U.S. employers plan to continue to bring workers in at rapid pace for the new year according to the latest anniversary edition of the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey of more than 6,000 employers.
Hiring intentions strengthen by 26 percentage points from Q1 2021 and remain higher than pre-pandemic for the second consecutive quarter. This is all good news for job marketplaces that serve employers. After a good 2021, 2022 looks to be more of the same.
Below are some stats to chew on;
Hiring Trends
- Digital roles most in demand: IT, Technology, Telecoms, Communications & Media reported the strongest outlook (+60%), followed by Banking, Finance, Insurance & Real Estate (+50%) and Construction (+41%). The weakest hiring intentions were found in Other Industry (+27%) and Not-for-profit (+29%).
- Employers know flexibility is the key to attracting workers in a tight labor market: Organizations expect 44% (of finance, admin, and HR) and 43% (of IT) workforce to work a hybrid mix of onsite 2-3 days in the workplace and remote the remaining days. This is a substantial change since Q2 2021, when only 22% of organizations predicted a shift to a hybrid model.
- 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%).
“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.
To view complete results for the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, visit: manpowergroupusa.com/meos.
Hot Jobs
Payscale released its top ten hottest jobs for 2021, they include:
- With in-person shopping making a comeback, Retail Sales Associates are in hot demand. Retailers everywhere are struggling to find people to fill the positions they have open at brick-and-mortar stores, especially during the holiday season.
- Senior Data Engineers are becoming even more sought after as organizations recognize that data pipelines precede data insights. IT occupations also have higher expectations for remote work than other occupations, which could drive job seeking behavior in organizations that haven’t yet caught up to this expectation.
- The impact of the pandemic, including the Great Reshuffle, has been particularly challenging on human resources. Beginning with layoffs that wiped out over 20 million jobs in April of 2020, the situation has now boomeranged into a hiring frenzy as job openings and separations have cycled into abundance. As a result, Recruiters, Recruiting Coordinators and Compensation Analysts make the top ten list, demonstrating the growing importance of having a formal approach to making salary offers and managing pay increases to get pay right as the way we work continues to adapt.
- Internet usage (and social media in particular) has boomed during the pandemic as people have sheltered at home. As businesses try to capture the attention of online audiences, Content Strategist and Social Media Manager positions are on the rise.
- Many Hairstylists lost customers during COVID-19, but they are bouncing back now. Similarly, Beauty Consultants are on the hot list, with salary profiles for this position among job seekers growing 79% in 2021. This could be a result of people getting back out there as social distancing restrictions loosen due to vaccines, or perhaps this position is desirable because it earns more than other retail positions.
- Clinical Research Associates that enable clinical trials are in high demand but could also be prone to become flight risks as new graduates, who tend to take on this position, are not always compensated fairly for their growth. This young talent tends to grow their value fast over a short time frame and if compensation doesn’t keep up, they’re more likely to jump ship than more experienced employees who are further up in their pay range.
Of this list the most interesting niches tome would be the content ones. The content creation economy is just getting going so this could be a good niche to tap from a job board perspective.
