Borell Associates: Decline expected for recruitment advertising in USA
Borell Associates are releasing a 42-page report today that examines the underlying employment trends and offers detail on both advertising and non-advertising expenditures. Our „2012 Recruitment Advertising Outlook“ identifies career trouble spots and job-opening opportunities. An appendix offers 28 pages of detail, including assessments of job openings and ad-spending forecasts for 21 employment categories.
Some Findings:
- 83% of Baby Boomers intend to keep working after retirement
- Basic media spending on recruitment flattened last year at $9.4 billion
- Online recruitment spending is forecast to decline 3.9% this year
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
When we first started tracking recruitment advertising in annual reports a decade ago, newspapers scoffed at the forecasts and online pureplay companies embraced them lovingly. This year neither will be happy.
A decade ago, newspaper help-wanted classifieds, once a $9 billion business, was spiraling toward an epic decline. Meanwhile, online spending was spiraling in the other direction. Today, we face a mature marketplace fighting an economic straitjacket. Despite the pink hue that seems to be returning to the jobs outlook, the underlying numbers are troublesome.
Employment advertising is driven by an escalating need to find good workers. Filling a job doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore, lessening the need to advertise. A whopping 83 percent of Baby Boomers say they intend to keep working after retirement, and 14 percent of the work force claim that they will never retire. There’s no shortage of qualified workers, as well as no shortage on the other end: College grads who will work for a pittance.
As a result, basic media spending on recruitment advertising flattened out last year at $9.4 billion. We’re expecting that to fall 5.3 percent, to $8.9 billion this year. The biggest share-getter — online, which dominates 63 percent of all recruitment advertising — is forecast to decline 3.9 percent in 2012.
Newspapers and magazines are likely to lose another 11 percent, and broadcast TV and radio will drop 7.9 percent. The only bright spot is outdoor, the smallest of advertising categories for recruiters. We’re forecasting a 4.5 percent increase there.
This report examines the underlying employment trends and offers detail on both advertising and non-advertising expenditures (including amounts spent to hire temporary workers, to print onsite materials and to conduct job fairs). It identifies career trouble spots (construction, utilities, nondurable goods manufacturing) and job-opening opportunities (business services, computer services and government). An appendix offers 28 pages of detail, including assessments of job openings and ad spending forecasts for 21 employment categories.
About Borell Associates
BORRELL ASSOCIATES is the leader in tracking local ad spending. We help our clients gauge ad spending coming from within the market – especially online and mobile – and help increase their revenue share by providing detailed ad-spending data, fact-based consultation and sales training.
Borrell Associates Inc. | 1643 Merrimac Trail | Williamsburg | VA | 23185
