2018 Q2 Economic Snapshot

Very strong job growth and low unemployment were the headlines in many of the world’s leading economies in the second quarter of 2018.

However, employers were faced with the increasingly difficult tasks of attracting and retaining talent in a historically tight labor market and responding to impending wage pressures. Uncertainties in the labor supply created by Brexit and immigration restrictions were exacerbated by the introduction of tariffs by the U.S. and the threat of trade wars in the coming months.

Strong Job Markets


Robust job markets and low unemployment were the major headlines in many of the world’s largest economies in the second quarter of 2018. In the United States, the number of job openings reached a record high. In the UK, the unemployment rate was at its lowest point in over 40 years. Canada continued to experience record low unemployment and Australia had consecutive months of job gains.


Faced with the tightest job markets in recent years, employers are focused on effective strategies to attract and retain talent. The difficult hiring environment is leading companies to rethink established norms in their recruitment processes. The strong demand for talent is showing no signs of easing. Companies seeking to compete successfully should consider developing strategic partnerships with organizations that can provide intelligence and expertise in recruitment and retaining talent.

Wages – The End of Stagnation


Wage pressures have intensified in response to the robust labor market. In the U.S., the period of relative stagnation in wage growth is perceived to be ending. In the UK, salaries for new positions rose at their fastest rate in three years. Canadian workers experienced their biggest wage increase in nearly a decade. And even without significant inflation, the national minimum wage in Australia is slated to increase 3.5 percent on July 1, potentially impacting salaries nationwide.


With record job openings available in many markets, employees are increasingly confident that they can easily find a new job. Since the top reason for workers to find a new job is to increase their salary, employers face the dual challenge of adjusting their wages as needed to retain their current workers and set starting salaries for new jobs at levels that will attract talent. Arriving at wage levels that will not unnecessarily strain profit margins is becoming an increasingly important task for human resource professionals.

Barriers to the Free Movement of Talent


Uncertainty over the availability of talent comprised of foreign nationals due to Brexit and immigration restrictions in the U.S. continued to raise concern. In the UK, sectors such as social care, technology and hospitality could be impacted especially hard. A recent survey found that one in ten hospitality workers are considering leaving the UK due to Brexit. The same survey found that 18 percent of hospitality managers are finding that recruiting new staff is more difficult due to Britain’s status change with the EU. In the U.S., restrictive immigration policies are blamed for the stall in IT job growth. Adding to the uncertainty of the U.S. workforce, the future status of the more than 600,000 U.S. residents granted permission to live and work under the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) act was left unsettled by the U.S. Congress.


The policy-driven talent shortages in some countries are contrasted by others such as Japan and Canada that are making efforts to attract talent from abroad. The ambiguities in possible policy decisions regarding immigration and the free movement of labor drive the need for employers to craft flexible recruitment programs. Companies that find it difficult to find full-time talent may want to consider Managed Service Providers (MSPs) that provide scalability through contingent labor.

Social Media, Privacy and Sourcing


There are important developments affecting the way employers utilize social media for recruitment and employer branding. New regulations in Europe under GDPR went into effect on May 25. GDPR requires businesses to protect the personal data and privacy of EU citizens for transactions that occur within EU member states. GDPR applies to any collection of data for those living or working in the EU, regardless of the location of the organization accessing this data. The new rules include notification requirements, up-front security measures and other privacy safeguards.


The data breach at Facebook, the world’s largest social media platform, impacted 87 million users whose personal data may have been unknowingly shared with Cambridge Analytica. A study released in April showed that confidence in Facebook dropped by 66 percent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal emerged. In addition to implementing new compliance requirements necessitated by GDPR, businesses may need to review and adjust their recruitment and marketing practices in order to be effective in the evolving social media landscape.

Addressing the Skills Gap Part I: Apprenticeships


Employers that are struggling to find talent with the right skills can turn to a solution that pre-dates the industrial revolution: apprenticeships. Apprenticeships enable workers to gain valuable skills and experience so that they can be fully productive employees at a future date. In the United States, the Department of Labor announced resources for apprenticeships as part of a public/private partnership. For example, employers can apply for registered apprenticeships and create “on-the-job training contracts” and have costs reimbursed for up to 50 percent of wage rates paid to participants for up to six months.


