Mid-year Workforce Talent Survey Finds Higher Job Confidence despite Lingering Challenges

 According to Monster.com’s mid-year Workforce Talent Survey, job seekers’ confidence levels are relatively positive as over half of survey participants reported they are confident they can land a job within the next year. Just 15 percent said they lacked confidence in securing a job at all. Job seekers in the survey, all existing Monster customers, demonstrated a radical change in attitude since the beginning of 2013, as revealed in several key findings from the survey:

• Just over one-third of job seekers said that they were unable to find jobs for their specialties, down from 47 percent from six months ago.

• 43 percent of job seekers think that there are more jobs now than one year ago, up from 38 percent.

• 49 percent of respondents reported difficulties in finding ideal jobs (e.g. those that match preferred location, salary, and other factors), down from 56 percent.

• 67 percent of job seekers felt that finding a job is more challenging than one year ago, down from 77 percent.

• 47 percent are discouraged in their job searches due to a lack of contact from employers, down from 57 percent.

• 51 percent think that employers understand their skills and abilities, down from 53 percent.

Additionally, more employed job seekers are looking for jobs requiring relocation and 72 percent of respondents said that they would relocate for the right job.

“This trend in optimism among job seekers may be indicative of an improving economy,” said Jeffrey Quinn, Vice President of Monster’s Global Insights. “These findings are consistent with the Bureau of Labor Statistics published this summer. In the Bureau’s reports, we saw unemployment decrease steadily in June, July and August. As demand for employees increases so will job seeker confidence.”

Challenges still remain, however, as 77 percent of respondents feel that the job market is saturated with qualified candidates while the number of job seekers who think that employers are willing to provide the required time and training to support a position fell from 42 percent to 35 percent.