Why is it taking longer and longer to fill open jobs?

[Recursion]

http://www.vox.com/2015/6/20/8815561/job-vacancy-duration

Something a bit strange is happening in the American economy. After years of depressed demand for workers, employers are suddenly reporting that they have lots of job openings. But hiring, while it's picking up, remains relatively sluggish. New data confirms that, indeed, companies are getting slower to fill vacancies. Right now, open positions are staying open for longer than ever recorded in the 15-year history of the data:



...

The traditional counter to the skills mismatch story has been to say that if the economy is really suffering from widespread shortages of qualified workers, then that ought to manifest itself in the form of higher pay for those who are qualified. A world of skills mismatch is a world in which businesses should be aggressively poaching workers and even preemptively raising salaries to ensure loyalty. But wage gains have been distinctly muted for years.

Catherine Rampell quotes Steven Davis of the University of Chicago offering a different theory. Perhaps the shortage of appropriately skilled workers leads companies to settle "for workers who have less or lower-quality versions of the desired skills" which could actually hold wages down.

Tyler Cowen endorses this analysis, but it seems to only bring the problem around full circle. If employers are hiring underskilled workers at a discount rate, then why are jobs open for so long? A shortfall of skills could explain either stagnant wages (workers don't have what it takes to earn more) or sluggish job filling (nobody can do the job), but it's difficult to explain why they would both happen simultaneously. Markets are supposed to be able to adjust to imbalances between supply and demand with prices. The question is why they've gotten less efficient at that.

[blm]

1. Most are still spooked from 2007-2009 collapse.

.

[ericson00]

2. employers need to be more honest

when they post jobs, especially about what they want in hires. They do it to themselves: put vague shit in their posting or allow for several types of college majors and wonder why they can't find the "right" guy. They also care about stupid bullshit like "leadership," or what varsity NCAA team you were on, even if the more academic minded kid is more competent/intellectual, etc.

[Hydra]

3. They want the perfect person

Most employers have gotten lazy about hiring- they want someone who can do the job walking in the door. Back in the day, training was expected.

Even the job I have now, I wouldn't have gotten if they had any other serious candidates, and I had to take a pay cut for double the normal trial period.

And I'm lucky I got it at all.

[House of Roberts]

4. Unrealistic expectations.

They want 25 year olds with 15 years experience. Then they expect to pay what they could get workers for six years ago, because back then they could get them for that.

[ericson00]

5. in other words, greed.

and moreso than Gekko himself

[davidn3600]

6. They want perfection and cheap labor, and they think they can wait for it

They don't want to train. The old days when a manager sees potential in someone and coaches them up is long gone. Now even jobs that are "entry level" require experience.

Do a job search for entry level positions. You will be shocked how many require 2-5 years of experience. And then there are some where the experience is unrealistic. A lot of these never get filled. The ad sits on the job sites for months. Then the employer goes to Congress and says, "We can't find anyone qualified! We need more H1B visas!"

[JayhawkSD]

9. Good point, and...

The are trying to fill jobs that should pay well, but are offering low wages. They wait out the applicants, not raising offered wages, until they get people who are sufficiently desperate to take the jobs.

[Kber]

7. After years of it being relatively easy to fill positions

At depressed wages due to the after effects of the Great Recession companies are having trouble coming to grips with the new reality that candidates have more choices and can start to demand better compensation.

Salaries will eventually creep up as more companies clue into the fact that the labor market becomes increasing competitive. But the rebound was so slow that I think companies deluded themselves into thinking it was a permanent buyers market.

Greed, coupled with complacency, is causing this trend, I think.

[LeftyMom]

8. Bureaucracy gets in it's own way.

I can't tell you how many stories I've heard in the past few years of people getting called into interviews so many months after applying for a job that they had long since assumed it was filled and barely remembered applying.

[Aerows]

10. Answer:

Start paying people more.

That is exactly the answer to "Why can't I get somebody to do this job?"