In June, it was announced that the Skilling Australians Fund will be providing AUD 1.5 Billion to create as many as 300,000 apprenticeships. Public resources for apprenticeships are available throughout the EU, the UK, Canada and many other countries. To successfully incorporate apprentice programs as part of an overall talent attraction and training strategy, and learn the steps to take to access public funds, organizations can utilize the expertise of a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) company to ensure that its workforce has the right skills to succeed for many years to come.

Key Takeaways for Employers


Historically strong job markets combined with the uncertainties brought about by restrictions in immigration and trade requires employers to be both intelligent and agile in attracting and retaining talent. Organizations can expect to reap the benefits of a strong economy only if they have the talent to support the growth that can be generated by a prosperous environment.

Workforce Planning: Leveraging Workforce Analytics for Deeper Insights

Workforce analytics are changing the game. To stay competitive in the modern and complex business landscape, organizations need to leverage technology to make more strategic decisions. Many are using big data and analytics to achieve these aims. In fact, 80 percent of executives say their big data investments have been successful, and almost half say their organizations can measure the benefits from their projects.

What’s more, according to Harvard Business Review, organizations that excel in data-driven decision-making are more productive and more profitable than their competitors on average.

Workforce analytics combines statistical analysis and predictive modeling to help organizations make fact-based talent acquisition and management decisions. In this post, we outline how to leverage analytics as part of the workforce planning process.

What is Workforce Planning and What Role do Analytics Play in the Process?

workforce analytics

Traditionally, workforce planning has been a reactive way of assessing workforce needs. Organizations typically make annual talent forecasts for how many hires are needed in a role, and those estimates happen before the end of a fiscal year as part of the budget-planning process. This approach to workforce planning lacks the flexibility needed to remain agile and competitive in an evolving and dynamic labor market.

Modern, data-driven workforce planning focuses on the future by assessing current hiring needs and modeling how those needs will evolve. Workforce analytics is the cornerstone of modern workforce planning.

Workforce analytics gathers and analyzes data to better inform decisions made in of the process of workforce planning, resulting in the formation of a strategic plan to address workforce challenges. This data-focused approach can assist organizations to match talent forecasts with analysis of the talent pool to create a realistic view of the labor market.

When workforce planning is combined with workforce analytics, organizations are better able to predict future leaders within the organization, craft succession plans for critical positions and recruit the right talent.

Types of Workforce Analytics

Data analytics has become common across many business functions, from logistics to finance. As organizations look to overcome the skills gap, full-employment and record retirement, they need to develop a systematic process for identifying workforce needs, develop strategies to meet those requirements and implementing them effectively. Below we list three data analytics techniques essential to workforce planning that can help organizations meet changing demands now and in the future.

Predictive Analytics 

Predictive analytics leverages historical data to create predictive models that anticipate what is likely to happen in areas such as employee turnover, skills shortages and shifts in the labor market. By incorporating predictive analytics into workforce planning, techniques such as regression analysis, forecasting, multivariate statistics and pattern matching enable an organization’s leadership to understand likely talent outcomes and needs of the future.

Diagnostic Analytics

Diagnostic analytics helps contextualize past performance by evaluating performance-based metrics in an attempt to discover the reasons behind past workforce successes or failures. Diagnostic analytics is essential in workforce planning because it can provide organizations with a clearer picture of key workforce performance metrics and trends. The data can then be leveraged to identify unseen workforce performance issues. Armed with insights gleaned from diagnostic analytics organizations can better optimize their workforce plan to align with performance goals.

Prescriptive Analytics 

Similar to predictive analytics, prescriptive analytics uses the same sets of historical workforce data to anticipate the likelihood of specific results or events. What makes prescriptive analytics different is that the data is then leveraged to plan the best next actions based on those predictions. Prescriptive analytics is extremely valuable in workforce planning because it uses available data to recommend measures that could increase the likelihood of desired business and staffing outcomes occurring.

