Gradually, reluctantly, employers are prying open their wallets to secure talent both internally and externally.

One theme running through the current recovery has been the unwillingness for employers to believe the recovery is real and to shell out more money for retention and recruiting, despite their understanding that a major war for talent has been underway for three years.

Now, a CareerBuilder survey of more than 5,000 members of the U.S. workforce, including hiring personnel and job seekers, tells us that management is ready to throw money at the situation.

CareerBuilder’s survey sought to find out, among other things, whether employers were changing up their talent pursuit strategies for the second half of 2016. The answer that came back: More than half of employers will raise wages for current employees, and 40 percent say they will offer higher starting salaries to job candidates.

The hiring pace won’t change much. With some industry exceptions, most employers are picking up or slowing down their hiring rates. But managers say they still can’t fill the positions posted, particularly ones for highly skilled or experienced personnel. It’s in those cases that higher offers will be deployed to fill key staffing gaps.

“The U.S. job market is not likely to experience any major dips or spikes in hiring over the next six months compared to last year,” says Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. “While certain industries or locations may produce more job growth, hiring overall will hold steady throughout the election season and through the end of the year. Where we'll likely see a more noteworthy change is in the area of wages.”

No one is planning to hand over the combination to the company safe, however. The survey found that about 40 percent of hiring managers are considering increases, but only 20 percent are forecasting bumps of 5 percent or more. Slightly more than half of employers said they’ve decided to give current employees raises in the next six months but again, only about 20 percent said such increases would equal or exceed 5 percent.

What employers are looking for

When asked whether they would be hiring full-time, part-time or contract workers, CareerBuilder said the breakdown was essentially the same as a year ago: About half will hire full-time workers, about 30 percent part-time, and about a third were looking at adding contract workers.

Industries that reported higher levels of hiring activity this time around included information technology (68 percent), health care (65 percent), financial services (56 percent), and manufacturing (51 percent).

The most in-demand expertise employers are chasing center on candidates involved in:

Cloud technology 12 percent.
Mobile technology 11 percent.
Social marketing 11 percent.
Providing a good user experience 11 percent
Developing apps 9 percent.
Wellness 9 percent.
E-commerce 9 percent.
Financial regulation 9 percent.
Creating a digital strategy 9 percent.
Managing and interpreting Big Data 8 percent.
Cyber security 8 percent.

Among broader functional areas, employers will be hiring for:

Customer service 29 percent.
Sales 27 percent.
Information technology 25 percent.
Production 20 percent.
Accounting/finance 13 percent.
Human resources 13 percent.
Clinical 12 percent.
Business development 11 percent.
Marketing 11 percent.
Research and Development 11 percent

While many trends examined were found to be highly similar to last year’s results, one distinction did pop up when results were broken down by region. Reported hiring activity rose from 46 percent of respondents in the West to 53 percent this year, the largest regional increase by far.

Instant Insights /

Employers say they&rsquo;ll pay more for talent in next 6 months

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Employers say they’ll pay more for talent in next 6 months