Over the course of the last year the unemployment rate in Boston has been rising steadily. Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics has yet to release April’s jobless rate, March’s remained the same as February’s percentage, but both were more significant higher than the rates of the same months in 2008. In March of last year only 4.3 percent of people didn’t have jobs in Boston. Still the unemployment rate remains below the 8.9 percent average of the country.
Despite the rising jobless rate, there are still Boston jobs that employers are struggling to fill. According to a recent press release from Manpower Inc., companies across the nation are having difficulty finding qualified workers for ten positions in particular.
“In the four years we have performed this research, the same positions appear on the list again and again,” said Manpower’s President of the Americas Jonas Prising in the recent release. “Despite the current economic instability and high unemployment, there are still skills that the U.S. workforce seems to lack.”
This means that those who have experience in these fields most likely won’t struggle to find work in Boston anytime in the near future. Topping the list of hard to fill jobs was engineers.
Considering the rising need for those to fill healthcare jobs, it wasn’t surprising that nurses made the second spot on the list. These professionals are in such demand that many areas of the country are experiencing a nursing shortage, which has caused the creation of extra incentive packages.
Coming in at the third spot was skilled/manual trade positions, followed by teachers. The second of which makes sense since the education sector provides services that are necessary no matter what state the economy is in.
The rest of the list included: sales representatives, technicians, drivers, IT staff, laborers and machinist/machine operators.
“Our workforce needs to be more open to retraining and upskilling for jobs that are in demand,” said Melanie Holmes, vice president, world of work solutions for Manpower North America, in the same press release. “And, our government, business leaders and educational facilities need to take action together to ensure students are being enticed to enter these fields.”
Those who are still looking for work in Boston should consider this advice and decide if being retrained to fill one of these positions is something they might be interested in.
Tags: Jobs in Boston