Most Companies Don’t Plan to Hire in 2012

A man looking for work holds a sign in Midtown Manhattan on Nov 15. Two dominant trends in today’s job market is a lack of skilled workers, and that many firms are making do by offering more training for their employees. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Tiimes)

NEW YORK—While the economy is slowly recovering, the employment picture isn’t likely to improve in 2012, according to surveys conducted by job search company CareerBuilder.

In a survey of more than 3,000 hiring managers and HR firms, 23 percent said that they plan to add full-time staff next year, which is slightly below the 24 percent who expressed the same sentiment last year. Seven percent said that they expect to trim staff, which remains the same as last year.

The rest of the firms say that they either do not know how they would proceed or intend to remain with the same headcount.

CareerBuilder says that historically respondents of its survey tend to be more conservative than reality. “Barring any major economic upsets, we expect 2012 to bring a better hiring picture than 2011, especially in the second half of the year,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder, in a statement. “Many companies have been operating lean and have already pushed productivity limits. We’re likely to see gradual improvements in hiring across categories as companies respond to increased market demands.”

Companies have been pushed to their budgeting limits, and that has had an effect on employee morale. More than 34 percent of companies said that they had employees leave during 2011, complaining of low salaries or too heavy a workload. An additional 43 percent of hiring managers fear that their firms would lose top talent in 2012.

In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Ferguson said that two dominant trends in today’s job market is a lack of skilled workers, and that many firms are making do by offering more training for their employees. CareerBuilder expects salary increases in fields including sales, information technology, and business development.

Small businesses tend to be more bullish than their biggest counterparts, according to CareerBuilder, as there has been an uptick in the number of new small businesses since the 2008 recession. This is a promising sign as small businesses are responsible for the majority of new jobs in the United States.

CareerBuilder is co-owned by Tribune Co., Gannett Co., and the McClatchy Company.