In the latest edition of the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, employers around the world continue to anticipate a measured hiring pace in the final quarter of 2023 and report a seasonally adjusted, Net Employment Outlook of +30%.
Key Findings
- Employers across all 41 countries report net positive hiring intentions with Outlooks ranging from +11% to 41% for the fourth quarter.
- Overall, the strongest hiring intentions were found in Costa Rica (+41%), Brazil (+38%), and Switzerland (+38%); with employers in Argentina (+11%), the Czech Republic (+11%), and Japan (+11%) reporting the least optimistic Outlooks.
- Businesses in the IT industry continue to report the brightest Outlook (39%), followed by Financials & Real Estate (33%), Communication Services (31%), Health Care & Life Sciences (31%), and Energy & Utilities (31%).
- When asked to rank the top drivers of workforce productivity, employers point to: professional development through training, upskilling, and reskilling (40%), establishing clear goals and objectives for staff (37%), and cultivating a positive work culture that includes performance recognition (36%). The lowest factors identified: leveraging new, AI-enabled tools (18%), in-person collaboration (19%), growing adoption of existing tech (20%).
- In evaluating candidates beyond their technical skills, employers ranked: communication, collaboration and teamwork (39%); accountability and reliability (33%); reasoning and problem-solving (29%); active learning and curiosity (23%); and resilience, stress tolerance, and adaptability (23%) as key soft skills.
- To overcome talent shortages, employers report being more willing to hire applicants who are older and seeking employment changes (34%), have been unemployed due to caretaking responsibilities (27%), have non-linear career paths (27%), and/or have been long-term unemployed (26%).
Employment Outlooks Across Asia Pacific
The Hiring managers in the Asia Pacific region anticipate increasing headcount (+32%), improving when compared to the previous quarter (+1 percentage point) but weakening year-over-year (-8 percentage points).
India (+37%) and Singapore (+36%) report the strongest outlooks in the region. The most cautious Outlooks were reported by employers in Japan (+11%).
Jonas Prising, Chairman & CEO said, “The data for Q4 reveals employers continue to plan measured hiring despite economic uncertainties. Globally, employers are beginning to moderate their hiring post-pandemic with many focused on recruiting and retaining the business-critical skills they need to drive growth.”
“Those who emphasize upskilling, reskilling, flexibility, and culture will be most competitive in still-tight labor markets. As transformation accelerates – from generative AI to the green Transition – investing in people remains key for companies to build resilience and agility moving forward”, Jonas Prising added.
In the Information Technology sector: Despite the ongoing talent crunch, Collaboration, and teamwork employers globally anticipate a Net Employment Outlook of +39%, unchanged when compared to the previous quarter but weakening since this same time last year by -5 percentage points.
ManpowerGroup interviewed nearly 39,000 employers across 41 countries on hiring intentions for the fourth quarter of 2023. The report can be read by a click here.
