Time to Fill Open Positions at Longest Duration Since 2001

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time to fill longest since 2001 The time to fill open positions has reached a national average of 25 days, the lengthiest job vacancy period in the 13 years covered by the DICE‐DFH Vacancy Duration Measure. The report found that, on average, it took 24.9 working days in June to post, source, and hire a new employee; more than nine days longer than it took in July 2009. Then, the average was 15.3 working days.

This comes as the Department of Labor reports that there were more job openings in the country, 4.7 million as of the last day of June, than at any time since February 2001. In June 2013, there were 4 million openings. An increase in the labor force, and individuals working more than one job, took up some of those positions. However, the numbers2 suggest that more jobs are staying open longer and some are simply going unfilled.

There is also the so-called “perfect candidate hypothesis” which argues that hiring managers and companies are both too choosy and too unwilling to invest in training for less experienced workers. Whatever the cause behind the lengthening time to fill, the Dice analysis shows that some industries have vacancy durations far above average. The information sector, which includes the tech industry, takes 38.9 days to fill a job. It’s the longest among the sectors covered in the Dice report.

Government takes 36.7 days from opening to offer acceptance. Manufacturing jobs stay vacant now more than twice as long as they did in 2009, taking an average of 29.2 days to fill. The hiring delay is longest at the nation’s largest companies. Those with 5,000 or more employees take 58.1 working days to fill a job.

By Joshua Bjerke