 22% more for entry-level salaries. Due to the anticipated salary and pay expectations among college seniors and HR professionals, the authors of the report pointed out that "this year's graduates are leaving nearly $15,000 on the table."  Source: TechRepublic 5/18/21

USCIS provides I-9 guidance for Dreamers:  In January 2021, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new I-9 guidance regarding the completion of Form I-9 for certain employees working pursuant to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program. The new guidance specifically addresses the situation where an employee presents an unexpired Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with category code of C33 that was issued on or after July 28, 2020, along with an I-797 Extension Notice issued by USCIS that shows a one-year extension of their deferred action and work authorization under the DACA program. DACA beneficiaries may present a valid EAD, an acceptable List A document for Form I-9 and subject to reverification. In some instances, an employee may also have an extension notice issued on Form I-797 extending the EAD validity from one year to two years. If an employee presents an unexpired EAD with category code C33 that was issued on or after July 28, 2020, along with an I-797 Extension Notice issued by USCIS that shows a one-year extension of their deferred action and work authorization under DACA, the employee may enter the end validity date from the notice in the "Authorized to Work Until" field.  Source:  Dickinson Wright 5/17/21

Is your company using nowcasting? In the face of major economic uncertainty, the ability to gather and interpret information quickly is crucial for decision makers, especially when a crisis turns into a recovery, or vice versa. To this end, leading institutions increasingly add nowcasting—a prediction model developed in response to the dot-com bubble and the 2008 recession—to their decision-making toolbox. Nowcasting resulted from overreliance, during past crises, on typical economic data—often subject to publication lags of up to six months—which exposed many organizations to both missed opportunities and potential risks. Nowcasting uses complex econometric techniques and contemporaneous data from a broad set of sources to provide a timely view of economic indicators and drivers and bring insights several months forward, enabling more dynamic planning. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many government, financial, and other institutions, hoping to capture the rapid economic shifts taking place around the world, turned to nowcasting for answers.  Source:  McKinsey 5/20/21

What should HR be aware of in the new hiring environment?  An analysis released by the Economic Policy Institute this week found 1.39 million job openings in business and professional services, based on a three-month average. But the analysis also indicated that 1.15 million employees who identify themselves as professional and business services workers are unemployed, meaning there is less than 1.0 unemployed workers per job opening. HR departments are now moving back to "full hiring processes," said Brian Kropp, chief of HR research at Gartner. But their post-pandemic hiring processes will have to work faster -- they can't keep candidates waiting, and they will need to offer work flexibility of some type.   According to Gartner's research, "more than 50% of candidates say they would never accept an employment offer if they could not work flexibly," Kropp said. Firms must also be prepared to raise wages. For professional jobs, where a hiring process can extend over several months, firms should shorten the process from job posting to hiring to 50 days, which is the timeframe of the fastest quartile of employers, Kropp said.  But another issue in this tight labor market is the pandemic's acceleration of automation and the need to train people for new skills.  A new study by the Boston Consulting Group and analytics firm, Faethm, which is based in Sydney, sees major workforce disruptions ahead as a result of the digitization of many tasks. The wage increases may only accelerate the transition to automation.  Source:  TechTarget 5/14/21

Filter:

Filter by Authors

Position your organization to THRIVE.

Become a Member Today