Despite the recessionary views of economists, workforce employment will grow in 2009.

This prediction was contained in the newly released 2008 edition of Workforce Ratios & Forecasts from Schonfeld & Associates.

The analysis firm predicts 2009 employment will continue to grow modestly in many industries with productivity, as measured in sales per employee, also continuing to grow.

Many foreign companies will also show employment growth.

Among the twenty largest public corporations, ten of the largest employers will be non-U.S. headquartered firms.

According to Schonfeld & Associates, the largest U.S. based employer will be Wal-Mart Stores with over 2.4 million employees in 2009, up 5.8 percent. 

The largest non-U.S. based employer will be Gazprom, Russia’s largest company, with 611,000 employees, an increase of over 10 percent.

The Commercial Banking industry will be the largest employer with 4.4 million employees in over 500 banks, reflecting a 8.8 percent increase.

Variety Stores will be second with 3.7 million employees, up 6.1 percent.

The medical services sector will be a continuing source of employment growth.  Home Health Care Services, Skilled Nursing Care Facilities, as well as Offices of Medical Doctors are all growing at over 11 percent.

As in the past, areas of computer software development continue to show workforce growth.

The Prepackaged Software industry, growing at 9 percent, includes over 280 companies employing 674,000 workers.

The future is not as bright, however, for all sectors of the economy.

Employment by Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, Air Courier Services, as well as the large diversified food manufacturers, will experience negative growth.

These predictions come from the 2008 edition of Workforce Ratios & Forecasts by Schonfeld & Associates. 

The study contains historical employment for 2007, an estimate for 2008, and a forecast of 2009 for over 7,200 individual companies and summaries for over 400 industries. 

Besides headcount, Workforce Ratios & Forecasts provides Sales Per Employee, Gross Margin Per Employee, and Sales Growth Rate for each company and industry. 

Some of these statistics are not too surprising.  Which of the 100 largest industries generates the highest Gross Margin Per Employee?  Answer: Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas with $ 1,319,000 per employee.

In an era of downsizing, right-sizing, mergers and acquisitions, the numbers are encouraging for employers and would-be employees.

Workforce Ratios & Forecasts is available for all companies and industries in database format and print formats from www.saiBooks.com.