As 2024 comes to a close, 84 percent of U.S. hiring managers are positive about their company’s hiring outlook for the first half of next year, with 52 percent feeling optimistic, 46 percent hopeful, 45 percent confident and 38 percent satisfied, according to a recent Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll survey.
Most hiring managers (63 percent) anticipate increasing their workforce, with 19 percent planning significant increases and 44 percent expecting slight growth. Comparatively, in 2024, 63 percent of hiring managers also planned to increase their employee count, indicating consistent optimism over the past year.
The primary drivers for increasing headcount include managing increased volumes of work (52 percent), filling newly created positions (46 percent) and addressing employee turnover (43 percent).
Additionally, companies are looking to handle expansion into new categories or markets (33 percent), acquire expertise in new areas (30 percent),
