France is running short of trained chefs, while Norway is scouring the world for butchers as countries deal with what a new report calls a global ’talent crunch.’
At the same time, the percentage of U.S. employers finding difficulty in filling positions was cut in half over the past year amid a sharp slowdown in economic activity, according to a survey of labor shortages released by Manpower Inc., one of the world’s largest temporary-employment agencies.
Though the global percentage of employers facing a talent shortage fell to 31% from 41% over the past year, skilled manual trades emerged as the biggest headache for global employers polled in late January, said Jeff Joerres, chairman and chief executive of Manpower.
Mr. Joerres said jobs requiring apprenticeships have become increasingly tricky to fill in developed countries, forcing employers to turn increasingly to immigrants or actively recruit outside their national borders
’We’re losing the pipeline,’ said Mr. Joerres in an interview. ’In the U.S., it’s welders, in France, it’s cooks and chefs, and in Norway, it’s butchers.’
Eastern Europe has become a key source for manual and skilled trades for employers in Western Europe, but Mr. Joerres said Manpower’s work for clients in Norway has seen it, for example, recruit trained butchers from Ireland and as far afield as Brazil to work in the Nordic state.
Sales representatives and technicians are ranked after skilled trades among the most sought-after employees world-wide. But the survey points to sharp variations between regions and countries, with French employers finding it more difficult to find chefs and cooks than either salespeople or machinery operators.
Finding engineers remains the biggest headache for U.S. employers, with the energy industry already on alert about the impact of an aging work force on its ability to develop new resources.
Mr. Joerres said hundreds of trained staffers have been recruited from Asian countries to develop Canadian oil-sands projects. ’You are going to have more migration of that work, and talent is going to be soaked up quickly,’ he said.
While engineers remain particularly tough to recruit, only 19% of surveyed U.S. employers were finding it difficult to find the ’right’ staff, compared with 41% in January 2007.
Mr. Joerres said the drop in the U.S. number reflected ’hesitation’ among employers about hiring any new staff, rather than any easing of skills shortages. ’We know they are not looking as much,’ said Mr. Joerres.
The U.S. economic slowdown and the problems in the construction sector have helped employers in Mexico, the largest exporter of labor to its northern neighbor. The number of Mexican employers experiencing hiring problems fell to 28% from 82%.
Mr. Joerres also warned of a mismatch in skills in the global agricultural industry as the focus of production shifts increasingly from the U.S. and Western Europe to Latin America and central Asia.
Farmers are relying on increasingly sophisticated equipment to work the land and boost crop yields, placing a premium on agricultural technicians and engineers.
Mr. Joerres suggested the increasing reliance on technology to boost global food production hinged on the relocation of skilled technical staff from developed farming economies, a move he said was unlikely. ’No-one’s going to go from the Great Plains state of Kansas to Kazakhstan for one-tenth of the cash,’ he warned.
法國缺少訓練有素的大廚，而挪威則在全球搜求屠夫，世界各國都面臨着一份新出爐的報告所稱的全球“人才荒”。
與此同時，據世界最大的職業介紹所之一萬寶盛華(Manpower Inc.)最近的一份勞動力短缺狀況調查，由於經濟活動劇烈減退，去年覺得難以找到人手的美國僱主比例下降了一半。
萬寶盛華董事長兼首席執行長傑夫•約雷斯(Jeff Joerres)說，在1月底進行的調查中，去年全球面臨人才短缺的僱主百比分從41%下降到31%，但熟練人工是接受調查的'僱主最頭疼的問題。
約雷斯說，對經驗有要求的工作在發達國家越來越難以招到人手，迫使僱主日漸將目標瞄準移民，或是積極在境外招聘。
約雷斯在一次接受採訪時說：“我們的人才供應渠道正在流失。在美國，短缺的是焊接工，法國是廚師和大廚，而挪威是屠夫。”
東歐已經成爲西歐僱主的人工和熟練工人的重大來源，但約雷斯舉例說，萬寶盛華可能要從愛爾蘭甚至遠到巴西去爲北歐的挪威客戶招聘人手。
銷售代表和技術人員是全球僅次於熟練工人的急缺員工。但調查結果顯示，不同地區和國家的情況很不一樣，比如法國僱主覺得比起銷售人員或機械操作工人，大廚和廚師更難找。
美國僱主最頭疼的依然是招聘工程師，能源行業已經注意到日漸老齡化的勞動力對新能源開發能力的影響。
約雷斯說，從亞洲國家招聘了數百名熟練工人開發加拿大的油砂項目。他說：“這一工種會出現更多移民，人才很快就耗盡。”
雖然招募工程師依然很難，但接受調查的美國僱主中只有19%認爲很難招到合適的員工，2007年1月這一比例爲41%。
約雷斯說，美國的這一數字下降反應了僱主對招聘新員工的猶疑情緒，並不表示人才短缺狀況有所緩和。約雷斯說：“我們知道僱主招聘的人數減少了。”
美國經濟減緩和建築行業的問題讓墨西哥的僱主得到了好處，墨西哥是向美國出口勞動力人數最多的國家。面臨人力問題的墨西哥僱主的比例從82%下降到28%。
約雷斯還警告說，隨着全球農業生產重點日漸從美國和西歐轉向拉美和中亞，某些種類的農業人手也出現短缺。
農民在耕作和提高農作物產量方面越來越依賴複雜的機械設備，由此造成了農業技術人員和工程師的短缺。
約雷斯說，全球糧食產量的增加日漸依賴科技，而這一點有賴於發達農業經濟體的熟練技術人員進行全球再配置，他說這種情況不太可能實現。約雷斯警告說：“沒有人願意從美國的大平原地區的堪薩斯州跑到哈薩克斯坦，掙的還只有原先的十分之一。”