Healthcare employers reported in the latest national CareerBuilder survey that full-time, permanent hiring in the second half of 2013 will gradually improve over 2012 and temporary and contract hiring is expected to jump 15 percentage points over last year, CareerBuilder said in a press release last Thursday.
Slightly more than half, or 51 percent, of healthcare employers plan to hire full-time, permanent employees, up two percentage points from last year, and 34 percent plan to hire part-time employees, up six percentage points from 28 percent last year.
Harris Interactive surveyed 216 healthcare hiring managers and human resource professionals across company sizes from May 14 to June 5 on behalf of CareerBuilder and its healthcare division MiracleWorkers.com.
[See also: Layoffs bolster outplacement services]
The biggest rate of increase will come from the 27 percent of employers who plan to hire temporary or contract workers, up from 12 percent last year, the release said. “This trend, along with an increase in healthcare employers planning on transitioning temporary employees to full-time roles over the next quarter, reflects the hesitation typical of a post-recession market, along with growing optimism that will continue as employers gain confidence in the economic recovery,” said Jason Lovelace, president of CareerBuilder Healthcare, in the release.
In the third quarter alone, 27 percent of employers plan to hire full-time, permanent employees, similar to the same quarter last year. Twelve percent expect to downsize staffs, while 57 percent anticipate no changes to their headcount, and 4 percent are undecided.
Of healthcare employers who are hiring in the second half of 2013, 72 percent said they will be hiring for positions in large metropolitan areas, while 42 percent will be hiring in non-metropolitan, rural areas – similar to last year.
[See also: CEO compensation is business strategy]
Among the most sought after areas that healthcare employers said they plan to be hiring for during the latter half of 2013 are jobs that are technology and social media related, including:
• health informatics – 37 percent
• cloud technology – 10 percent
• social media – 7 percent
• managing and interpreting big data – 7 percent
• mobile technology – 6 percent
[See also: Healthcare job growth supports economy]