Houston, TX. June 2, 2009

Plunkett Research reports six major trends that are affecting the U.S. job market, as well as job seekers in the U.S.  These trends will also explain why job seekers are facing one of the toughest hiring climates since 2002, when the economy was suffering broadly due to 9/11 and the end of the dotcom boom. This and more is revealed in Plunkett’s Companion to the Almanac of American Employers: Mid-Size Firms, 2009 edition.

“Many types of employers are restructuring and downsizing thanks to the deep financial crisis of 2007-2009,” says Jack Plunkett, CEO and Editor of Plunkett Research.“Job seekers who want good positions will be forced to be better prepared and to do better research than in the boom years of the recent past.They will also have to work harder to find a good job.”

Plunkett’s six major trends influencing the U.S. job market:

1)   Downsizing/Consolidation through Mergers or Acquisitions - Mergers, consolidations, the movement of both manufacturing and office tasks to cheaper foreign locations and other factors will continue to have a major impact on the job market and, in some cases, will lead to large layoffs.Large mergers have been taking place at a steady rate in nearly all types of industries.Many mergers are initiated because of a desire to consolidate the companies involved, combining customer bases, administrative or sales offices and production facilities, while cutting thousands of employees who hold duplicated jobs, in hopes of thereby creating more efficient and more profitable firms.Jobs in America are shifting to new categories of work based on technologies that didn’t exist 20 years ago.Very high numbers of layoffs have become commonplace.Here again, corporate restructuring, mergers and re-engineering are driving vast changes in businesses of all types.Even during an upturn in the economy, major job cuts are announced as corporate mergers and restructuring continue.Today’s recession will continue to force many firms to restructure and downsize.

2)   Continued Growth in Outsourcing, Including Supply Chain and Logistics Services - Part of the re-engineering process for employers has led to a boom in “outsourcing,” or the use of outside specialty firms to do chores that firms formerly performed through in-house departments.The greatest area of outsourcing growth has long been in computer departments.IBM, Accenture and Hewlett-Packard (HP) are among the global leaders in this field.However, several other business functions are commonly outsourced such as ServiceMaster, which takes over janitorial tasks, building management and maintenance functions for corporate office campuses and industrial facilities.Currently, one of the fastest-growing fields in outsourcing has been supply chain and logistics.Companies offering services in this field include giant transportation companies like UPS.

3)   Millions Working as Temps - More and more, major firms are using temporary workers to fill short-term needs, cutting overall employment costs since temps usually do not receive extensive benefits, bonuses or continuing training.In addition to employees who are placed in temporary jobs by agencies, there are millions of people employed as “independent contractors” and “contract workers.”To a growing extent, temp agencies hire and place workers via their sophisticated Internet sites.The largest temporary help agencies tend to have vast global operations.Demand for temporary workers slows dramatically during economic downturns.The use of temps enables employers to increase the workforce quickly when orders from customers increase and to reduce it rapidly when revenues decrease.Temporary workers are also an extremely efficient way to meet needs for one-time projects, to fill the slots of permanent employees who are on leave and to screen potential candidates for full-time positions by first hiring them on a temporary basis.

4)   Offshoring and the Globalization of Business> - Competition from workers in such nations as Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea and particularly China means that fewer pure manufacturing jobs will be available in the U.S., where pay is high and employee benefit costs are immense compared to those in competing nations.In fact, the costs of Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes, employer-sponsored health care, vacations, holidays, retirement plans and other benefits have risen so high (an amount typically equal to 38% to 45% of wages) that they provide considerable incentive for firms to hold down the number of employees working in U.S. locations.Instead, companies are utilizing workers in other nations.A typical factory worker in Mexico makes $250 to $300 monthly, while the same worker in China makes $100 to $150 monthly for a much longer work week.Employee benefit costs in such nations are nominal.Moving jobs to countries such as India, China and the Philippines pose serious job displacement problems in the U.S., while at the same time, there is a positive factor to the growth of these emerging economies:Increasing exports to these nations of U.S. goods and services of all types, thereby creating jobs and profits in America

5)   Senior Citizens Are a Hot Commodity with Selected Employers—Baby Boomers Are Retiring - Certain large employers, particularly national retail chains, have discovered that senior citizens are a terrific pool of potential employees.This is partly because Americans of 55 years or older are the fastest-growing segment of the population.For example, nearly 20% of Home Depot’s workforce consists of people over 50 years of age.This trend is powerful enough that the AARP is forming job link partnerships with national firms such as Anheuser-Busch, Barnes & Noble and Sears.By 2011, millions will begin turning traditional retirement age (65), resulting in extremely rapid growth in the senior portion of the population.Many Baby Boomers will leave their traditional, long-term jobs and turn to part-time work.

6)   Employment Sectors that Will Offer an Above-Average Number of Job Opportunities in 2009 - Job seekers should remain keenly aware of the fact that certain industries will have an above-average likelihood to offer job openings during 2009.This is due to a number of circumstances, including shifts in consumer tastes and requirements, normal employee turnover and attrition, structural changes within industries, global economic conditions and national policies and priorities.The following is a shortened list of the industries on which job seekers should concentrate their efforts:

• Biotechnology, including Agricultural Biotechnology
• Construction and Engineering Services for Infrastructure and Government Projects
• Health Products including Health Foods, Organic Foods and Enhanced Foods
• Energy Conservation Products and Services
• Health Care Services including Managed Care
• Cosmetics Manufactures
• Electronic Games
• Education
• Renewable Energy, Especially Solar and Wind Power
• Online Based Business and Consumer Services

Plunkett Research is a leading provider of industry sector analysis and research, industry trends and industry statistics.Our research reports and online subscription service are used by the world’s top corporations, consultants, universities, libraries and government agencies. Plunkett Research, Ltd. was established in 1985.Plunkett’s products save time and effort when you need competitive intelligence, market research, vertical industry marketing data, or industry trends analysis. We cover such vital industry sectors as health care, financial services, retailing, entertainment, energy and information technology.