3.2-million jobs still unfilled in the U.S., qualified applicants scarce

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The problem is most acute in Taiwan, where 62 percent of the employers have the problem. Ireland is least affected at 5 percent. The U.S. came in at 19 percent, India at 20 percent, and China at 15 percent.

By industry, the most acute shortages are in skilled trades like electricians, plumbers, and carpenters. Other hard-to-fill positions are sales representatives, IT professionals, engineers, and accountants. A more surprising claim is that generic positions like laborers, secretaries, personal assistants, and drivers are also hard to fill.

CareerBuilder.com

A more recent survey by CareerBuilder.com similarly showed that 22 percent of employers currently have positions that they have been unable to fill because they cannot find qualified candidates, despite an abundant labor pool.

Nearly half of human resource managers said that their organization has a shortage of skills, with the greatest deficits in IT, customer service, and communications. In the health care industry, 63 percent of human resource professionals in large organizations say they have a shortage of qualified workers.

What exactly is the problem?

Manpower asserted that the problem is that employers are “having trouble finding people who are the “perfect fit”—with the precise combination of skills and experience.” They emphasized that the problem in 2009's post-recession environment was not the quantity of applicants, but their quality and fit.

For example, Manpower said that in Japan and India, there are plenty of IT professionals but employers there are complaining about the difficulties of filling IT positions. In the U.S., although there are plenty of accountants, not many have expertise in, say, troubled debt restructuring, which is currently in demand.

Anecdotally, Lynne Sebille-White from the University of Michigan's career center said the area she consistently hears shortages in is people who are willing and able to do core computer program coding. In addition, Ed Koc from the National Association of College and Employers (NACE) said that chemical engineers are in particular shortage. Koc also said employers complain about the lack of solid writing skills, particularly within technical disciplines like engineering and accounting.

Lastly, employers are still finding a lack of applicants with good teamwork skills, said Koc.

Other Factors

Of course, skill is not the only reason that is responsible for the large number of unfilled jobs. Some jobless individuals (particular those from highly-paid finance jobs) are unwilling to take lower-paying jobs. And because unemployment insurance has been extended for a lengthy period of time, some of them can afford to pass on these lower-level positions.

While people are always reluctant to relocate, they are somewhat more so in this period because some of them cannot sell their homes for a reasonable price.

Finally, employers may also be at fault because they are opting to wait for the “perfect match” instead of investing in and training employees and new hires.

One implication of this phenomenon is that when the job market eventually recovers, this labor shortage will become much more pronounced and companies may find themselves scrambling to compete for these highly-prized employees.

Indeed, skilled labor, not capital or resources or any other factor, may be the main competitive advantage and constraint of businesses going forward, according to Geoffrey Colvin, author of Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else.