PRNewswire (04/05/12)

Hiring plans in the U.S. are getting back to prerecession levels,
according to ASA corporate partner CareerBuilder’s latest
nationwide survey. One-third of employers added full-time,
permanent employees in the first quarter of this year, on par
with 2007 and the highest increase reported since the recession
began. The momentum is expected to continue with 30% of employers
planning to add new full-time, permanent staff in April through
June.

“We have moved from an anemic job market to one that is
stable and growing,” says Matt Ferguson, chief executive
officer of CareerBuilder. “While still cautious, employers
are feeling better about the state of the U.S. economy and the
debt situation in Europe. Forty-one percent of companies reported
their sales have increased over the last six months, which is
helping to fuel greater confidence in hiring.”

The study also showed there is increased competition for talent
among employers. Of employers that recruited for positions in the
last year, 56% reported that a candidate rejected a job offer
from their organization. Forty-one percent of those attributed
the rejection to their inability to provide the candidate’s
desired salary, while 22% said they didn’t offer the position
quickly enough and the candidate was already hired somewhere
else.