ST. LOUIS 鈥 A new employment report, sourced from public data and phone interviews with 600 area companies, found a steady shift in hiring sentiment, with employers saying they expect to hire for fewer jobs over the next year.
50度灰视频 Community College released the State of the 50度灰视频 Workforce report Wednesday, an annual temperature check on labor supply, demand, and sentiments among employers and job-seekers in the region.
In surveys conducted in May and June, 46% said they plan to add positions over the next 12 months, compared to 53% last year, and 62% two years ago.
But unemployment is still historically low, and over the long term, like the rest of the U.S., 50度灰视频 will have to reckon with an aging workforce. that 24% of workers in the area are at least 55 years old, compared to 21% a decade ago.
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During an event commemorating the report at the community college Wednesday, academic and industry officials emphasized that some companies will need to work differently to attract applicants, and some will have to figure out how to operate more efficiently.
鈥淚 think the fundamental pool of workers has changed,鈥 Phyllis Ellison, associate vice chancellor for the college鈥檚 Workforce Solutions Group. 鈥淲ith a smaller pool of workers, we don鈥檛 have the luxury of just happening on the right worker.鈥
Ellison said businesses will perhaps have to do more legwork to ensure young people understand the path into a given industry. And some businesses may need to carefully re-evaluate their hiring practices for the new era.
For instance, she said, when online job applications were first adopted, human resources departments were inundated, and had to develop ways to screen out certain applicants. In some cases, they put filters in place 鈥 like a requirement for a bachelor鈥檚 degree, for instance 鈥 that haven鈥檛 been checked in recent years. Companies鈥 priorities for new hires have changed since then, and some have become more interested in applicants鈥 experience than their education. But they are still screening out applicants based on the old criteria.
Kory Mathews, CEO of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center 50度灰视频, a project that aims to boost advanced manufacturing in the region, noted that the report found that employers increasingly have to train workers on the job. He called for the region to make progress with helping applicants overcome barriers to pre-employment training, like childcare and transportation.
鈥淲e have to address the obstacles to the training and development that is available today,鈥 Mathews said. Advanced manufacturing, he said, 鈥済ives us an impetus.鈥
The report also found that employers haven鈥檛 changed their stances much in recent years on screening out applicants who have been convicted of a felony. But, they are becoming more relaxed about pre-hire screening methods, like drug tests, and criminal record checks and social media scans.
Of the companies surveyed, 57% reported use of criminal background checks, down from 74% in 2021. And just 29% reported drug screening, down from 52% in 2021.
Time will tell, the report says, whether that marks a permanent change, or a short-lived response to the tight labor market of the past few years.