CareerBuilder Forecast: Companies Expect 2016 Hiring to Match Last Year

Hiring plans for 2016 look a lot like what companies expected last year, according to CareerBuilder’s 2016 U.S. Job Forecast.

CareerBuilder says U.S. job growth will “hold steady” this year. Its survey of some 2,300 hiring managers and HR professionals found 36 percent of them expect to increase their permanent, full-time headcount in 2016, the same percentage as last year.

In some industries the percentage of companies planning to hire is well above the national average:

46 percent for financial services;
44 percent for IT;
43 percent for health care.

The forecast also says that customer service, IT, and sales jobs are among the most in-demand.

Continued growth in temp workers

Even more companies — 47 percent — expect to add temporary or contract workers during the year. That nearly matches exactly what CareerBuilder reported last year when 46 percent of the survey respondents said they planned to up their contingent workforce.

By region, hiring plans are strongest in the West, where 42 percent of companies plan to add workers during the year. The West, though, also has the largest percentage — 12 percent — of companies expecting to make cuts. The fewest companies reporting plans to increase staff are in the Northeast (30 percent).

By size, it’s the smallest employers who are most optimistic about hiring this year.

Some 27 percent of employers with fewer than 51 workers expect to grow in 2016. That’s a 7 percentage point increase over last year. Of those with 500 or more employees, 42 percent have hiring plans, about the same percentage (43 percent) as in 2015.