[ti:Connecting Employers with Jobs Seekers in Today¡¯s Economy] [ar:Mario Ritter] [al:Economics Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Economics Report. [00:08.64]About three hundred fifty thousand [00:13.87]newly unemployed people signed up for financial assistance [00:17.56]in the United States during the first week of July. [00:22.66]The nation's jobless rate was eight point two percent [00:24.96]in both May and June. [00:29.81]Some employers say they would add employees [00:34.91]if they could find workers with important technology skills. [00:38.52]As VOA's Jim Randle reports, [00:43.56]some experts say better communication and technology [00:46.61]could reduce this "skills gap." [00:51.77]Angel Gurria is head of the Organization for [00:54.26]Economic Cooperation and Development. [00:57.99]He says even some well-educated people [01:01.54]are having trouble finding work around the world. [01:04.28]ANGEL GURRIA: "There are unemployed graduates [01:07.57]on the streets, while employers search in vain [01:09.93]for people with the skills they need. [01:12.05]There is an obvious mismatch here. [01:15.60]And it is a paradox and a great tragedy." [01:20.32]OECD officials say more than forty-four million people [01:24.43]are unemployed in the thirty-four wealthiest nations [01:27.04]belonging to the organization. [01:29.66]In the United States alone, [01:33.98]nearly thirteen million people are unemployed. [01:37.34]But the country also has more than [01:40.39]three point six million unfilled jobs. [01:44.99]Experts say some positions are unfilled [01:49.41]because those seeking work lack high-technology skills. [01:52.64]A company called Monster Worldwide [01:56.06]is using some new technology it says [01:58.43]can help solve that problem. [02:02.22]Company official Earl Rennison says [02:05.95]computer programs called "semantic search" [02:09.62]are able to process huge amounts of information. [02:13.29]That includes millions of resumes, [02:17.52]to help connect skilled people with open jobs. [02:22.31]Earl Rennison says semantic search is designed [02:26.42]to choose the right match from the words or expressions [02:31.15]around a key word. He says this helps it [02:35.50]get the right match even if a job posting, resume [02:38.92]or other documents use different words [02:41.60]to express the same idea. [02:46.39]He says better searches will lead to better matches, [02:48.63]and fill more jobs. [02:52.94]Rich Milgram is head of a recruitment company [02:55.11]called Beyond.com. [02:58.91]He says another problem is that the people [03:02.28]who are experts at finding just the right workers [03:06.57]were the first ones out of work during the recession. [03:10.68]He also says it will take time for [03:13.67]companies to rebuild their workforces, [03:17.27]even if they have added new recruiters. [03:19.42]RICH MILGRAM: "They [the new recruiters] don't understand [03:21.41]the business that well because they are new, [03:23.65]they don't have a rapport with the hiring managers." [03:28.00]Rich Milgram says companies in need excellent workers [03:32.00]have to do a good job of writing job advertisements [03:33.93]that are understandable. [03:37.79]And job seekers need to make it clear [03:41.95]to hiring managers how they can help their companies. [03:46.43]And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. [03:52.47]For transcripts, MP3s and now PDFs of our programs [00:00.00]for e-readers, go to 51voa.com. I'm Mario Ritter.