While the holiday season may be the happiest time of the year, it can be pretty stressful if you are one of the many business owners who need qualified temp or seasonal staff to help you through the rush. Hiring new members to your workforce is more complicated than ever due to the current job markets. While it might seem impossible to staff your business in the midst of one of the most competitive times of the year, there is hope!
The reason for the lack of potential hires in Q4 is beyond the control of both the employers and the employees and gives the illusion of a shortage of potential hires. In reality, there are many people seeking employment even amid everything going on. It is simply a matter of tracking them down.
Labor Force Participation
Seasonal trends in hiring and workforce participation are always low in Q4 leading into the holiday season. Rates for 2021 are particularly low. Every demographic has its statistics, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. With the pandemic, labor force participation is at a nearly historic low.
The total labor force participation rate for 2021 is 61.7%, one of the lowest rates since 1970, which peaked at 60.6%.
In Missouri alone, the unemployment rate has reached 4.2% as of this May, making jobs a highly sought-after commodity, especially in engineering and technology.
The COVID Effect On Temp & Seasonal Staffing
One of the significant differences between previous years and the 2020 to 2021 stretch is the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic began in 2020, the lockdown measures across the country had a severe economic impact on countless companies and resulted in over 20,000,000 lost jobs. This loss of employment caused a spike in the unemployment rate, causing it to rise to levels not seen since the 1930s during the Great Depression.
Of these 20,000,000 jobs lost, 2,000,000 are estimated to be permanently lost. The remaining 18,000,000 are thought to be recoverable following the end of the pandemic. However, current estimations have posited that these figures are not as cut and dry as initially believed.
Only 60% of employers are expressing an intent to bring back furloughed workers. 19% of employers intend to get their employees back with reduced hours to compensate for the economic impact of said furloughs. 9% of employers have stated that the layoffs are now permanent, and they will not be bringing their workers back. The remaining 12% of employers have not yet come to a final decision.
COVID-19 has been highly detrimental to the workforce, and the impact of Q4 applicant drops will only serve to exacerbate this impact. However, this doesn’t mean staffing your company is a lost cause.
The Work From Home Boom and Temp/Seasonal Workers
There are some factors to consider about what the hiring world will look like soon. Due to the work from home concessions made during the pandemic, flexible work conditions have become the norm and are less likely to go away with every passing day.
Employers worldwide have already begun offering hybrid positions enabling both in-office and remote work opportunities where applicable. The possibility of working from home has become so popular, several employers who need temp and seasonal workers are making flexible concessions wherever possible to hire for positions that can be done remotely.
The Solution
Hiring in the current economic climate, especially for the upcoming holiday season, will be challenging, especially if the intent is to hire temporary workers. Fortunately, if you are struggling to find the people you need to keep your business up and running, we at JobFinders specialize in getting trained employees into those high-demand roles you need. So, please. Contact us to see how we can help you since, as we say in Missouri, the welfare of the people is the supreme law.