These techniques can provide organizations with concrete and actionable insights on workforce data and help drive better talent strategies. Talent technology solutions such as PeopleScout’s propriety technology, Affinixtm, can help organizations better leverage these techniques and deliver additional value to workforce planning.

Benefits of Workforce Analytics

While the most obvious benefits are related to time savings, dollars saved and earned, percentage changes, and proof of ROI, there are less tangible benefits of workforce analytics that HR leaders often discover after they have started with their solution. These are benefits related to organizational alignment, team cohesion and company culture. While these benefits are more difficult to measure in concrete terms, they are definitely connected to business outcomes. In the following section, we outline two ways workforce analytics can improve and organizations talent management and recruiting programs.

Improving Retention and Employee Performance

Detailed analytics can help organizations identify top performers, foster successful employee retention and talent recruitment programs and ensure the proper workforce is in place to accomplish business goals and objectives.

Furthermore, an employee’s performance data could be used by hiring managers to identify what motivates an organization’s top talents. This data not only provides more insights about the employees but also shape the strategies to boost the employee morale, retention and engagement.

Improved Hiring Decision With

Workforce analytics make predictive analysis easier and helps HR to make a better choice based on historical data. A great HR analytics tool can make the difference by making the HR easily derive the best candidate to hire from the historical data.

For example, if an organization hired 20 candidates and 10 out of them are from a particular background failed at it, organizations can avoid hiring candidates from a similar background. Moreover, workforce analytics also allows recruiters to learn more about candidates through an online resume database, applications, social media profiles to learn which traits and attributes are associated with top performers in a certain role.

Conclusion

Today, HR leaders make use of analytics solutions to realize deeper insight into the workforce in order to fuel evidence-based decisions and improve business outcomes. An experienced RPO partner with a consultative approach can help organizations better understand their workforce and tailor talent acquisition strategies to match the client’s goals and objectives and which metrics can best determine the desired impact.

PeopleScout Australia Jobs Report Analysis – May 2018

The Australia Bureau of Statistics released its May Labour Force Key Statistics.  Australian employment rose, but the growth was slower than expected. Job gains were led by increases in part-time work while the jobless rate ticked down to its lowest since November at 5.4 per cent.

The Numbers

12,000: The Australian economy added 12,000 jobs in May.
5.4%: The Australian unemployment rate decreased to 5.4 per cent.
65.5%: Labour force participation decreased to 65.5 per cent.
+6: According to the NAB, the business confidence index fell to +6 index points.

Upside

There was a net job gain of 12,000 in May which continues the trend of monthly job growth. Australia’s annual job growth of about 3 percent was nearly double the U.S. rate of job creation of 1.6 percent. Since May 2017, full-time employment has increased by 178,800, and part-time employment has increased by 125,100.


The labour force participation rate decreased in May but is still near historic highs with more women and senior citizens entering the workforce.  In seasonally adjusted terms, the largest increase in employment was in Victoria (up 22,100), followed by Queensland (up 5,000), and New South Wales (up 2,800). The only increase in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was in Tasmania (up 0.5 per cent).

Downside

The job gains in May still fell 6,000 short of the 18,000 expected increase. The net increase was only possible due to a surge in part-time jobs that offset a decrease in full-time employment. The business confidence index fell to +6 – the level of its long-term average. Wages continue to grow at a slow pace which is causing concern about the possible negative impact this will have on the economy as a whole.

The Unknown

The Fair Work Commission raised the minimum wage by 2.4 per cent to $672.70 a week. This will mean an extra $15.80 per week for the 1.8 million workers who are paid the minimum wage in Australia. The increase takes effect on July 1 and equates to a minimum hourly rate of $17.70. It is unclear what the impact of this increase will be on the unemployment rate or the stagnation in wage increases.

PeopleScout U.S. Jobs Report Analysis – May 2018

The Labor Department released its May Jobs Report showing 223,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy, which continues the longest stretch of job growth in the nation’s history and brings the unemployment rate to 3.8 percent.

