According to the latest Future of Recruiting Study, published by social recruiting platform CareerArc, three quarters (76%) of companies believe 2021 hiring demand will approach, return to, or even exceed pre-pandemic levels.

Half of American adults are just as optimistic: 51 percent believe job growth will increase under the Biden presidency, 28 percent say it will decrease under the new administration, and 21 percent predict neutral impact. 

While employers remain positive about recovering labor demand, what they are most anxious about is turnover. The study revealed 61 percent of full-time employees in the U.S. are seeking new jobs in 2021. Talent retention is the top employer concern in 2021, and 39 percent of companies believe at least one in five in their workforce are currently looking for new jobs at other companies. While the majority of adults hope to find new jobs this year, 88 percent of them are concerned about the lack of jobs in their field, two-thirds (68 percent) of whom attribute the lack of jobs to the continued impact of COVID-19 on the economy.

Other key findings of the report include;

Work-life balance is more important to job seekers than pay and business stability. Over half (53 percent) of job seekers say discovering evidence that a prospective employer would offer poor or less work-life balance would immediately dissuade them from applying to that company. Poor work-life balance tops the list of job seeker deal-breakers, ranking above other immediate turn-offs including lower salary (50 percent) and a company’s decreasing profits and lack of stability (48 percent).

Job seekers prize employer brand and culture when evaluating current and future opportunities. Despite facing and anticipating a tough labor market, job seekers place positive employer brand, reputation, and culture high on their wishlist when considering applying to, or staying at, a company. 82 percent consider employer brand and reputation before applying to a job—a 7 percent increase in the past five years. Over half (53 percent) of job seekers cite poor or diminishing employer brand and reputation as one of the reasons for leaving a previous job; 20 percent say it was the main reason why they left.

Complete results are available in the 2021 Future of Recruiting Study, which capture employers’ and job seekers’ outlook for the year ahead, employees’ opinions of current employers and employment prospects, companies’ top talent priorities and investments, and the roles employer brand and social media play in the search for jobs and top talent. To explore the expanded results of the study, sign up for the live webinar on February 24, 2021 which will reveal more survey insights.