SHRM: More Companies Adding HR Staff

May 11, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - More companies are poised to hire staff in their human resource (HR) departments, a sign that more job opportunities may be coming available for other departments as well.

The number of job openings in HR rose 23% in the first quarter of the year, as compared to the year previous, according to data collected by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). SHRM obtained this number by comparing the human resource job ads posted on HRJobs.com from January thru March (2,319) to those from a year earlier (1,780).

Even more impressive is the increase in the number of HR jobs between 2002 and 2004. In 2002, SHRM posted just 1,380 job ads, meaning 2004’s number represented a 41% increase.

Further backing up its contention that more hiring is to come, SHRM points to a recent survey of 353 human resource professionals in which 44% said their employment headcount increased in the first quarter. Additionally, of the 385 human resource professionals polled 45% said they expect their employment headcount to increase in the second quarter.

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