The Numbers

223,000: The economy added 223,000 jobs in May.
3.8%: The unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent.
2.7%: Wages increased 2.7 percent over the last year.

The Good

The 223,000 jobs added in May surpassed analyst expectations and lowered the unemployment rate to 3.8 percent. Employment grew in industries including healthcare, retail and construction. The Labor Department revised its figures to show a show a net increase of 15,000 in March and April.
There was good news for Americans without a high school diploma. The unemployment rate for workers 25-years-old and older with less than a high-school diploma dropped to 5.4 percent, down from 6.2 percent at the same time last year and a large decrease from the 8.5 percent rate in September 2016. The unemployment rate for college graduates is holding steady at 2.0 percent.

The Bad

Employers face significant challenges in a market with increasing job openings and very low unemployment. More workers are quitting their jobs, which increases the pressure on employers to take immediate action to both attract and retain talent.
The employment gains made by those with less than a high school diploma may increase the difficulty of staffing seasonal summer jobs, an issue already caused by overall low unemployment. The scarcity of workers for seasonal businesses could lead to higher costs for business owners who may pass the increased costs onto consumers.

The Unknown

There is uncertainty over the repercussions of the recently imposed tariffs on key U.S. allies. The White House announced that the EU, Canada and Mexico will face 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. Retaliation could lead to increased prices and unstable supplies of key commodities, which may stall or reverse the job gains made in recent years.

PeopleScout U.S. Jobs Report Analysis — April 2018

The Labor Department released its April jobs report with 164,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy, continuing the longest stretch of job growth in the nation’s history and bringing the unemployment rate to 3.9 percent – the lowest level since 1970.


The Numbers

164,000: The economy added 164,000 jobs in April.
3.9%: The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent.
2.6%: Wages increased 2.6 percent over the last year.

The Good

The 164,000 jobs added this month may have been less than some analysts projected, according to the Wall Street Journal, but April’s job growth brought the unemployment rate down to 3.9 percent after it held steady for six months. Revised figures show employers added 30,000 more jobs in February and March than previously estimated, bringing the monthly pace of hiring this year to 200,000, compared to the 2017 average of 182,000 jobs per month.


The strongest gains continue to be in the professional and business services sector, which added 54,000 jobs in April. With that, the total number of jobs added in this sector in the last year rose to more than half of a million. Manufacturing also continued to grow with 245,000 jobs added in the last year. The healthcare industry also continued its consistent growth, adding 24,000 jobs in April, and 305,000 in the last year.
Wage growth continued, but at a modest rate of 2.6 percent over last year. While many workers would like to see higher gains, the modest growth is appealing to investors and eases fears about the economy overheating.

The Bad

Unlike the areas of the economy which showed healthy job increases in April, some industries saw little change over the last month – including construction, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality and government work.
The U.S. workforce shed 410,000 people in April, bringing the total of those out of the workforce to 95.7 million. The tightening labor market brings significant challenges to employers, including potential wage pressure and a diminishing pool of available talent, according to the Washington Post.

The Unknown

Uncertainty over the imposition of tariffs on China and other countries makes long-term planning and growth projections very challenging, the New York Times reports. The possible shift in the price of raw materials resulting from a trade war would likely have the greatest impact on the manufacturing sector.

PeopleScout Australia Jobs Report Analysis – March 2018

The Australia Bureau of Statistics released its March Labour Force Key Statistics showing slower job growth compared to the past year.

The Numbers

4,900: The Australian economy added 4,900 jobs in March.
5.5%: The Australian unemployment rate remained steady at 5.5 per cent.
65.5%: Labour force participation decreased 0.1 per cent to 65.5 per cent.
+7: According to the NAB, the business confidence index fell two points to +7 index points.

Upside

The 4,900 jobs added to the Australian economy in March brings employment growth over the past year to 367,100, as reported by Business Insider. Employment remains at a record high 12.48 million. The largest increase in employment was in Victoria, followed by Tasmania and Western Australia. Since March 2017, full-time employment has increased by 226,900 persons, and part-time employment has increased by 140,200 persons.


