Employers say they may reach pre-pandemic hiring levels by 2021's end

Dive Brief:

Nearly one-third of the more than 7,500 U.S. employers surveyed in ManpowerGroup's Employment Outlook for 2021's second quarter said they could return to "pre-pandemic hiring levels" as soon as July, and an additional 20% said the same could occur by the end of the year.
Employers in all of the 12 industries measured by ManpowerGroup reported positive hiring outlooks, with the strongest projections reported in leisure and hospitality; transportation and utilities; and wholesale and retail trade. On the state level, hiring projections were strongest in Rhode Island and Wisconsin, followed by Michigan, Vermont and Arizona.
Despite confidence in vaccine availability expansion, only 4% of employers surveyed planned to require employees to get vaccinated, ManpowerGroup said; 17% said they would encourage vaccination by promoting the benefits of a jab. Respondents expected most employees to be back in the work for most of the time within the next six to 12 months.

Dive Insight:

The report tracks with the results of ManpowerGroup's Outlook Survey for Q1 2021, in which it said hiring outlooks were positive for the majority of industries despite year-over-year declines for most regional outlooks.

Moreover, it may be challenging to ramp up hiring to pre-pandemic levels, according to a November 2020 XpertHR survey. The poll of 563 organizations found nearly two-thirds said recruiting and hiring would be "somewhat" or "very" challenging going into 2021.

Safety measures could speed up reopening plans, but employers may still need to be strict about certain protocols. A recent JUST Capital and The Harris Poll survey of employees and employers revealed about 1 in 5 workers went to work sick since the beginning of the pandemic. Workers who did so cited fear of losing their jobs, fear of angering their boss or a general lack of access to paid leave as among the reasons why they continued to show up to work.

"The American workforce and labor market is resilient, and we have a silver lining in sight with the vaccine roll out boosting optimism for the months ahead," Becky Frankiewicz, president of ManpowerGroup North America, said in a statement. "As we continue to navigate the road to recovery there will be twists and turns, yet slow progress will continue as employers prepare to renew and reset and focus on getting America safely back to work."