Growing market demand created many new jobs, according to 46 percent of surveyed firms, while organizational restructuring created new jobs at 23 percent of companies. Reengineering business processes produced new jobs at 18 percent of firms. Employers told AMA that they place a premium on high level skills. For the first time in the survey's history, automation and other new technologies were reasons to hire new workers, according to 10.7 percent of respondents. Companies employing between 100 and 500 workers are more likely to report net work force growth and least likely to lay workers off.
Fewer companies offer outplacement assistance to terminated workers.
The percentage of respondents that said their firms offer outplacement dropped to 69 percent from 84 percent in 1994.