One on One with Matt Ferguson, CEO of Careerbuilder.com
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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SUSIE GHARIB: President Obama warned today that more jobs will be lost in the recession and that the economy is in for a quote difficult time. Next week the Labor Department is expected to report American businesses cut 640,000 jobs in March, pushing the unemployment rate to 8.4 percent. Joining me now to talk more about the job market, the CEO of careerbuilder, Matt Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson, welcome to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.
MATT FERGUSON, CEO, CAREERBUILDER.COM: Great, thanks for having me here tonight.
GHARIB: So President Obama sees more job losses. Some of the economists that we're talking to expect the unemployment rate to get to 10 percent later this year. Is that your expectation or are you seeing these job losses stabilizing?
FERGUSON: We're not seeing stabilization yet. And I do think in fact, the unemployment rate may get above 10 percent, maybe even up to 11 percent which would make it the highest since the World War II.
GHARIB: Where are you, if there are any job postings, where are you seeing them, in what kinds of industries, what kind of businesses?
FERGUSON: Well, you're seeing right now, obviously we're losing as you just noted over 600,000 jobs a month and have been now for three straight months. You're seeing the job creation in areas like health care, education. You would expect, even with an aging population in the United States, health care still growing and adding jobs. Education, so many people are going back to school. You need to gain skills that education still growing and then government. Those are the three areas that you see today that are adding jobs in the United States.
GHARIB: If someone is willing to relocate, are there certain parts of the country where maybe you have a better chance, or more opportunity for finding a job?.
FERGUSON: It a good question. I think we're seeing from our surveys more and more people are willing to relocate today and are more flexible about where they live. The area that I would say are the strongest today would be the southeast and the southwest. The exception of that would probably be California, except for maybe the San Diego area is still pretty strong. But I'm seeing the southeast and the southwest, jobs per thousand people being the two strongest regions.
GHARIB: Now Mr. Ferguson, are you seeing that the stimulus package that the government put in place and all these other programs that the government has initiated to boost the economy, are they kicking in to create jobs. Are people getting hired?
FERGUSON: We're not seeing it yet. I think our expectation would be that as the shovel-ready projects start rolling out April, May, that you will see the construction numbers get better. And hopefully you could see those even turn positive. The construction has just been an area of the economy where we have lost hundreds of thousands of jobs over the last couple years. And so I think we see that as being the most immediate impact. And then later term, probably in the next year, maybe some of the green energy jobs that have been talked about, I think you might see an impact probably in 2010 for those.
GHARIB: Now in this tough environment, what can graduate students who are graduating from college now or from graduate school, what can they expect? Is there any hope for them to find jobs in this job market?
FERGUSON: Yeah, there is and there are jobs out there. I think it's obviously a much, much tougher market than people graduating two years ago found. They are going to have to work harder. They're going to have to use more connections. I would use your alumni network from the university where you are graduating to find those people, maybe they can help move your resume in. You apply through the normal channels. You always want to apply through the normal channels that the company want but use that alumni network and friends and friends of friends to be able to move that resume up once you have gone through that normal network that the company wants you to use.
GHARIB: All right, Mr. Ferguson thank you so much for your insights and for coming on the program. We appreciate it.
FERGUSON: Thanks, Susie, thanks for having me.
GHARIB: My guest tonight, Matt Ferguson, CEO of careerbuilder.
