Job hunters may find better prospects in 2015
For the millions of Americans still looking for full-time permanent jobs, 2015 may bring just what they need.
According to CareerBuilder's latest annual job forecast, 36 percent of employers say they plan to hire full-time, permanent employees in the New Year, up significantly from 24 percent last year.
At the same time, 9 percent of the nearly 2,200 hiring and human resource managers surveyed said they expected to decrease staff levels, an improvement from 13 percent a year earlier.
Some of the fields expected to see job growth in 2015, and to outperform the national average, are information technology, financial services, manufacturing and health care.
Employment in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) sectors should also be strong over the next 12 months, with 31 percent of hiring managers surveyed saying their companies expect to create jobs in those fields in 2015, a rise from 26 percent in the 2014 forecast.
"The U.S. job market is turning a corner as caution gives way to confidence," CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson, CEO said in a statement.
"Hiring in 2014 has been broad-based, including encouraging activity among small businesses and hard-hit sectors like manufacturing and construction," he noted. "The amount of companies planning to hire in 2015 is up 12 percentage points over last year, setting the stage for a more competitive environment for recruiters that may lend itself to some movement in wages."
The survey found jobs related to revenue growth, innovation and customer loyalty are expected to grow in 2015.
Here are the top five areas CareerBuilder found where employees are planning to add full-time, permanent staff:
- Sales -- up 36 percent
- Customer service -- up 33 percent
- Information technology -- up 26 percent
- Production -- up 26 percent
- Administrative -- up 22 percent