The United States has more open jobs today than at any point since 2001, and more than half a million are well-paying jobs in information technology.
After the announcement of a federal TechHire program, the conversation in many circles is about skills training. Glassdoor's U.S. Employment Confidence Survey (read PDF) is giving business professionals more to talk about as it found that employment and socioeconomic status impact the quantity of on-the-job training employees and job seekers receive, contributing to a skills gap in America's workforce. Further, the survey indicated a gender gap, as two-thirds of men (66 percent) have received on-the-job training in the past 12 months compared to 57 percent of women.
Whereas the skills training gap isn't the best of news, the Employment Confidence Survey did indicate that employees now feel in control of their professional fate, as 45 percent of employees expect to receive a pay raise or cost-of-living increase in the next 12 months. This figure is at a six-year high.
Equally optimistic, 48 percent of employees (including those self-employed) report confidence in their ability to find a job matched to their current experience and compensation levels in the next six months. This remains consistent with the previous quarter's six-year high. Of those unemployed but looking for work, job market confidence increased 4 percentage points to 47 percent since last quarter and is also a new six-year high.