Neither ongoing recruiting challenges nor the threat of a potential recession will deter Capital Region employers from moving ahead with plans to increase hiring in 2023, according to the fall 2022 Alaant Hiring Index released by Alaant Workforce Solutions, the region’s leading professional workforce services firm.
The Alaant Hiring Index is based on a survey conducted between Nov. 9 and Dec. 11 that generated responses from 95 Capital Region hiring and human resource managers—48 from companies with 100 or fewer employees, and 47 from firms with more than 100 employees.
Asked about 2023, 68 percent were very optimistic or optimistic about job growth, with 26 percent unsure and only 6 percent very pessimistic or pessimistic, according to Alaant.
Additionally, 55 percent expect hiring to increase in the new year, with 36 percent seeing no change and only 9 percent forecasting a decrease. And, 76 percent of employers say concerns about a possible recession will not reduce their plans for hiring.
Tempering those expectations are the continuing difficulties in recruiting top professionals: 70 percent of employers expect hiring to be very challenging or challenging in the first six months of 2023, though 25 percent see the situation improving. The biggest challenge remains a labor shortage, cited by 47 percent of employers, which more than doubled other contributing factors, such as salary and wage demands (20 percent) and a skills gap (14 percent), the study indicated.
“Employers are optimistic about hiring and job growth in the new year, even as the challenges in recruiting and retaining top talent remain,” said Miriam Dushane, managing partner of Alaant Workforce Solutions. “We’re encouraged to see employers responding proactively by raising salaries, supporting hybrid and remote work, allowing flexibility, and streamlining their hiring processes. They will need to double down on those efforts in 2023 to attract, hire and keep great employees in a job market that is historically tight and extraordinarily competitive.”
A vast majority of employers, 77 percent, said they are increasing salaries to attract and retain employees, and 59 percent say they’ve altered their recruiting process to expedite hiring.
The Lake George Association appointed Danielle Brown of Queensbury to the newly created position of development manager.