March may have come home as a speed bump on the path to strong national employment statistics, but if a CareerBuilder forecast for Q2 2015 pans out, small businesses will be helping to increase the number of gainfully-employed US citizens in the near term.
The poll was conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder.
38% of companies surveyed said they will be adding full time staff over the course of the next three months, up from 32% at this point in 2014.
The smaller the company, the smaller the hiring plans, but increases are predicted across the board.
29% of companies with 500 or fewer employees will be hiring, up from 23%
27% of companies with 250 or fewer employees will be hiring, up from 22%.
23% of companies with 50 or fewer employees will be hiring, up from 18%.
Many of the openings are for quality jobs, which take 12 weeks on average to fill.
Also, 24% of companies surveyed expect to increase wages during the quarter by at least 5%.
“The brisk hiring anticipated for the second quarter comes against the backdrop of stronger sales, new product development and market expansion among companies of all sizes,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder and co-author of The Talent Equation. “Small businesses have been playing a larger part in the solid stretch of job growth the U.S. has experienced over several months. When you pair that with the fact that hiring has increased in a variety of industries and regional areas, it bodes well for workers seeking new and better-paying employment prospects.”
RBR+TVBR observation: We saw a few headlines out there today which made it seem like the disappointing March jobs report means that the economy is grinding to a halt.
The stock market seems to react that was as well – what, Janet Yellen has the sniffles? OMG – sell sell sell!
It’s like saying that Babe Ruth went 0 for 4 today. Guess his career is over.
It is important to look at the preponderance of evidence, and avoid reacting to each little data point as if it’s the one and only pertinent fact.
And the preponderance of evidence we have been seeing for months continues to point upward toward an improved economy. And today’s CareerBuilder survey is just one more positive report, adding its weight to the positive consumer and CFO surveys we recently reported.
