Projected 2019 Job Growth

• Mary Barefoot
• January 28, 2019
• Newsletter Article

A review of HR trends in the agriculture industry for 2019 shows that the Canadian marketing is anticipating an increase in their workforce over the next two years.

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Projected 2019 Job Growth
A Review of Agribusiness HR Trends

New data from the AgCareers.com Agribusiness HR Review paints a promising picture for job growth in North American agriculture for 2019. Projections from 64% of U.S. and 57% of Canadian participating agribusinesses expect an increase in their workforce over the next two years. This number is up slightly in Canada and up 14% in the U.S. over last year’s numbers.  Participating organizations from both countries cited that this was both natural growth and attributed to a formal growth strategy. Twenty percent of American participants acknowledging an increase in workforce referenced acquisition and merger activity associated with this increase.  

 

We invite employers, educators and agribusiness professionals to watch an overview of trends discovered in the HR Review with our complimentary webinars on-demand. Register for free and watch at your convenience:
U.S. Agribusiness HR Review Trends Recap Webinar
Canadian Agribusiness HR Review Trends Recap Webinar

 

Examining results further, it was natural to learn that the largest concern for HR teams was the competition for talent and recruiting difficulties (U.S 71% and Canadian 42%) based on the industry’s job growth. AgCareers.com found that agribusinesses were struggling with a few challenges in agricultural recruitment, primarily candidates lack the required skills to perform the job. Secondly, most open positions are seeing a low number of applications from all sources. This was evident through the numerous methods that organizations utilized to find talent, another area that AgCareers.com tracks on an annual basis.  

 

Organizations used more resources / methods in recruiting talent to their organization than previously recorded. Most companies continued to use tools like employee referrals, building upon the rich network of colleagues and industry professionals. Roughly 60% of North American companies indicated that partnering with industry-specific job boards like AgCareers.com to find talent was a top method in their attraction strategy. Other notable and established avenues included corporate websites, college/university recruitment, and general job boards.

 

The other major differentiator in the recruitment environment included the high use of social media. Some 80% of Canadian and American ag companies now use social media as part of their recruitment platform. Similarly, 45% of agribusinesses cited that it was a strong method for attracting talent. In Canada, LinkedIn (72.22%) was just slightly more popular than Facebook (68.52%) and in the U.S., Facebook (79.75%) was slightly more popular over LinkedIn (69.62%).  

 

To learn more about the changes seen in new graduate recruitment, retention and attraction strategies such as workplace flexibility, download your copy of the full Agribusiness HR Review:
U.S. 2018-2019 AgCareers.com Agribusiness HR Review
Canadian 2018-2019 AgCareers.com Agribusiness HR Review

 

The AgCareers.com Agribusiness HR review provides a range of human resource practices relevant to participating agribusinesses over the last twelve months within North America. The twelfth edition provides market knowledge, data and trends for 2018-2019.  Topics covered include salary reviews, employee attrition, workforce trends, development, flexible staffing, bonus and incentive schemes, recruitment practices, and employer branding strategies.