These Are the Jobs Employers Are Desperate to Fill

Are you a skilled tradesperson? A teacher? Even a waiter or waitress? If so, you’re in luck: These all came up on ManpowerGroup’s newest annual Talent Shortage Survey as occupations employers around the country are scrambling to fill.

Overall, 40% of U.S. companies responding to ManpowerGroup’s survey saying they’re having trouble filling positions, just one percentage point more than last year.

There are some notable differences, though: The biggest reason companies cite is a lack of technical skills, but the percentage of companies who say that’s a culprit has dropped a little bit since last year. Meanwhile, employers are more likely to say this year that they can’t fill positions because workers want more money than they’re willing to pay, they can’t find people with the right experience or there’s a lack of applicants entirely.

“Talent shortage is clearly having a negative impact on employers’ abilities to drive value for their customers,” says Rebekah Kowalski, principal consultant with Right Management, a ManpowerGroup company.

This is pushing some companies to reevaluate how much they’re willing to pay for good workers, she says. “Employers are looking at salaries and making adjustments. I regularly talk with employers that are looking at their pay and workforce models and making strategic modifications,” she says.

Comparatively, American businesses are having a tougher time filling jobs than their overseas counterparts; globally, only 36% of companies say they’re struggling to fill open positions.

Here is ManpowerGroup’s complete rundown of the most hard-to-fill jobs in the United States, in order:

-skilled trade workers
-restaurant and hotel workers
-sales reps
-teachers
-drivers
-accounting and finance professionals
-laborers
-IT Staff
-engineers
-nurses

Tellingly, this year’s top 10 is not dominated by highly technical jobs; although fields like accounting and IT are still struggling with a shortage of good workers, companies in a much broader array of industries are looking for workers today.

“Restaurant and hotel positions are in demand and this is the first time these positions have been on our top 10 hardest jobs to fill list since 2010,” Kowalski says. “We view this demand as a good sign — consumers are spending more on entertainment, travel and dining.”

And Kowalski says that talent gap companies find when they try to fill those math and tech jobs is fueling demand for teachers, a job that jumped up six spots on this year’s top 10 list from last year. “It’s not a surprise there is an increase in demand for teachers; it reflects the need to develop bigger pipelines of qualified talent,” she says.