Discussion Paper

Hiring Difficulties across Industries and Location

Abstract: In the current tight labor market with low levels of unemployment, it is not surprising that a large share of firms experience difficulty hiring candidates for open positions. However, much is unclear about the extent of these difficulties, their underlying reasons, and how firms respond. Using data from the Federal Reserve Banks' national 2017 Small Business Credit Survey, a recent paper examines the nature of firms' hiring difficulties and how they vary by industry and geographic location. The paper also explores how the reasons behind hiring difficulties relate to firms' responses. The findings give workforce and economic developers a better understanding of where hiring problems persist, the causes of such problems, and more specifically, to what extent skill mismatches are the culprit.

Keywords: hiring difficulties;

JEL Classification: J21;

https://doi.org/10.29338/wc2018-04

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Part of Series: Workforce Currents

Publication Date: 2018-04-24

Number: 2018-04