With the transition to a new year, is now the time to start looking for a new job?
It depends on the type of job a person seeks, says the Columbia Chamber of Commerce.
“A lot of for-profit companies have new budgets starting in January and have set their needs for the upcoming year in the new budget. Most nonprofits do a lot of hiring in the July time period as they run on the federal grant system of July to June,” shared Lisa Buchanan, vice president of workforce development.
In Missouri, there were roughly 64,000 online job postings in January and postings have hovered in the 50,000 to mid-60,000 range for the last 18 months, based on data available from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.
Missouri tends to have an uptick of job postings in January when compared to December, shared Heather Dolce, assistant commissioner for communications and outreach in the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development.
“While we have data on job postings, we do not have data specifically for when individuals are submitting applications,” she noted.
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There was a significant spike in late summer 2022, when there were more than 100,000 online job postings in the state.
“Job postings are an indicator of demand and opportunities in an area,” MoERIC notes.
In Missouri’s central region, which includes Boone County, there were nearly 6,400 online job listings in January. Postings in the last 18 months have hovered in the high 5,000s to mid-7,000s range.
There could be employment impacts in 2025 as new leadership takes over at the state and federal levels, the chamber noted.
“It all depends on what platforms they ran on and what they see as the need for their constituents,” Buchanan wrote.
Unemployment currently is low, but “companies are still looking for upskilled workers to bring their companies into the next level,” she added. Boone County’s most recent unemployment rate is 2.4% as of September and the state’s is 3.7% as of November, based on available data from the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Missouri’s long-term employment projections are a 4.34% increase between 2022 and 2032. In the Central region it’s 4.63%. The projection is based on historical state and national trends, Dolce wrote.
For those who do plan to start a job search in the new year, she suggests connecting with a job center either in person or online.
“(Applicants can) find free resources and services available to help them, such as resume assistance, job search assistance, trainings, workshops and more,” Dolce wrote.
Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on X, formerly Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.
