The changing talent landscape is affecting how organizations acquire the workers they need, according to The Global Workforce Trends Report released today by Allegis Group.

“With low unemployment rates, shifting skill demands due to the impact of new technologies and ever-changing socio-economic and political factors, employers must be proactive in addressing talent shortages head-on,” said Ron Hetrick, Allegis Group’s director of labor market business intelligence. “Responding effectively to the global talent shortage will require a clear and comprehensive understanding of the global forces at work.”

Global highlights from the report include:

• Changing markets are creating talent challenges for 80% of employers.
• The leading issues affecting the ability to attract and retain talent include the economic environment, cited by 55% of respondents, and demographic shifts, cited by 32% of survey respondents. Notably, only 10% cite political volatility as an issue influencing their ability to attract and retain talent.
• IT and engineering lead the list of in-demand skills at 37% and 33% respectively.
• Nearly two-thirds of companies, 65%, have had to adjust business strategy because they could not secure the right talent in a specific function or geographic area.
• More than a quarter of companies, 26%, are not confident they know the true market value of the skills they seek. The top challenges in understanding that value are job definitions and requirements that vary across different departments at 48% and a lack of defined success metrics at 42%.

In the US, demand for talent remains strong, setting record highs this year. Openings have risen approximately 16% between 2017 and 2018. All key occupational groups staffed by both traditional and contingent workers have seen their unemployment rates drop in the past year, and unemployment rates for administrative/clerical and light industrial skills have set their all-time lows. Likewise, business and finance saw a significant plunge in unemployment, and unemployment in management positions, thought to be one of the most affected by baby boomer retirements, is only 0.2 percentage points from its record low.

Allegis Group surveyed nearly 700 talent acquisition stakeholders around the world.