According to the latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey of over 42,000 employers, the hiring boom is about to start in earnest in Q2. That is great news for a beleaguered economy.

KEY FINDINGS

• Return to pre-pandemic hiring – as vaccine rollouts progress, 77% expect to return to pre-pandemic hiring levels by end of 2021. 
• Strongest hiring outlooks reported in Taiwan, U.S., Australia and Singapore; weakest in Panama, UK and South Africa. 
• Vaccination policy – As more vaccines are approved and rolled out, 43% of employers have no plans to mandate vaccination, 23% will encourage by promoting the benefits, 16% plan to require employees to be vaccinated ,14% are undecided and 4% will require vaccination for workers in specific roles. 
• New ways of working – in next 6-12 months, organizations expect: 51% of employees to be back in the workplace most of the time, 36% will offer a hybrid work with more remote work, 5% will offer flexibility shift patterns 4% will shift to full remote work, 4% are undecided.

“We continue to see evidence of a two-speed recovery, where people with in-demand skills and those organizations that are digitizing most are thriving, while others are at risk of falling behind,” said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO.

“As more vaccines are approved and employers have implemented strong safety protocols to avoid full shutdowns in workplaces where people must be on site, we are seeing the beginning of more hiring optimism for the months ahead. We still have a long way to go in this recovery, yet these results point to positive trends in many industries. Now is the time to equip people with the digital and soft skills employers need as demand is likely to rise as organizations continue to accelerate their digitization plans.”

AMERICAS: Hiring intentions strengthen in four countries (U.S., Costa Rica, Canada and Colombia) and weaken in six (Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Peru) since the previous quarter.

• U.S. employers report the strongest hiring intentions in the region for the 14th consecutive quarter (+18%), followed by Brazil (+9%) and Canada (+8%). The weakest and only negative intentions in the region are in Panama (-8%), the weakest globally, and Peru (-2%). 
• Employers in all U.S. sectors are anticipating positive outlooks for the next three months, the strongest hiring activity is forecast for the Leisure & Hospitality (+27%), Transportation & Utilities (+23%) and Wholesale & Retail Trade (+22%).

View the complete Q2 2021 survey results: www.manpowergroup.com/meos