- Many industries are struggling with a worker shortage.
- Businesses large and small are all on the hunt
for workers, from mega retailers to mom and pop shops.
- [Narrator] As companies begin staffing up
for the holiday season,
many say a nationwide labor shortage
is increasingly a challenge for their businesses.
- It's probably the tightest labor market we've ever seen.
- There are sort of plenty of seasonal positions,
way more openings right now
than there are job seekers.
- To lure workers away from the competition
in a year of mass resignations
and stepped up labor organizing,
companies are sweetening their hiring packages.
This is the Employment Cost Index,
a metric that measures worker compensation.
This summer, it rose 1.3% in the third quarter
from the second,
the fastest jump since at least 2001.
Costco raised its minimum US wage to $17 an hour.
Amazon, which is looking to hire 150,000 seasonal staff
is offering bonuses of up to $3,000
in certain areas.
Companies are also getting creative
with incentives, especially when it comes
to the application process.
- Many companies, for years,
have had sort of in-depth applications
where it might have asked for extended employment history
or educational background.
Many companies have said
that they've looked at their applications
and stripped out anything that isn't absolutely relevant
either for government requirements
or their own background check requirements.
- [Narrator] To encourage more applicants to apply,
the cosmetics, skincare and perfume company,
The Body Shop,
is eliminating not just education requirements
but also drug tests, background checks
and expectations for a minimum level of experience.
Southwest Airlines, which recently had to cut flights
because of its staffing shortage
is now making on-the-spot job offers
after long shunning the practice.
Last month the company reverts its earlier position
requiring vaccinations for employees
after aviation unions pushed back against the rule,
raising the possibility of holiday service problems.
Southwest says it now plans to allow employees
with approved medical or religious reasons
for avoiding vaccinations to continue working.
One of the biggest companies staffing up this holiday season
is the United Parcel Service, or UPS,
which said it's looking to hire more than 100,000 people.
- Record-breaking levels of packages
are expected this year.
- Shipping companies like FedEx and UPS
are frantically searching for help right now.
- We are looking to hire drivers,
both tractor trailer drivers
and local delivery drivers.
We're also looking to hire part-time package handlers,
and that would be the largest number of people
we're looking for.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] To help attract those seasonal workers,
UPS streamlined its application process
so the company now responds to applicants
with offers within 30 minutes
of submitting the application.
In the past, applicants wouldn't hear back from UPS
for about two weeks.
- It's been extremely successful.
In fact, they survey all of our applicants
and they ask 'em how the process was,
and the numbers went through the roof
in terms of positive feelings
about that whole process.
They pivoted towards a digital approach
to hiring people.
70% or more of all of our hires
are done on a cell phone,
and we were nowhere near that three years ago.
- [Narrator] UPS has also revamped its outreach strategy
to potential employees.
- We're trying to find people where they live.
We're trying to find people where they spend their time.
Well, these days, that's on social media.
Between 70 and 75%
of our advertising spend today
is done on those social channels
versus about five years ago
when 70% to 75% was done on traditional channels
like print and broadcast advertising.
So it's a complete flip flop if you will
of where we're spending our money
and how we're trying to reach people.
- [Narrator] After the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008
led to a rapid increase in unemployment,
many employers had their pick
of qualified job candidates.
- So after the Great Recession,
many employers inflated the requirements needed for jobs,
asking, for example, for bachelor's degrees
for IT help desk desk specialists,
or construction supervisors.
Jobs that were historically held
by high school graduates.
This left many non-degree holders
with few options besides low-paid service jobs
that didn't offer as much career or wage growth.
- [Narrator] But today this decade plus period
of qualification inflation
is beginning to reverse
as employers emphasize speed over credentials
to adapt to a historically tight job market.
Last year 1.5 million jobs
were closed to people without a college degree
but since then, the percentage of employers
that require a college degree dropped
from just over 20% in January 2019
to about 15% this October.
- Many workforce specialists
and employers have said that those requirements
often weren't necessary.
Some companies have looked, for example,
at whether asking about GPA has any impact
on their performance.
And many have found that it doesn't.
- [Narrator] Economists say that these changes
could also narrow the gap
between the 2.5 unemployment rate
of college graduates and the 5.8 rate
of job seekers with a high school diploma.
- So right now there's a change afoot.
There's a movement towards more skill-based hiring,
looking at potential rather than degrees.
And many economists say
this could outlast the current hiring emergency.
Many think we'll see more of a movement
towards looking at skills
rather than someone's past experiences or degrees.
(playful music)