Since hiring among manufacturers is often seen as a key to economic recovery, we took a look at hiring trends in this industry to see if things are beginning to pick up. Hiring has been somewhat unsteady over the past few years. It seemed that hiring demand in this sector began improving in 2011, but declined drastically during the last several months of the year and ended in December at the lowest point in 2 years. However, in January 2012, there were 52,000 job ads posted online and despite being down by about 3.5% compared to one year ago, this represents an uptick compared to December. Will hiring continue to increase in 2012 to pre-recession levels?
Hiring Demand in the Manufacturing Sector – 4 Year Hiring Trend
Some of the industries within the manufacturing sector that had the highest levels of hiring demand are in the below chart. Despite seeing the highest volume of job ads, hiring in the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing industry is down about 44% compared to January 2011, one year ago. Interestingly, Electronic Computer Manufacturing also declined in January (compared to 2011) whereas Computer Storage Device Manufacturing increased. Soft Drink Manufacturing experienced one of the highest year-over-year increases at more than 120%, despite being last on the below 10 industries with the highest demand
Manufacturing Industries with the Most Job Ads – January 2012 vs. January 2011
The most demanded field by manufacturers during January was engineering. Combined, engineering jobs accounted for more than 9,600 of the jobs advertised in the manufacturing sector. Industrial Engineer were the single most advertised occupation in January, with more than 4,200 job openings. Mechanical Engineers and Electrical Engineers were also highly in demand. Also appearing as most demanded jobs were several Computer and IT occupation (such as Software Engineers and Computer Systems Analysts), Marketing Managers, Production Managers, and Sales occupations.
So, where are these jobs located? The majority of postings were placed for openings in the New York metro area. Los Angeles, Chicago, San Jose, and Boston rounded out the top 5 cities.
Hiring Trends in the 5 Cities with Highest Manufacturing Hiring Demand
By Abby Lombardi
Source: WantedAnalytics.com
