Many employers are still struggling to find available workers, but the labor market is loosening up. At the same time, companies are balancing cost concerns — especially as interest rates remain high — with the need to entice employees.
Overall, labor market churn has decreased. The number of employees leaving their jobs has declined over the past 18 months and the layoff rate has remained relatively low.
Karen S., president and chief executive of CVS Health. “We remain committed and will continue to hire,” Lynch said in an earnings call this week. “It’s a tight labor market, but we’re having great success hiring.”
The demand for skilled workers remains high.
“Competition for talent, especially competition for the best talent, remains very strong,” Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon said during its latest earnings call. He said that during the recent search at the bank, which has gone through several rounds of layoffs this year, the company had received 260,000 applications for 2,600 available positions.
Companies are also more cautious about their labor and salary expenses.
During S&P Global’s recent call with investors and analysts, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Ewout Steenbergen, said he expects margins to improve early next quarter, thanks in part to “total headcount and other Strict management of expenses will be given.
For Meta, which has ended its hiring freeze, the bulk of hiring planned for 2023 will now take place in 2024, said Susan Lee, the company’s chief financial officer.
And during the latest earnings call for Southwest Airlines, the carrier’s chief financial officer, Tammy Romo, said it was expecting “increased headwinds” in 2024, primarily due to higher labor costs.
Amid concerns that labor shortages are increasing skills mismatch, many companies are boosting their artificial intelligence capabilities.
“We want to make sure we seize that opportunity and make the right level of investment in AI,” said Gary Swidler, chief financial officer of Match Group, the online dating company that owns Tinder, Hinge and other services. Earnings Call. “We’re still trying to weigh out what this means in terms of recruiting.”
