“Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 287,000 in June, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job growth occurred in leisure and hospitality, health care and social assistance, and financial activities. Employment also increased in information, mostly reflecting the return of workers from a strike.”

• Source: S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. econ

omy added 287,000 Jobs in June, 2016. The last time that many jobs were added was in October, 2015. And only 11,000 new jobs were created in May, 2016. Even though the overall unemployment rate is 4.9%, the message is that strong hiring is taking place in key in many sectors of the economy.

Overall, it is a sign that the economy is continuing to strengthen and rebound. What does this increase in hiring mean for your training programs?

If You’re Staffing Up, It’s Time to Review Your Training

That might sound like an obvious point to make. If you are hiring new employees, you need to train them, after all. But other issues come into play, because the training programs you were using even a year ago might need updating due to factors like new products, new company initiatives, new marketing programs . . . not to mention the availability of new training technologies.

Training Can Help You Retain More Employees

This is a less obvious point to make, but when hiring increases, employees begin to think, “Maybe it’s time for me to start looking for a better job, now that they’re available.” Employees who have felt unable to get back on the job market suddenly begin to lift their heads out of their foxholes and look around. The result can be a loss of your employees.

There are many ways to improve retention. As our founder Evan Hackel notes in his book Ingaging Leadership, one way is to make sure your company benefits are better than those offered by other companies. Another is to create a development plan for each employee so they know that they have a future in your organization.

Those are critically important steps, but remember that training plays an important role in building employee satisfaction and retention. Skilled, well trained employees experience less stress. When they are fully up to speed on your company’s current products, services, current marketing efforts and more, they perform better and will not be broadsided by questions that can be summed up as, “Why didn’t anybody ever tell me about this?”

Which Sectors Are Experiencing the Strongest Hiring?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the strongest hiring is taking place in financial services, healthcare and social assistance, and leisure and hospitality. If it is time for you to review your training needs, we invite you to contact a Tortal training professional.