According to new data from the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the country’s economy added 96,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August.
This number contrasted sharply with the estimates contained in a report released on September 6 by Automatic Data Processing (ADP). The ADP National Employment Report suggested that the U.S. economy added 201,000 jobs in August.
Meanwhile, a group of economists surveyed by CNNMoney had predicted the Labor Department would announce an increase of around 120,000 jobs. One thing this wide divergence between different forecasts shows is that a significant amount of uncertainty continues to surround the trajectory of the economic recovery.
This uncertainty, in turn, is a factor in limiting job growth, as businesses remain unwilling to make substantial long term salary and benefit commitments to new workers without reasonable confidence that future economic growth will uphold a level of demand that justifies investment in expansion.
With businesses electing to keep their headcounts limited, each new hire that a company does make will have an elevated level of importance for the organization. The success of a smaller staff will naturally depend more heavily on the performance of each member.
This means companies need to put an extra emphasis on ensuring that they are reaching top talent in each executive or financial professional search.
Utilizing project and interim resources through a recruiting and interim services firm is another way for organizations to achieve cost savings by adjusting staff sizes up and down based on current business requirements and controlling professional staff costs by using variable cost interim and project professionals.
Corporate recruiters can help a company assess their staffing needs, identify candidates and select the right person for the job. In addition to evaluating prospects’ technical qualifications, recruitment firms can also help businesses hire professionals that will provide a good fit with the established corporate culture, which can be an important factor in achieving high performance levels.
