Labor Hoarding

Inflation is out of control.

Recession seems imminent.

Unemployment hasn’t been this low (3.5%) since 1969.

So with all the economic hysteria in the headlines, why are so many companies still hiring?

The pandemic brought intense staffing shortages, and a lot of companies are still playing catch-up, trying to get back to a “just right” number of employees.

Employees, for their part, are still pretty picky about where they work. As someone who talks to job seekers daily, I can absolutely confirm that. Like never before.

Hiring is still so challenging that when the Wall Street Journal interviewed James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, he said: “I don’t think we’ll see mass layoffs. We are going to see companies prefer to hoard their labor rather than do a quick fire and then rehire because the challenges of hiring right now are incredibly intense.”

The pandemic and post pandemic eras have ushered in a number of new terms describing the employment market. Looks like we may have another. #laborhoarding — is this going to be the next new thing?

#warfortalent #hiring #retaintalent