Michael Stull0:01
Hello, I'm Michael Stull, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup UK. Today I'm presenting highlights from the Q2 2024 ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, our quarterly pulse check of hiring intent among over 2,000 hiring managers across the UK. MEOS, as the survey is often referred to, is the longest running employment survey of its type in the world and is used as a key indicator by both the Bank of England and the UK government. Here are some key hiring numbers and trends we're seeing going into Q2 2024. The net employment outlook score for the UK in Q2 is plus 23%. That's down 4% on Q1 but up 1% year-on-year. The key word here is 'net'. The score is calculated by subtracting the total number of employers surveyed who are planning headcount reductions from the total of those planning to hire. So that means plus 23% is a strong measure of hiring intent, and the UK's plus 23% score puts us one point ahead of the Q2 international average of plus 22%. The top reasons for hiring among UK survey respondents are: backfilling due to employee departures, 39%; company expansions and the creation of new roles, 36%; and staffing for specific projects or temporary initiatives, 23%. Q2 hiring intent is being driven by entry-level positions, 43%; non-managerial and individual contributors, 31%; and low-level managers and supervisory roles, 26%. It's still a tough market. Talent shortages persist, and vacancy rates remain high. We'll talk more about that in a minute. Healthcare and life sciences, finance and real estate, and energy and utilities are the lead sectors for hiring going into Q2. Regionally, the Northwest at 31%, Yorkshire and Humberside at 30%, and London and the Southwest both at 25% show the greatest hiring intent. Hiring in Q2 is also taking place at volume, with upwards of 28% of our survey respondents planning to hire for multiple roles, evidencing that managers are being strategic in managing their talent pipelines. Our latest employment outlook survey results indicate there's a two-speed labor market emerging. First, we have managers prioritizing backfill roles out of necessity due to recent employee departures. Secondly, there are those creating new roles in anticipation of future growth in the second half of 2024 and beyond. ManpowerGroup's advice for employers is to look beyond formal qualifications and adopt a more skill-based hiring approach in order to address the persistent mismatch we're seeing between the skills employers are looking for and the abilities applicants have. Our suggestion is to focus on adaptive talent management practices moving forward, inclusive of agile workforce planning, identifying key skills, and building talent pipelines accordingly. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging can broaden talent pools and drive innovation, and tech integration as part of your organization's hiring and talent retention strategy can help with skill audits, job matching, reduce time to hire, and better maximize employee potential. We hope these recommendations will help you with your workforce planning over coming months. Bye for now.
