For the first time since before the pandemic, all 40 countries in ManpowerGroup Inc.’s (NYSE: MAN) Employment Outlook Survey reported positive employment outlooks for the first quarter. In addition, 36 of the 40 countries covered in the report increased hiring intentions.
“This is the most optimistic Q1 report we have seen in since the survey began six decades ago as employers continue to bring workers back into the labor market and the reconciliation between what workers want and what employers need continues,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president, ManpowerGroup North America.
Of the more than 6,000 employers surveyed in the US for the report, 57% expect to add to payrolls in the first quarter, 16% expect to lay off workers, 25% anticipate no change and 2% are undecided. This represents a seasonally adjusted net employment outlook of 41% — a year-over-year increase of 26 percentage points but down 5 percentage points from the fourth-quarter outlook.
Employers in all 11 US industry sectors expect to grow payrolls during the next three months:
- IT, technology, telecoms, communications and media: +60%
- Banking, finance, insurance and real estate: +50%
- Construction: +41%
- Other services: +38%
- Manufacturing: +37%
- Restaurants and hotels: +37%
- Wholesale and retail trade: +37%
- Education, health, social work and government: +35%
- Primary production: +30%
- Not-for-profit: +29%
- Other industry: +27%
Workforce gains are anticipated in all four US regions during the first quarter of 2022, with the most optimism reported in the West.
The research also found that organizations are offering more flexibility to overcome talent shortages, with employers across all sectors preparing a shift to hybrid working as a pathway to even more flexible working options in the longer term.
Organizations expect 44% of finance, admin and HR workers and 43% of the IT workforce to work a hybrid mix of two to three days in the workplace and remote the remaining days. This is a substantial change since the second-quarter 2021 survey, when only 22% of organizations predicted a shift to a hybrid model. But not all roles will be hybrid: The manufacturing and production industries are most likely to be in the workplace all of the time (46%) whereas roles in IT and finance are more likely to be full-time remote (21%).