Employers seeing tighter labor pool

WASHINGTON The balance of power in the job market is shifting slowly toward employees from employers.

Bob Funk sees it firsthand from his position as chief executive officer of staffing agency Express Employment Professionals.

Were short of people in a number of cities, he said.

So hes changing the focus of his $2.5 billion, Oklahoma City business. Instead of concentrating on finding jobs for those who want them, Express Employment is putting more effort into finding workers for companies that need them.

Were back in the recruiting market again, Funk said.

The 74-year-old industry veteran isnt the only one to notice the change. Americans who have been hunting for employment for more than six months are finding theyre having better luck landing a job, while people who had given up looking are returning to the labor force to resume their search.

Companies, meanwhile, are beefing up their in-house recruiting teams and increasingly using complicated computer algorithms to scour the Web for prospective job candidates.

This is all good news for the economy, according to Nariman Behravesh, the Lexington, Massachusetts, chief economist for IHS Inc. He said the United States has entered a virtuous cycle where job gains are leading to increased household expenditures, encouraging employers to hire more workers.

Consumer spending rose in June by the most in three months, according to Commerce Department data published Aug. 1.

The expansion is self-reinforcing and is very solid, Behravesh said. Growth of around 3 percent, plus or minus, is well within the cards for the remainder of this year and much of next year.

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Employers seeing tighter labor pool