ManpowerGroup: Employment Outlook Survey 1Q 2015 results now available

Manpower Employment Outlook Survey 1Q 2015 Results Now Available

Once Again Employers in India and Taiwan Report the Most Optimistic Hiring Intentions across the Globe; forecasts elsewhere are little changed and mostly positive.

Across the globe, employers in 38 of the 42 countries and territories report positive first-quarter hiring plans. Outlooks are generally stronger when compared to the Quarter 4 2014 and Quarter 1 2014 surveys; forecasts improve in 22 countries and decline in only 12 quarter-over-quarter, and improve in 24 countries while declining in 13 year-over-year. Hiring confidence for the January-March time frame is once again strongest in India, Taiwan and New Zealand. The weakest and only negative forecasts are reported by employers in Finland, Italy, Netherlands and Switzerland.

Forecasts indicate that the hiring pace in most of the world’s labor markets will not shift dramatically in comparison to three months ago or last year at this time. Staffing levels are expected to grow by varying margins in all but four countries but there is little evidence of a broad-based acceleration of hiring activity. Instead, patterns similar to prior quarters continue. Employer confidence in both the U.S. and the UK continues to gradually improve. Hiring intentions in China and Brazil remain positive, but the energetic pace that once characterized both labor markets continues to slow down to more modest levels. And the hiring pace in Ireland and Spain regains momentum as Outlooks again turn positive following dips into negative territory three months ago.

Other findings in the first-quarter research include:

Hiring prospects in EMEA remain mixed: In the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region job prospects are mixed: Employers in 20 of 24 countries forecast payroll gains in the quarter ahead, while employers in four countries expect staffing levels to decline. The hiring forecast improves in 12 countries quarter-over-quarter, and strengthens in 15 in a year-over-year comparison. Turkish employers report the region’s most optimistic hiring plans for the first three months of the year while job growth is expected to be weakest in Finland.

Positive hiring plans across the Americas: Employers in each of the 10 countries surveyed in the Americas report positive Outlooks. Hiring confidence strengthens in five countries, dips in three and is unchanged in two when compared to the last three months of 2014. However, hiring activity is expected to slow compared to last year at this time in six countries, improve in only three and remain unchanged in one. Employers in Panama report the strongest first-quarter hiring plans while those in Argentina expect the weakest job growth.

Outlooks remain positive in all eight Asia Pacific countries and territories: First-quarter forecasts are stronger in five countries and territories in comparison to Quarter 4 2014, weaken in only one and are unchanged in two. Employer hiring confidence strengthens year-over-year in six countries and territories, declines in one and is unchanged in one. Employers in India report the strongest hiring plans as well as the most optimistic across the globe, while the region’s weakest forecast is reported by Australian employers.

For additional analysis please visit ManpowerGroup’s recently released Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Explorer tool, a new interactive way to examine and compare data from the countries and territories we survey. View the tool at: http://www.manpowergroupsolutions.com/DataExplorer/.

The global leader in innovative workforce solutions, ManpowerGroup releases the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. It is the longest running, most extensive, forward-looking employment survey in the world, polling over 65,000 employers in 42 countries and territories. The research serves as a bellwether of labor market trends and activities and is regularly used to inform the Bank of England’s Inflation Reports, as well as a regular data source for the European Commission, informing its EU Employment Situation and Social Outlook report the Monthly Monitor. ManpowerGroup’s independent survey data is also sourced by financial analysts and economists around the world to help determine where labor markets are headed.

To view full results for each of the 42 countries and territories included in the research, plus regional and global comparisons, visit the ManpowerGroup Web site at: http://manpowergroup.com/press/meos.cfm