美国就业市场前景大好?

While talk of employment growth has been circulating for the last several months and experts expect Friday's unemployment report to show job gains for the second month in a row, another group of key players say they plan to add jobs in 2010.

According to the Society for Human Resources Management, 35% of the 1,625 employers who responded to a March survey say they expect to add full-time workers in 2010, more than double last year's 16% of respondents who said their firms would add staff.

The increase might be a reflection of a renewed sense of calm about the business climate, experts say.

'Many organizations have a sense that the market is improving, giving them the confidence they need to start rebuilding,' said John Dooney, SHRM's manager of strategic research.

One firm adding employees now is Bank of America which has 6,000 open positions spanning human resources to investment banking, says Kelly E. Sapp, a spokeswoman for Bank of America says that they have more than doubled the size of their intern program and also doubled graduate hiring over 2009, a shift she attributes to business need and growth from acquisitions.

Mark Anderson, president of ExecuNet, a network for business leaders providing recruiting, research and advice, says that recruiters and companies have been talking about the improving market for the last six months--and now companies are finally acting on those feelings by filling in the talent gaps left behind by layoffs and hiring freezes.

'One thing businesses do not like is uncertainity and now that things are starting to look positive, companies feel that they can add positions instead of trading up,' said Mr. Anderson.

ExecuNet's own May benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index, a monthly survey that measures the executive job market, shows 65% of 185 responding executive recruiters are 'confident' or 'very confident' that the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, making May 2010 the second consecutive month that index remained over 60% since June 2008.

The SHRM report showed that 52% of professional, scientific and technical services firms will add jobs, up from 21% in 2009. Some 43% of high-tech companies also plan to add jobs.

And Mr. Dooney says that the report also shows salary freezes are being lifted and fewer employers expect to make layoffs in 2010 than in the last two years. On average across all industries, salaries are expected to rise 2.2 percent in 2010, the report showed.