Hiring to remain strong amidst uncertain boom

Northern Nevada executives may be less certain about the continuation of the region's economic boom, but they still plan on hiring.

Nearly 60 percent of the executives responding to a survey unveiled last week say that they expect to add to their staffs within the next year.

That's particularly noteworthy because it runs counter to much-publicized job cutbacks nationwide, said Sara Hart, the research director of Reno-based InfoSearch International.

That company, along with Rose-Glenn Group, underwrites the cost of the twice-ayear survey.

Results of the survey of 391 executives were unveiled during last week's Directions 2006 event.

Hart said the plans to add to employment are even more noteworthy because the survey found some misgivings among executives about the course of the region's economy.

Some 6.7 percent of the respondents said they think the region's economy worsened in the past year.

That's about double the number who voiced that sentiment six months ago.

The projected growth in employment is likely to encounter resistance, however, as some 35 percent of the survey respondents said their inability to find skilled workers is the biggest challenge they face in northern Nevada.

Retention of skilled workers was listed as the biggest challenge by another 11 percent.

"The most compelling issue we continue to face as a community is finding skilled employees," said Valerie Glenn, president of Rose-Glenn Group, a marketing communications firm.

In some instances, Glenn said,workers who are considering a move to northern Nevada may encounter the misperception that jobs aren't available in the community.

One other possibility,Hart said, is that companies unable to find the workforce they need in northern Nevada may increasingly look to outsource some of their work.

About 14 percent of the companies surveyed said they plan in the next 12 months to outsource work currently performed in northern Nevada.

Information technology work is most likely to be outsourced, the survey found.

Other candidates sales, customer service,warehousing, research-and-development and payroll functions.

At the same time, the survey found that companies continue to boost their investment in training in an effort to grow their own skilled workforces.More than 40 percent of the survey respondents said their companies are increasing training budgets this year.

Among the survey results that Hart found statistically significant:

* Slightly more than 44 percent of the executives reported that their firm had expanded its northern Nevada facilities during the past 12 months.

That's up from 33.9 percent six months ago and up from about 32 percent a year ago.

* The number of companies that now have an office outside of northern Nevada has risen.

In the most recent survey, 14.8 percent of the respondents said they have an office outside of the region.A year ago, the number was 8.6 percent.

* More employers are hiring part-time workers.

A year ago, about 2.7 percent of the executives said their companies were hiring only part-timers.

In the most recent survey, that had grown to 6.1 percent.

Outlook index slips An index of business sentiment that's distilled from the Northern Nevada Economic Outlook Survey dipped as 2005 came to a close.

On an index in which the outlook at the end of 2004 equals 100, sentiment in the fourth quarter stood at 94.9.

Six months earlier, it stood at 98.5.

Driving the decline: The expectation of executives that revenue growth will slow.

Fewer of the executives surveyed said they expect improved revenues, and more said they expect revenues to remain about the same.