Today’s Energy Solutions (04/12)

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that more than
two-thirds of the manufacturers that were hiring late in 2011
reported difficulty finding skilled workers for specific
openings. SHRM’s Ongoing Impact of the Recession Poll, which
surveyed 360 randomly selected human resource professionals from
the manufacturing industry in late August and early September
2011, found that 75% of respondents from the manufacturing
industry were hiring last fall, an increase from 51% in 2010.

However, 68% of those hiring reported difficulty recruiting for
specific job openings. The positions most difficult to fill in
the manufacturing industry were positions such as technicians and
programmers (89%); engineers (88%); skilled trades (electricians
and carpenters) (83%); and managers and executives (80%). When
recruiting for jobs that required new and different skills, more
organizations were having difficulty finding qualified
individuals in 2011 (72%) compared with 2010 (43%).