A majority of manufacturing and nonmanufacturing purchasing executives in the US reported having difficulty hiring workers to fill open positions in the last six months and those raising wages for new hires increased, according to a report released by the Institute for Supply Management.
The report found 78.5% of manufacturing supply executives had difficulty hiring workers to fill open positions in the last six months — up from 67.7% in a similar survey one year ago — while just 21.5% reported no difficulty. Additionally, 56.7% said they have raised wages in the past six months to recruit new hires, up from 45.4% in the year-ago survey.
Turning to nonmanufacturing supply executives, 72.8% said they had difficulty hiring workers to fill open positions, up from 65.0% a year ago, with only 27.2% reporting no difficulty.
When it came to wages, 56.9% reported raising wages to recruit new hires in the past six months, up from 39.5% in the December 2017 survey.
The questions were part of a series of four special questions asked in the ISM’s December 2018 Semiannual Economic Forecast.
Overall, the report found executives expect revenue to increase at their businesses and a continuation of the economic recovery that began in mid-2009.
“Manufacturing purchasing and supply executives expect to see growth in 2019. They are optimistic about their overall business prospects for the first half of 2019, with business continuing to expand through the second half of 2019,” said Timothy Fiore, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.
In 2018, manufacturing experienced 12 straight months of growth from December 2017 through November 2018, according to Fiore.
Manufacturing revenue is expected to increase 5.7% in 2019, and the employment base is expected to rise by 2.4%.
Looking at nonmanufacturing, supply executives expect revenue to increase by 3.7% and employment to rise by 2.0%.
“Nonmanufacturing supply managers report operating at 88.4% of their normal capacity, higher than the 85.5% reported in May 2018,” said Anthony Nieves, chair of the ISM Nonmanufacturing Business Survey Committee. “They are optimistic about continued growth in the first half of 2019 compared to the second half of 2018, with a projected increase in growth rate for capital reinvestment.”
