Holmdel, NJ, July 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
U.S. employers’ hiring in June dropped off more than usual, indicating a softer month than expected. Before seasonal adjustments, new hires declined 7.6% and new job openings declined 1.4% in June, according to iCIMS’ Monthly Hiring Indicator (MHI). This is the first month-over-month decline in U.S. employers’ hires and openings since February, led by financial services.
The MHI is a leading economic indicator published by iCIMS, drawing upon its database of more than 75 million applications and 4 million hires each year. New hires translate directly into payroll growth, after netting out departures, layoffs and other separations.
“Over the past four years, our data show that June is typically a slow month, but things were cooler than usual this year. This could be the first sign of the economic slowdown we’ve been anticipating,” said Josh Wright, chief economist at iCIMS. “Employers seem to be following a ‘wait and see’ approach, pausing some of their recruiting efforts. They should stay attuned to news on trade policy, expected rate cuts, and business confidence indicators.”
June 2019 U.S. New Hires and Openings Highlights:
- All sectors that iCIMS tracks saw declines in hires, with the biggest dip in financial activities (11% decline) before seasonal adjustments. This is the second consecutive weak month for both hiring and job openings in financial services.
- In contrast to the weakness in financial services, there were pockets of growth in openings across a variety of sectors. Manufacturing saw a 4.6% increase in new job openings before seasonal adjustments and a 10% increase after seasonal adjustments. The strength in manufacturing was driven by an uptick in job openings for customer service representatives and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers. Education & health services also had a strong month in job openings, with 3.3% growth non-seasonally adjusted, driven by the need to fill registered nurse, nursing assistant, and licensed practical and vocational nurse roles.
- Most of the 18 cities that iCIMS tracks saw a decline in hires, except four – Seattle (16.3% increase), Denver (15.5% increase), Dallas (1.9% increase) and San Diego (1.7% increase) – before factoring in seasonal adjustments. With seasonal adjustments, Houston and Washington D.C. also saw hiring grow.
- San Diego had another month of strong growth in job openings (36.9% after seasonal adjustments and 35% before adjustments). Other cities that saw growth in job openings include the Baltimore (13.4%) and Seattle (10.4%).
About the iCIMS Monthly Hiring Indicator (MHI) Methodology:
The iCIMS Monthly Hiring Indicator (MHI) measures job openings and new hires, based on iCIMS system data, which is generated by user activity within our platform. iCIMS processes more than 1 million hires per quarter and 75 million applications per year. While iCIMS supports employers across the globe, the MHI is based on U.S. hiring activity only. The figures present both indexes of hiring activity and their month-over-month percentage change, using a fixed panel of customers. To facilitate comparison with benchmark data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, iCIMS publishes its indexes both with and without seasonal adjustments. Data from the MHI has been referenced by Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business and NBC. To learn more about iCIMS’ MHI, visit iCIMS Hiring Insights, where the latest data and details on the methodology are both available for download.
About iCIMS:
iCIMS is the leading recruitment software provider for employers to attract, engage and hire great people. iCIMS enables companies to manage and scale their recruiting process through a full product suite and an ecosystem of 250 integrated partners. Established in 2000, iCIMS supports 4,000 customers, including one in every six Global 1000 companies in the US, hiring 4 million people each year and is the largest software provider dedicated to talent acquisition. For more information, visit www.icims.com.