U.S. Hiring Outlook Remains Strong: It's a Skilled Workers' Market as Employers Continue to Predict Optimistic Hiring for Q4

- Employers report a national Outlook of +20% for Q4 2019, up 1 percentage point year- over-year, according to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey- Employers in Leisure & Hospitality (+27%), Retail and Professional & Business Services (+24%) and Wholesale & Retail Trade (+23%) report highest industry Outlooks- Employers in the Midwest (+20%) and West (+19%) report most optimistic hiring intentions, yet slight weakening quarter-over-quarter across all four regions

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ManpowerGroup

Sep 10, 2019, 00:01 ET

MILWAUKEE, Sept. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. employers expect the hiring pace to remain positive in Q4 2019 with hiring intentions improving one percentage point compared to a year ago, according to the ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN) Employment Outlook Survey. The last time the survey of more than 11,500 employers reported a Q4 Outlook as high as +20% was in Q4 2006.*

Q4 2019 ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey

Employers in all 13 industries report double-digit hiring intentions with the most optimistic Outlooks reported in Leisure & Hospitality (+27%) as consumers continue to spend. Employers in Professional & Business Services are also optimistic with +24% Outlook, increasing the demand for workers with specialized skills. Prospects look healthy for jobseekers in Wholesale & Retail Trade (+23%) and active in Transportation & Utilities, (+22%) ahead of the holiday season. Employers in Financial Activities, which includes roles in banking, insurance and real estate, are reporting the sector's weakest Outlook in two years at +13%, after business investments fell in Q2. Some signs of softening appear in Manufacturing with reduced yet still positive hiring plans quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year.

"We're still in a time of unprecedented opportunity for U.S. workers as there are more open jobs than there are people actively seeking work," said Becky Frankiewicz, President of ManpowerGroup North America. "While the global economic landscape is increasingly uncertain, employers still intend to hire across all industries. Businesses are staying focused on growth and we've seen more commit to investing in upskilling their people - that is, teaching them new skills for future jobs - in the last two months than we have in the last two years. We're advising clients on how to align these training programs with future roles, creating career pathways to help people stay employable for the long-term."

View the complete Q4 2019 U.S. survey results: ManpowerGroup.US/MEOS

Region	Q4 2019	Quarter-over-Quarter Variation	Year-over-Year Variation
West	19%	-3%	-1%
Midwest	20%	-1%	+2%
South	18%	-2%	-2%
Northeast	18%	-1%	0%

U.S. Hiring Plans by Industry Sectors, Regions, Metro Areas and States

Nationwide, employers in all 13 industry sectors report stable hiring intentions in Q4 2019. The strongest Outlooks are reported: Leisure & Hospitality (+27%), Professional & Business Services (+24%), Wholesale & Retail Trade (+23%), Transportation & Utilities (+22%) followed by Construction (+21%), Government (+19%), Durable Goods Manufacturing (+18%), Education & Health Services (+15%). The lowest Outlooks are in Financial Activities (+13%), Mining (+13%), Nondurable Goods Manufacturing (+13%), Information (+10%).
Employers in all four U.S. regions report weaker hiring plans when compared with the previous quarter. In the West, the Outlook (+19%) declines by 3 percentage points, while employers in the South (+18&) report a decrease of 2 percentage points. Hiring intentions are 1 percentage point weaker in the Midwest (+20%) and the Northeast (+18%).
Employers in Nevada (+25%), Utah (+25%), Kansas (+24%), and North Carolina (+24%) report the strongest Outlooks nationwide. Of the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas, the strongest job gains are expected in Columbus, Ohio, (+31%), Richmond, Va., (+29%), Greensboro, N.C. (+28%) and Provo, Utah (+28%).

Complete results for the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey are available for download at ManpowerGroup.US/MEOS. The Q1 2020 survey will be released Dec. 10, 2019.

*The Net Employment Outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting from this the percentage of employers expecting a decrease in hiring activity.

About ManpowerGroup

ManpowerGroup® (NYSE: MAN), the leading global workforce solutions company, helps organizations transform in a fast-changing world of work by sourcing, assessing, developing and managing the talent that enables them to win. We develop innovative solutions for hundreds of thousands of organizations every year, providing them with skilled talent while finding meaningful, sustainable employment for millions of people across a wide range of industries and skills. Our expert family of brands – Manpower®, Experis®, Right Management® and ManpowerGroup® Solutions – creates substantially more value for candidates and clients across 80 countries and territories and has done so for over 70 years. In 2019, ManpowerGroup was named one of Fortune's Most Admired Companies for the seventeenth year and one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the tenth year, confirming our position as the most trusted brand in the industry. See how ManpowerGroup is powering the future of work: www.manpowergroup.com.

SOURCE ManpowerGroup