Good news is a bit harder to come by these days but it is still out there. One of the bright spots in the job market is call centers. Net growth in the call center sector was 11,628 jobs in June. That’s about 5 times the monthly average for the last 12 months.
CB Richard Ellis tracks gains and losses in the call center industry and also keeps an eye on the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They compiled the following graph. The green line represents jobs gained; the red line, jobs lost. Notice the spike in the green line at the end of the graph. That’s the good news.
It’s not clear why there’s a hiring surge in June but it’s a hopeful sign for those of us in the customer service training business. If we dig into the data a little, there are other interesting tidbits.
Outsourcers made a significant contribution by adding 34% of the jobs. This probably reflects tactical decisions by companies feeling the pressure of the economy. By outsourcing routine tasks such as basic service, sales, and analysis, companies can significantly reduce payroll, focus on their core competencies and protect the essence of their company. Outsourcing companies like Sitel, APAC, and Precision Response Corporation benefit from these defensive moves.
The industries that were hiring directly into their call centers and not using outsourcers were also interesting.
- The Census Bureau hired 4,925 people to support the 2010 census. While these jobs will eventually go away, they’re probably good for a few years as the Census Bureau collects data and then answers questions from the public. Interestingly, 250 of these jobs were created overseas to count Americans living in other countries.
- The Telecommunications industry added 1,880 employees. No doubt to support all the new iPhones out there.
- The Financial Services industry added 2,330 new jobs. This may seem surprising considering the banking sector crash earlier this year – but those of us who lost money in this recession have a lot of questions and someone needs to give us answers.
All-in-all, 29,000 jobs were added to the call center industry during the first half of 2009. That’s not bad. It doesn’t have much of an effect on the 1.5 million unemployed, but it’s going in the right direction. There are hopeful signs and it does give a little boost to those of us in call center training.