Additionally, the unemployment rate initially reported as 5.6 percent in February was adjusted down to 5.5 per cent. That rate held steady in March. According to Marketwatch, the country is still not yet at full employment.

Downside

The 4,900 jobs created in March fell well below economists’ expectations. This is a sign that the strong run of monthly job increases could be slowing down. Full-time employment actually decreased by nearly 20,000 in March, but an increase of nearly 25,000 jobs created the net increase in employment. There was also a small decrease in the labour participation rate.


The business confidence rate also dropped two points in March to +7. This is still slightly higher than the historical average, but it has fallen four points in just two months.

Unknown

The significant slowing of job creation in March may mark the end of a period of strong sustained job growth. Decelerated job growth has implications for the broader Australian economy, though economists still debate what could happen. While there is still room to grow in Australia’s economy, some economists believe the growth could slow.


Tom Kennedy of JP Morgan notes, “Much of the positivity RBA officials have had on the labour market of late has come from the fact that employment growth boomed last year, with raw job creation making it easy to paper over the various headwinds facing the consumer, such as benign wages growth and high levels of household indebtedness.


However, we had previously flagged the surge in employment growth and participation as being correlated phenomena. While early days it appears this view is broadly tracking, and we retain our forecast for participation to stabilise and employment growth to moderate in 2018.”

PeopleScout U.S. Jobs Report Analysis — March 2018

The Labor Department released its March jobs report with slower than expected job growth, but the 103,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy extended the longest stretch of expansion to 90 months.

The Numbers

 103,000: The economy added 103,000 jobs in March.

4.1%: The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1 percent.
2.7%: Wages increased 2.7 percent over the last year.

The Good

After February’s strong jobs numbers, the 103,000 jobs added to the economy seems disappointing. However, according to MarketWatch, the U.S. still added an average of 202,000 jobs each month in the first quarter of 2017. This is still strong growth.
Additionally, the unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent. Though economists had expected that to fall to 4.0 percent in March, the current rate is still the lowest since 2000.
The 2.7 percent wage growth is largely a positive. It is still moderate – slightly higher than the 2.5 percent seen through most of 2017, but low enough to prevent fears of inflation, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, many workers would like to see this number increase.

The Bad

This is the weakest job growth the economy has seen in six months. In September 2017 after the destruction of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the economy only added 14,000 jobs, though it was initially reported as a loss. The previous low was March 2017, when the economy added what was revised to only 73,000 jobs. Additionally, retail saw job losses in March after significant gains in February.

The Unknown

According to the New York Times, it still unclear what impact escalating trade tensions with China will have on the U.S. economy, particularly the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing has seen strong job gains over the past year, including 22,000 jobs in March. However, a trade war with China could impact that growth.

PeopleScout Australia Jobs Report Analysis – February 2018

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its February Labour Force Key Statistics showing another month of strong job growth, but an unemployment rate that increased due to an increase in labour force participation.

The Numbers

17,500: The Australian economy added 17,500 jobs in February.
5.6%: The Australian unemployment rate increased .1 percent to 5.6 percent.
65.7%: Labour force participation rose .1 percent to 65.7 percent.
+9: According to the NAB, the business confidence index fell two points to +9 index points.

Upside

The 17,500 jobs added to the Australian economy marks the 17th consecutive month of job growth according to Business Insider. This brings employment to 12.48 million, which is the highest ever recorded. The largest increase in employment was in New South Wales.


While economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain at 5.5 percent in February, the increase to 5.6 percent can be attributed to the increase in labour force participation, which shows that the Australian economy is strong enough to pull people to join or reenter the workforce.

Downside

While the numbers were mostly strong, there is still some room for improvement. According to MarketWatch, underemployment is still an issue. Additionally, despite the net growth in employment, the economy actually shed 47,400 part-time jobs. Employment in Victoria saw a decrease of 11,300, though that was offset by increases elsewhere.


