Employers are having difficulty finding the right people to fill jobs despite high unemployment in Europe and the United States, a survey by US-based staffing firm Manpower showed yesterday.

The survey conducted late in January showed that 40 per cent of nearly 33,000 employers in 23 countries across the world were struggling to find qualified job candidates.

"The talent shortage is becoming a reality for a larger number of employers around the world," Manpower's CEO and Chairman Jeffrey Joerres said in a statement.

"Across North America and Asia, the top three talent shortages are identical sales representatives rank number one, followed by engineers and technicians," Joerres said.

"Employers are telling us that they are not just looking for bodies to fill sales jobs, they want experienced sales people who know their respective industries and can drive revenues."

Like its Swiss rival Adecco, Manpower is looking to increase profits by emphasizing higher-margin specialty staffing services in areas such as engineering and accounting areas that the survey highlighted as suffering from the talent shortage.

Joerres said that in 10 years' time, many businesses would fail because they had not planned ahead for the talent shortage and would be unable to find the people they need to run their businesses.

"This is not a cyclical trend, as we have seen in the past, this time the talent crunch is for real, and it's going to last for decades," he added.

Recruitment firms have benefited from global trends such as outsourcing and better economic growth worldwide.

In an effort to reorganize the company, Manpower refreshed its brand and streamlined its activities from over 200 brands down to five that now represent its total service offering.

The brands are Manpower, manpower Professional, Elan, Jefferson Wells and Right Management.

Source: China Daily