The job market has been brutal for a while now. Unfortunately, layoffs, downsizings and closings have all been a major part of today’s society. The unemployed have taken jobs they are over qualified for just to make ends meet. It’s been a trying couple of years. We’ve all been affected in one way or another.

Not surprisingly, recent studies show, the employed are beginning to look for greener pastures. According to a recent survey by Regus… “Forty percent of U.S. professionals are thinking about quitting their jobs after the summer vacation.” That’s almost half, and I think there could be more to the story. This survey doesn’t take into account the people who may not be actively seeking employment, but will not hesitate to change jobs if approached.

The reasons on the survey for leaving their jobs are typical of quasi-unhappy, unfulfilled employees, citing:

• Lack of promotion despite good work results
• Overworked
• Lack of company vision

Companies have had to cut back on many things and make some hard decisions, just to make sure they don’t have to close their doors forever. It’s not atypical that some things have fallen through the cracks. In some cases, important things like private medical insurance, and pay raises have been decreased or cut out completely in order to pay employees. These same factors could also prompt employees to look elsewhere for a better situation.

Back to my question…what if there were more at play? In my view, one of the reasons unemployment isn’t seeing much improvement is indicative of the war for talent, which was a hot topic a while back but, is being LARGELY ignored today. You may have heard of the “high skill/high pay” gap but, what exactly does it mean to us? Fyi, for those interested in the official BLS definition:

A high pay/high skill job, is a job that pays at least 25% more than the average salary (not sure who defines that). Those jobs require employees to have long term on the job training lasting 1+ years, work experience in a related occupation, post secondary/vocational training or other higher education (a degree).

Why do I care, you ask? Well, the fact is, that most of the jobs being created today, fit into this category...and that is not likely to change. So, just a note for those complacent managers/companies that look at unemployment rates and assume no worries…here’s a little wake up call...

I’ll leave you with one thought; it’s cheaper to keep em.....