Hiring Challenges in 2021 and Beyond
We are in the heat of quarter 2 and your team is wondering what in the world is going on across the hiring landscape. People still aren’t returning to work, especially labor jobs, and the pressure on your teams is mounting on a daily basis.
We are here to offer you some guidance on why the hiring market is such a challenge for everyone right now.
Unemployment:
Currently, I’ve been able to ascertain that the max unemployment benefits in Indiana baseline at $359.00 per week. From my research, there is a $300.00 kicker on top of the baseline, for those Hoosiers on the state program. 26 weeks is the baseline max for collecting unemployment, and then individuals can apply for extensions. There was a backlog in Q4, and starting 1/2/21 – individuals began to receive back-unemployment-pay as well. I don’t have crystalized numbers on the ‘backpay’ impact.
Stimulus:
Anyone making less than $75k/year are receiving the stimulus; therefore, the entire ‘labor pool’ of candidates you seek are beneficiaries of the stimulus payment if they meet the additional criteria (filing taxes, etc).
$1400 for single and $2800 for married couples.
Unlike the 2 prior stimulus packages – each qualifying dependent from 2019 taxes, will be cause for an additional $1400 per dependent. Examples: Single with 3 kids: $5600 Married with 2 kids: $5600
Taxes:
Average federal return in US, is equating between $2400-$3200. Factors, as expected, are income and dependents. As I eluded to before – the workforce you seek will likely receive the higher-end of the tax return due to their prior income coupled with number of children/dependents. Every year between February and April – the market shrinks when tax checks hit. I’ve been in this 19 years, and it’s a cyclical recruiting yearly flow.
Bottom line:
The already constricted market – which was already an employee’s market to begin with since April 2020 — combined with the candidate expectation for higher wages in basic labor/jobs – just had an average of $6000 – $10,000 begin to drop into bank accounts. And this will continue to pose a severe constraint in the near term.
Most viable solution to be – enact aggressive + short term increase of base pay to attract and more importantly retain.
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