North Bay Business Journal

Nearly 50 percent of employers across the country are facing difficulty filling “mission-critical” positions, pointing to a labor shortage that experts say is having an impact in the North Bay and beyond, according to a recent survey.

In an effort to gauge how the region’s major employers are dealing with continued economic uncertainty, the North Bay Business Journal reached out to major companies with a series of employment-related questions, in addition to identifying the top human resources professional at each organization.

The results, from tech to health care, to hospitality to manufacturing, show that many of the major players are faring better, some even thriving, but challenges nonetheless remain.

Sonoma County employers expect to hire at a moderate pace in the third quarter, with 13 percent of companies saying they expected to boost staffing levels between July and September, according to a survey by international staffing firm Manpower Group.

NORTH BAY — Employers in Sonoma County are more confident about the prospect of hiring in the second quarter compared to last year, with 13 percent saying they expected to increase staffing levels, according to a quarterly survey by ManpowerGroup, an international staffing firm with a Santa Rosa location. And overall in the North Bay, employers are generally more confident about the economy than they have been, suggesting that a slow but steady economic recovery is wending its way through region, employment experts said.

NORTH BAY — Employment experts in the North Bay say hiring in the fourth quarter of this year will remain relatively stable but still challenging, as an uncertain market and a slow-paced recovery continue to top the concerns of employers, many of which are still relying on a significant amount of temporary workers.

NORTH BAY – A number of recent reports on hiring, along with a welcome decline in county unemployment rates, indicate that a recovery is finally, albeit slowly, taking hold across the state and the North Bay.

The Business Journal surveyed the North Bay’s largest staffing companies plus jobs and economic forecaster TrimTabs Investment Research in Santa Rosa for their outlook on 2011.

NORTH BAY — Staffing firms in the North Bay are reporting mixed results on the overall North Bay job market amid tepid confidence from employers, many of whom are increasing temporary staffing but remain reluctant to bring on full-time hires.

Human resources leaders selected from the North Bay’s 10 largest employers from each county and the region’s staffing companies. Professionals listed alphabetically.

NORTH BAY — Staffing agencies are reporting an uptick in temporary hiring throughout the North Bay, and those temporary jobs are increasingly becoming permanent, echoing a nationwide trend, according to human resources experts in the North Bay.