One on One with Deloitte's Erica Volini

The workforce is changing rapidly. Not just how work gets done, but the kinds of workers and talent being sought after to accomplish specific business tasks. This is a sea change the likes of which the business world has never seen before, and companies are scrambling to figure out how to adapt. Deloitte's recently released 2018 Global Human Capital Trends Report revealed a labor market tighter than it's been in nearly two decades, which is forcing companies, and senior leadership, to shift their thinking on hiring. Consulting caught up with Erica Volini, Deloitte's U.S. Human Capital Leader, to discuss some of these trends, and of course, to delve into the massive consulting opportunities they present.

Consulting: Why is the labor market so tight right now?

Volini:  The jobs report would show there's a high degree of job growth happening right now, which is great. I think that's certainly the biggest driver of the tight labor market. I think the other factor is that people are choosing to work in different ways. It's what we call in the Trends Report "the workforce ecosystem." The idea that you have all different types of workers now, full-time employees, gig workers, whether they're freelance or contractors or individuals in the cloud, so it's not as simple to have a job and find a person who wants to work full time in that job. The biggest growth in the job market we're seeing is actually in freelancers. So you have more job creation than you've ever had before, and are having people choosing to work in alternative ways that aren't necessarily full time, both factors are contributing to where we are right now.