With unemployment at nearly ten percent, it’s hard to imagine that the job market is experiencing a skills shortage. But, that’s exactly what’s happening. Despite 15.3 million unemployed U.S. workers in April 2010, roughly 2.7 million jobs remain unfilled (Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2011).

“Even though we are in a deep recession and unemployment remains high in many markets, employers worldwide still report that they cannot find the talent they need when they need it,” says Joyce Gioia, workplace futurist and CEO of Employer of Choice International, Inc. Gioia points to Manpower’s 2011 Talent Shortage Survey, which found that while the global economic downturn may have masked the talent shortage for many years, the global recovery has made the pressures of the talent shortage more evident. Now, organizations that cut back staff are discovering that they need more of the right people in place to move forward and support their business strategy. The study found that:

Globally, 34 percent of employers report having difficulties filling positions due to lack of available talent—a three percentage point rise over 2010. 24 percent of employers report they simply aren’t finding anyone available in their markets; another 22 percent of employers say their applicants lack the technical competencies or “hard” skills needed for the job; and, another 15% cite candidates’ lack of business knowledge or formal qualifications. 57 percent of employers say the talent shortage affects key stakeholders like customers, investors, etc.

Technology market overheated
Skilled tech workers are in especially high demand right now. A whopping 70 percent of technology professionals expect mass turnover in their departments as the job market recovers (Dice Retention Survey, 2010). “Not since the dot.com bubble have we seen a tech job market this tight,” says Gioia. “Given the exploding fields of mobile computing, social media, analytics, cloud computing, etc., skilled tech workers hare in high demand.” Online job ads for software engineers are up six percent nationally, since the beginning of 2011, with an estimated average of eight potential candidates in the US workforce for every new job posted in July. California has the biggest shortage of tech talent, with three jobs open for every new computer since graduate (Dice Holdings, America’s Tech Talent Crunch)

In 2002, Gioia co-authored Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People. At the time the book was written, unemployment was hovering around five to six percent (which we thought was high) and even then, we had “pockets” of workforce crisis. Today, the pockets are smaller and much more localized, and employers are being much more discriminating, because they can be. But the message is as strong as ever.