Chemical, Contract Staffing, Engineering, International News, Manufacturing, Marketing, North America, Sales & Marketing

Manufacturing A Bit Sluggish In November

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Reports are showing that the overall US economy grew for the 78th consecutive month, but US manufacturing has slowed a bit during the last couple of months. The recent ISM manufacturing index said that manufacturing numbers contracted in November for the first time in 36 months. This was attributed to the strong US dollar, weakened global economies, and spending cuts in the energy sector. Bobby Bono, PwC’s U.S. industrial manufacturing leader, was quoted in IndustryWeek as saying, “Despite the downward turn in overseas sentiment, overall domestic growth prospects remained healthy and manufacturers continue to focus on further strengthening core products and services. They are keeping their cash at home and directing investment toward enhancing their value propositions in an effort to remain competitive and drive future revenues.”
Employment was one bright spot in November. Overall US unemployment is now at 5%, and even though October was a slower month for manufacturing hiring, the ISM Employment Index registered 51.3% for manufacturers in November, which is a nice increase of 3.7% when compared to the 47.6% reported in October.

Bruce Peacock
Vice President of Business Development
The Richmond Group USA

US News

U.S. economy posts improved growth rate

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Growth RateThe Commerce Department revised the growth rate of the U.S. economy in the third quarter.

The gross domestic product of the country rose 2.1 percent, higher than the 1.5 percent growth rate originally reported, according to The New York Times.

The increase was due to corrected inventory figures. Businesses were moving new products faster than initially believed.

The economic growth rate is predicted to be 2.5 percent for the whole of 2015, a small increase from the 2.4 percent rate seen last year, the Times reported.

“While this expansion may go uncelebrated, growth in fact has been good enough to achieve a great deal of cumulative progress in the labor market,” said Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs. “We now expect that the U.S. economy will reach full employment within the next 12 months.”

The Times reported that there were additional economic gains. The September Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices reported a 0.6 percent increase in home prices in the country, the largest monthly gain in four months and double what economists anticipated.

Growth was especially significant in San Francisco and Portland, which saw 11.2 percent and 10.1 percent price gains, respectively.

Consumer spending continued to be healthy in the third quarter as well, according to the Times. Economists predict consumption during the fourth quarter to grow around 3 percent.

“Domestic demand in the U.S. economy remains very solid, something that will surely give comfort to the Fed as it ponders its next move,” BMO Capital Markets Senior Economist Robert Kavcic told the BBC.

The Fed will decide whether to raise interest rates when it meets Dec. 15 and 16.

Internet & E-commerce

Growth predicted for IoT, professional services leads

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Internet of ThingsThe Internet of Things is growing, and the professional services sector is leading the expansion.

A recent study by technology research firm Gartner estimates that the number of connected devices will increase 30 percent over the year to reach 6.4 billion devices worldwide in 2016 and 20.8 billion devices in 2020, BetaNews reported. The total IoT market will see $235 billion in services spending next year alone.

Hardware spending related to the use of connected machines in a business setting will hit $868 billion in 2016, and spending related to consumer applications will reach $546 billion that year, according to the report.

“IoT services are the real driver of value in IoT, and increasing attention is being focused on new services by end-user organizations and vendors,” said VP of Gartner Jim Tully.

According to Tully, generic IoT devices that work across industries are expected to dominate the market by 2020, as opposed to specialized devices, which are currently the largest category.

Gartner predicted that the majority of IoT devices will be used for professional services. According to ABI Research, professional services currently drives more than 40 percent of global IoT revenues.

The professional services category includes Web and mobile application development, consulting and IT systems administration.

Biotechnology, Engineering, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Monthly BLS Report, Quality Assurance, US News

Spreading Around Some Holiday Cheer

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As 2015 begins to draw to a close, the life science market continues to remain hot providing some holiday cheer as we enter the winter months. Just last week, the overall economy added 271,000 jobs — far surpassing economists’ most optimistic forecasts. The overall unemployment rate has dropped to 5.0% which is the textbook definition of full employment. Remember this overall figure includes degreed and non-degreed candidates, so overall employment in the life sciences must therefore be much less since most positions in the sector require a college degree. Furthermore, venture capital investment –the mother’s milk of the life science industry – surged to all time highs in Q3 of 2015 according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. What does all this mean? Despite the consistent chatter of mergers, acquisition and layoffs, with unemployment reaching lows not seen since before the Obama Administration and record levels of investment, jobs still abound and there are more jobs available now than candidates to fill them.

In this pernicious war for talent, public relations (or PR) is a great way to both attract and retain impact players as this article states. Let us at TRG Life Sciences help you remain on the cutting edge in this highly competitive marketplace.

Internet & E-commerce, Retail & Wholesale

Seasonal retail jobs shifting to e-commerce roles

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Holiday Hiring

More retailers plan to hire seasonal workers this winter, with many looking to fill roles that support online sales.

A survey of 2,300 hiring managers and human resource professionals conducted by CareerBuilder found that 33 percent of companies plan to hire seasonal workers, compared to 26 percent last year. The outlook for permanent work is also positive, with 47 percent of employers expecting to move some seasonal workers to full-time positions, up from 42 percent last year.

Additionally, 37 percent of employers said that they plan to raise pay for the season, a large jump from only 10 percent in 2014.

Macy’s is hiring 85,000 seasonal workers, Target is hiring 70,000 and Wal-Mart is hiring 60,000, according to the Associated Press. GameStop aims to grow seasonal hiring by 12 percent, and Kohl’s is hiring 2 percent more seasonal workers this year, at about 2,000 people.

Amazon is surpassing the traditional retailers, however, and plans to hire 100,000 workers for the holiday season, AP reported. This is a 25 percent increase from last year, when the e-commerce giant hired 80,000 seasonal employees.

The source reported that while the National Retail Federation anticipates that holiday spending will increase only 3.7 percent this year compared to 4.1 percent last year, online spending is predicted to grow faster this season. The NRF predicts online spending will grow 6 percent to 8 percent and reach $105 billion, faster than the 5.8 percent growth seen last year.

The lofty hiring goals of Amazon reflect a shifting holiday shopping landscape, with more customers buying online and retailers recruiting more workers for roles that support online sales.

“It used to be that the bulk of holiday hires would be in customer-facing positions on the sales floor and behind the cash register, said John Challenger, CEO of career transitioning firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in an interview with AP. “These extra workers would also help pick up the slack in the backroom, helping to receive and stock increased deliveries. Now, as more and more shopping is completed online, the holiday hiring is shifting away from stores and into the warehouses.”

AP reported that leading traditional retailers like Wal-Mart and Target are building large e-commerce facilities and hiring warehouse workers to better support online orders and compete with Amazon.

Banking, Financial Services, Lending Services, Monthly BLS Report, US News

Green Beans and Checking Accounts

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I had a very insightful conversation earlier this week with a national retail banking manager in the Midwest who managed grocery stores in a previous career. His approach to how he trains his lending team is simple and intelligent:

“Every grocery store carries basic Del Monte green beans,” he began, “just as every bank offers basic checking accounts.  It’s the relationship you build with the customer in that first interaction that allows you to sell them on everything else you have to offer.”

While it may seem overly simplistic, it is a winning business strategy that he instills in each member of his banking team.

This philosophy is also key when adding team members to any banking team.  Can the candidate cultivate lasting relationships?  Are their relationships deep enough that they can comfortably segue into other ancillary products and services?

We look forward to reviewing these ideas with you as we approach 2016 to create a winning strategy for your team and your bank.