The business confidence rate also fell two points in February to +9. However, the NAB attributes this to “turbulence in international financial markets in early February,” and notes that the number remains above the average of +6. On a brighter note, the NAB reports that the business conditions index actually increased three points to a record high +21.

The Unknown

Economists debate how much room there is left to grow in Australia’s economy. The issues of underemployment and the fact that the size of the labour force is growing faster than employment point to an economy with plenty of room for growth. Economists suggest that the unemployment rate will need to fall below 5 percent before workers begin to see significant wage gains.

PeopleScout Jobs Report Analysis – February 2018

The Labor Department released the February jobs report with higher than expected job gains but slowing wage growth.

The Numbers

313,000: The U.S. added 313,000 jobs in February.

4.1%: The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1 percent.

2.6%: Wages rose 2.6 percent over the past year.

The Good

February’s jobs report has a lot of good news. The 313,000 jobs added to the economy beat economists’ expectations. The number also marks the fastest pace of job growth in a year and a half according to the Wall Street Journal. Hiring was also spread across industries. Retail, which struggled at the end of 2017, gained 50,000 jobs in February. Professional and business services and manufacturing also saw strong job growth.
The 4.1 percent unemployment has remained steady for the past four months, and it’s the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years. The labor market participation rate ticked up to 63 percent in February, which is its largest jump in three years according to CNN. This shows that economy is still strong enough to pull in sidelined workers, without increasing the unemployment rate.

The Bad

The 2.6 percent wage growth in February can either be good or bad news depending on who you’re asking. Wage growth did slow from January, which is disappointing for workers and more in line with the sluggish wage growth that’s remained consistent throughout the recovery from the Great Recession. However, according to the New York Times, the lower wage growth quiets concerns about inflation.

The Unknown

The biggest question right now is how much room for growth is left in the economy. Despite the strong numbers in January’s jobs report, investors were concerned about inflation, which resulted in large stock market losses. However, February’s report indicates that there is still plenty of room to grow.
“Over the last 2 months, the job market has absorbed 1.3 million new entrants into the labor force, allowing the unemployment rate to stay at 4.1% – a remarkable testament to the underlying strength in this economy,” David Donabedian, chief investment officer of CIBC Atlantic Trust told the Wall Street Journal.

PeopleScout Jobs Report Analysis – January 2018

The Labor Department released the January jobs report with higher than expected job gains and accelerating wage gains.


The Numbers

200,000: The U.S. added 200,000 jobs in January
4.1%: The unemployment remained at 4.1 percent
2.9%: Wages increased 2.9 percent over the past year

The Good

The 200,000 jobs added to the economy beat economists’ expectations for the first month of 2018. January marks the 88th consecutive month of growth for the economy. The unemployment rate has remained at the low of 4.1 percent since October 2017.
The biggest highlight in this report is the wage growth. Throughout 2017 many economists questioned what held back wages as the unemployment rate fell. Toward the end of the year, we noted that there were signals that wage growth could accelerate in 2018. January’s jobs report shows hourly wage growth of 2.9 percent, which is the highest since 2009, according to CNN. However, the New York Times warns not too read too strongly into January’s numbers because there have been short spikes at other points in the recovery from the Great Recession.

The Bad

The bad news in this jobs report isn’t immediately obvious, however the markets did fall Friday morning. The New York Times reports that this may be because January’s jobs report gives signs that future U.S. growth could be slower than expected.

The Unknown

Heading into 2018, there are still questions about how the tax cut will impact the U.S. economy. Some employers have offered one-time bonuses to employees, citing the tax cut. Those bonuses are not counted in the hourly wage numbers in this report. According to the Wall Street Journal, that means that consumers have more purchasing power than the wage gain number reflects. Additionally, the increased tax savings could lead some employers to increase wages.

The Global Unemployment Report – Q3 2017

PeopleScout partnered with HRO Today to produce a quarterly summary of international unemployment metrics for key countries in North America, Latin America, EMEA and APAC, including highlighting the countries with the most highly skilled workers. This issue of the report focuses on Q3 2017.
Click below to access the eBook.

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