The outlook for U.S. hiring during the rest of 2024 is positive, but budget constraints are casting a shadow over some companies’ plans for growth. This news comes from the latest Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll survey.
A large majority (81%) of U.S. hiring managers have a positive outlook for their company’s hiring opportunities during the rest of the year. This could be driven by new business and/or opportunities, as these hiring plans were attributed to increased volumes of work (50%) and filling new positions (44%).
More than half of U.S. hiring managers (60%) report their company will increase the number of employees during the second half of the year. Still, only 15% plan to make a significant increase. Industries that are seeing a continued upward trend in employment include health care, social assistance, and leisure and hospitality.
About one-third of companies (32%) say they will make no change to headcount during the second half of the year, and a few (6%) plan to reduce employee headcount. Of these hiring managers who are planning to either decrease their workforce or keep the status quo, 33% point to budgetary constraints as the reason.
Additional reasons include feeling as though they don’t need to hire more employees (30%) and waiting to see if the workload will level out before hiring more employees (22%).
