I. Text labour market

Employees are an important component of every business. More and more companies consider employees their most valuable asset. The specialized function of planning how to obtain employees, oversee their training, evaluate them, and compensate them is now termed human resources management (HRM). It reflects the importance of a well-chosen and well-managed work force in achieving company goals.

Every business needs to know whether enough people with the required skills are available in the general work force. Keeping track of the labour market is not easy, because it is undergoing substantial change. Fewer jobs are available today for low-skilled factory employees in traditional “smokestack” industries such as steel manufacturing. However, many of these workers are finding jobs in the booming service sector – although sometimes at lower wages. In the U.S.A. the service sector has created more than 40 million jobs in the last three decades. In contrast, the goods-producing sector has created fewer than 3 million jobs since 1970. Thus services have become an increasingly vital force. Opportunities are available in medical care, retailing and business services such as law, consulting and accounting. In addition, the demand for people with engineering, computer, and other technical skills is mushrooming. Many jobs are expected to experience rapid growth, including home health aides, computer analysts, computer engineers, and special education teachers. Thus, many of the growing occupations are service-oriented and require specialized skills or training, whereas the shrinking occupations involve activities that require fewer skills or that are increasingly being automated. The table that follows provides some information about the fastest growing and the fastest shrinking jobs in America.

FASTEST GROWING OCCUPATIONS	EXPECTED NUMBER OF NEW JOBS; 1994-2007
Teachers Home health aides Executives Computer analysts Truck drivers Human services workers Lawyers Financial managers Computer engineers Medical assistants Accountants	606,000 473,000 466,000 445,000 271,000 187,000 183,000 182,000 177,000 121,000 120,000

FASTEST SHRINKING OCCUPATIONS	EMPLOYMENT
	1994	2007
Computer operators Machine tool cutting operators Bank tellers Sewing machine operators File clerks Electrical and electronic assemblers Machine-forming operators Communication, transportation, and utilities operations managers Tool and die makers Service station attendants	259,000 119.000 559,000 531,000 278,000 356,000 171,000 154,000 142,000 167,000	162,000 85,000 407,000 391,000 236,000 309,000 151,000 135,000 127,000 148,000

Selection of employees is done through recruiting, the process of attracting suitable candidates for an organization’s jobs. Recruiters use a variety of methods and resources, including internal candidates, newspaper advertising, public and private employment agencies, union hiring halls, college campuses, trade shows, corporate “headhunters” who try to attract people at other companies, etc. Even a bounty may be offered. For example, accounting firm Deloitte & Touche will pay $5,000 to anyone who brings the company a qualified individual for a permanent position. Such is the demand for highly skilled workers today. One of the fastest growing recruitment resources for both large and small businesses is the Internet. Today over 5,800 companies recruit online through their Web sites, as well as through some 3,500 online recruiting services. Online recruiting allows the companies to access a broader selection of applicants, find highly skilled applicants more efficiently, and give applicants quicker responses to their inquiries. Besides, online recruiting reduces average recruiting costs by as much as one-half because it allows the company to use less paid advertising and fewer corporate headhunters.

Most companies go through the same basic stages in the hiring process. The first stage is to select a small number of qualified candidates from all the applications received. A person may be chosen on the basis of a standard application form that all candidates fill out, or on the basis of a resume – a summary of education, experience, and personal data compiled by the applicant. This usually accompanies a letter of application. The second stage in the hiring process is to interview each candidate to clarify qualifications and to fill in any missing information. The interview helps to determine whether the person is right for the job and whether the job is right for the person. Depending on the type of job, candidates may also be asked to move to a third stage, taking a test or a series of tests. Tests are used to evaluate abilities, intelligence, interests, and sometimes even physical condition and personality. Two of the stages in the hiring process, interviewing and testing, can both play a crucial role in hiring decisions.