In addition, over half of manufacturers and service-sector employers plan to expand hiring in October, indicating that the job market continues to remain strong. LINE is a collaborative effort between the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations.

Manufacturing
HR professionals indicate that the pool of skilled employees is extremely tight, even more so than a year ago. The need to fill current vacancies continues to be a challenge; in addition, 57 percent of HR professionals say they have plans to hire for new positions in October. These ongoing challenges appear to be contributing to employers' needs to increase new-hire compensation. The index rose to 13.9 percent, which is currently at its highest level since February 2004.

Service
Fifty-one percent of service-sector employers reported plans to increase hiring in October. In addition, while HR professionals are expressing difficulty recruiting qualified candidates, they are at the same time finding themselves with a growing number of vacant positions they are actively trying to fill. In September, this combination resulted in a five percent jump in the number of employers reporting increases to new-hire compensation.

LINE is an economic indicator that identifies early economic trends and changes in the national job market by surveying human resource (HR) executives at manufacturing and service-sector firms. The indicator reports on four employment measures: job expectations, job vacancies, new-hire compensation and recruitment difficulty. To view the full report, visit www.shrm.org/LINE.