Economists predicted that the United States’ hiring slump was partly due to a harsh winter, but the Labor Department has said that may not be the case. According to its January report, companies put up more than 3.9 million job postings—about a 1.5 percent increase and close to November’s strong figures.
While this may be an indicator that employers are prepared to add more individuals to their payroll, only 129,000 Americans were able to get through the interview process and land a job. This mismatch ultimately caused the unemployment rate to go up from 6.6 percent to 6.7 percent, according to Bloomberg.
Now that the weather has gotten a little milder, human resources departments might be able to convince more prospective hires to visit the office. Ryan Wang, economist at HSBC Securities USA Inc. told Bloomberg before the report was out that he thinks American businesses are beginning to increase their hiring efforts.
“We’ll continue to see gradual improvement in measures like quit rates and hiring rates,” he said.
An example can be found in the Labor Department’s February report, which found that 175,000 people were able to get back to work. A majority of positions were filled in the education, leisure/hospitality and health care markets.
However, if your company is having a difficult time reading through applications at this time, considering that there are an average of 2.57 unemployed people per job opening, they can expedite the hiring process with HR software solutions. This program makes it easier for hiring managers to pre-screen job seekers, identifying who may have the most potential to succeed at the organization.