Q3 Employment Outlooks

UK Employment Outlook for Q2 2023

In the latest edition of the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey of 2,030 UK employers,
ten of twelve regions report higher intentions than the previous quarter. Employers around the country continue to anticipate hiring more workers in the third quarter of 2023, reporting a seasonally adjusted,
Net Employment Outlook of +29%. Hiring intentions improve eight percentage-points quarter-on-quarter and soften five percentage-points when compared to this time last year.

Hiring Expectations for July – September

When considering how staffing levels will change during the third quarter, employers in all 41 countries anticipate a net positive hiring Outlook.

Seasonally Adjusted, Net Employment Outlooks (%)

UK Employment Outlooks Across Key Sectors

Tech roles continue to drive most demand in the UK: Businesses in the Communication Services industry continue to report the brightest Outlook, followed by Information Technology, Energy & Utilities, and Financials & Real Estate.

*Government or Public Service; Not for Profit/NGO/Charity/Religious organization; Other Industry; Other Transport, Logistics & Automobiles Sub-Industry; Educational Institutions; Agriculture & Fishing

Hiring Expectations by Company Size

Employers from large organisations report Outlooks that are more than triple that of micro businesses.

Strong Hiring Intention Reported Across All UK Regions

Northern Ireland is the most optimistic nation and region this quarter, with an Outlook of +52%, a 32 percentage-point increase on the last quarter and 15 points stronger year-on-year.

Yorkshire & Humberside (+22%) and the South West (+22%) report the weakest Outlooks, with a decrease of four and an increase of two percentage-points compared to Q2, respectively.

Employers in the East Midlands (+27%) joins the South West in reporting slowing confidence, with a two percentage-point drop since Q3. All other regions report increases on last quarter.

Outlook in Wales (+31%) climbs with an increase of 23 percentage-points on last quarter. England’s averaged Net Employment Outlook is +26%, an increase of five percentage-points on last quarter. Scotland (+23%) has climbed three percentage-points on Q2 2023.

Employment Outlooks Across Europe, the
Middle East, & AfricaHiring expectations remain the lowest, although steady, in the EMEA region (+20%), moderately increasing (+2%) since last quarter and slightly weaker since Q3 2022 (-3 percentage points).Outlooks vary across the region with employers most keen to hire in the Netherlands (+39%), South Africa (+34%), and the UK (+29%). Weakest Outlooks are in Slovakia (10%),
Italy (11%), and Austria (11%).