Generally, it is good news that the unemployment rate is trending downward, however, in some instances labor shortages are on the rise in some occupations.
There are 22 SOC (Standard Occupational Classification System) codes. Ten of these occupations have unemployment rates less than the natural rate of unemployment, which is assumed to be 5.0%. In addition, the unemployment rate has declined in 8 of the 10 categories.
There are about 1.7 million unemployed workers in occupations with unemployment rates below 5.0%, compared to 2.2 million a year ago. It is not possible to fill many of these occupations in a short period of time because they require a college degree.
The escalating labor shortages are often occurring in primary employers and advanced technology companies. At some point, companies will either lose business or be forced to offshore it if there isn’t a sufficient number of trained workers to meet their needs.
