globalresidency.com » Employment

Skills Shortages and the Unemployment numbers

GRNews — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:48:05 +0000

Skills shortages and high unemployment – unlikely to exist together. Facts and figures though suggest otherwise. As a sample, data from United States make interesting reading.

The United States unemployment numbers have been fairly high (national average hovering in the 9% range). Even in this scenario, employers are challenged to find the right skill fits for their job openings.

The following text from a recent Time article (June 20,2011) sums up the challenge well -

A bigger issue is that the available skills in the labor pool don’t line up well with the available jobs. Case in point: there are 3 million job openings today. “There’s a tremendous mismatch in the jobs market right now” says McKinsey partner James Manyika, co-author of a new study title An Economy That Works: Job Creation and America’s Future. “It runs across skill set, gender, class and geography.”

The article goes on to say -

A labor market bifurcated by gender, skill set and geography means that unemployed auto workers in Michigan can’t sell their underwater homes and retool as machinists in North Dakota, where homes are cheaper and the unemployment rate is under 5%.

All this goes to confirm that global mobility of labor is a key component of productive economies. An uptick in unemployment numbers does not mean that there is no skills shortage.

Impact of offshoring and immigration on native workers

GRNews — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 09:52:44 +0000

What is the impact of offshoring and immigration on native workers ?

Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, Giovanni Peri, and Greg C. Wright (2010). Immigration, Offshoring and American Jobs. NBER Working Paper No. 16439. National Bureau of Economic Research.

The authors ask: “How many ‘American jobs’ are taken away from US-born workers due to immigration and offshoring?”

(1) They examine employment data from 58 manufacturing industries in the United States from 2000 to 2007. They find that an increase in offshoring—the relocation of a firm’s production process to another country —within an industry has no effect on the employment of natives in that industry. However, they do find that an increase in immigrant employment within an industry has a positive effect on the employment of natives in that industry. The authors explain that the results are due to the “productivity effect”: lower employment costs associated with offshoring and immigration increase both productivity and profits in an industry, which then increase overall demand for labour in that industry as well.

The study also finds that an increase in offshoring results in more natives employed in jobs with higher cognitive and non-routine tasks and leads to more immigrant employment in jobs with manual and routine tasks.

Together, the results suggest that immigrants compete for jobs more with offshore workers than with native workers.

A link to the complete working paper is below

http://www.nber.org/papers/w16439.pdf

Executives Reluctant to Move for New Job

GRNews — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:56:53 +0000

The overall job market seems to be improving, but the housing bust is discouraging U.S. managers and executives from moving to take new jobs.

According to a survey of successful job seekers by outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, only 6.9 percent of unemployed managers and executives who found new jobs in the third quarter relocated for that position, down from 13.4 percent in the same quarter a year earlier. John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of the firm, explained that demand within the housing industry is not at a level that would force companies to look for talent outside of their region.

As the economy improves and local talent pools become depleted, “some large companies might have the financial ability to increase their relocation budgets and help offset the difference between the home value and selling price,” he said.

Read the rest of the article on Wall Street Journal at

Wall Street Journal (10/28/10) Wessel, David

Barriers to Foreign Workers in Germany – U.S. Firms say

GRNews — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:32:56 +0000

US companies based in Germany complained Tuesday that there were still too many obstacles to skilled foreign workers coming to the country, in the wake of a disagreement on the issue in the ruling coalition government.

Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle at the weekend sparked the debate when he called for Germany’s companies to offer ‘welcome money’ to encourage workers to migrate.

Chancellor Angela Merkel immediately slapped down the plan from Bruederle, who is a member of the junior partner in her coalition, the pro-business Free Democrats.

But more than a quarter of those responding to a survey undertaken by the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany said bureaucratic hurdles were the main hindrance to seeking out skilled foreign workers.

The American chamber of commerce pointed to the need for foreign workers often to take fresh professional exams in Germany.

The chamber argued that this requirement on foreign workers was more flexible in other European nations, such as the Netherlands and Belgium.

It also said Germany rules such as the nation’s failure to recognize drivers’ licences from several US states was a hindrance to recruiting. The survey was based on 50 leading US companies in Germany.

In addition to bureaucratic problems, 21 per cent of those responding to the chamber’s survey said they found integration of migrant workers in Germany was a major hurdle to employing foreign skilled workers.

A further 11 per cent said that complicated tax laws in Germany also hindered foreign worker recruitment.

On Monday a spokesman for Merkel said that new rules for foreign workers that were introduced in January were already having a positive effect and so Bruederle’s proposal was unnecessary.

Germany’s strong economic pickup this year combined with a continuing fall in unemployment
has helped to fuel concerns about a skills shortage emerging in Europe’s biggest economy.

Unemployment in the nation fell for the 13th consecutive month in July, the labour office revealed last week, with the number of people out of work in seasonally-adjusted terms dropping by another 20,000 last month.

The labour market also showed a 31.3-per-cent surge in job vacancies over the last month, underscoring worries about a growing skills shortage in Germany as the nation’s economic upswing gains momentum this year.

News item from – Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Despite the slowdown, the skills shortage challenge continues to haunt employers, especially in skilled professions. A global outlook towards your skills supply chain, can ensure that your organization wins the talent war. At Global Residency, it is our goal to help you turn the skills challenge into a sustainable competitive advantage.

To visit the Global Residency group website, visit www.GlobalResidency.com. Here you can post your requirements or submit your resume.

To get regular updates from the Global Residency, blog subscribe below:-

Dallas leads the nation

GRNews — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:32:39 +0000

Dallas is the leader in the United States, among cities where folks are relocating, according to a new report by Movers.com.

Houston and Phoenix were next on the list of metropolitan areas where the number of move-ins is much greater than outward relocations, the Internet site found.

“The percentage of people moving into Dallas when compared with those moving out is higher than any other city in our database,” said Move.com spokesperson Kanthi Tatineni.

That jibes with economic reports that show the Texas economy is the fastest growing in the nation.

And the Dallas-Fort Worth area leads the country in population growth