Just in case you haven’t seen this news segment from ABC World News a few weeks ago, it is worth a couple of minutes of your time.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/jobs-call-centers-back-us-14243481

Underscoring this story are employment numbers that Saddletree Research reported in a recently published research note.  As illustrated below, the U.S. contact center industry has experienced employment growth for the entire year of 2010 and thus far in 2011.

Quarter                                                Jobs Gained

Q1 ’10                                                 1,643

Q2 ’10                                                     649

Q3 ’10                                                 3,929

Q4 ’10                                                 9,695

Q1 ’11                                                 1,740

Q2 ’11                                                 11,787

It should be noted that industry employment has actually grown for the past nine quarters in a row.  We think employment growth is a testament to the value of the customer service function regardless of economic conditions.  In the worst of times, the customer service function can be a powerful weapon in the fight for customer retention and loyalty.  In the best of times, the customer service function can be a significant contributor to sales and business growth efforts.

We foresee no reason why this growth will not continue in the future.  Although there is no clear pattern apparent in the graph above, we still expect to see positive growth numbers in contact center employment for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012.