Immigration, Wage Reform and Job Market Dynamics Take Spotlight in Presidential Election Year
OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- While the official U.S. presidential nominees have yet to be formally determined, hiring managers and job seekers are weighing in on issues the next administration will have to tackle from day one: immigration, wage reform and job market dynamics.
With the 2024 U.S. presidential election just around the corner, a recent Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll survey reveals issues voters are facing, such as immigration, wage reform and job market dynamics.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- While the official U.S. presidential nominees have yet to be formally determined, hiring managers and job seekers are weighing in on issues the next administration will have to tackle from day one: immigration, wage reform and job market dynamics.
This is according to a recent survey from The Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.
Hiring managers are optimistic about increasing head count in 2024, but more than 9 in 10 (92%) still expect to face challenges — the highest percentage since the survey began in 2020. Specifically, 42% of hiring managers say their company currently has open positions they cannot fill, primarily due to lack of applicants; on par with 2022 and 2023.
Immigrant Labor Pool
To help ease the lack of applicants, one potential source is immigrant labor.
While most companies seem to have reservations about hiring immigrant workers (defined as an individual who comes to live permanently in a foreign country and seeks employment) — largely due to concerns of negative ramifications — others are continuing, or planning, to capitalize on this opportunity for hiring.
More than 7 in 10 hiring managers (72%) report their company does not currently sponsor immigrant workers and less than a fifth of companies (19%) plan to hire such workers in the coming year.
Lack of sponsorship and hiring among this group could be attributed to fear of potential implications. More than half of hiring managers feel the risks outweigh the benefits of hiring immigrant workers (57%) and that doing so will negatively impact the wages of comparable U.S. workers (54%). More than 1 in 4 (28%) also believe that current immigration policies are hurting companies' ability to recruit candidates for open jobs.
Thirty-eight percent of U.S. job seekers are also concerned about current immigration policies impacting their ability to get a job.
Some companies appear open to the prospect of such employees. Nearly 3 in 10 (28%) report their company currently sponsors immigrant workers — among whom 42% say their company is sponsoring more workers than they were five years ago.
In addition, nearly a quarter of hiring managers say that while their company does not currently sponsor such workers, they are planning to do so (23%).
Wage Reform
Three in five hiring managers (60%) say more employees at their company have asked for a raise in their salary or wages because of an increase in the cost of living. In response, companies may be proactively working to overcome such challenges by making plans to raise wages. Three-quarters (75%) report their company will increase wages in 2024 compared to 2023.
Conversely, more than 2 in 5 employed U.S. job seekers (44%) say they have asked for a raise in salary or wages in the last year as a result of an increase in the cost of living.
Gen Z or Millennial job seekers are far more likely to have asked for a raise compared to their boomer/senior counterparts (44%, 54% vs. 25%). Millennials are also more likely to have asked for a raise in the past year compared to Gen X (54% vs. 34%).
Job Market Dynamics
Despite the desire to find new employment, fewer job seekers believe there are more job opportunities in the field they are in/want to be in compared to a year ago (28%) — a significant decrease from earlier this year (34%).
However, there appear to be mixed feelings when it comes to the difficulty of landing a job with half reporting it will be easy (51%) and a similar proportion citing it will be difficult (49%). Still, nearly 7 in 10 job seekers believe it will take them six months or less to find a job, a significant shift from the previous year (69% vs. 62% in spring 2023).
Perhaps this drive to search for a new job is because the majority (85%) report fears regarding their current job. Among these fears, not getting the salary increase/raise they deserve tops the list (48%), followed by a change in team structure (29%) and losing their job before finding a new one (28%). One-quarter also fear either a slowdown in work opportunities because of the economy, never being promoted, or the company reducing workforce due to the economic climate (25%, each). Only around 1 in 7 employed job seekers (15%) have no fears regarding their current job.
Considering these fears, it may come as no surprise that slightly more than half (51%) are currently looking for a new job to find/negotiate better compensation.
Survey Methodology
The Job Insights survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between Oct. 31 and Nov. 10, 2023, among 1,007 U.S. hiring decision-makers.
The Job Seeker Report was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals from November 9 to 26, 2023, among 1,002 adults ages 18 and older.
For full survey methodologies, please contact [email protected], Director of Corporate Communications & PR.
About Express Employment Professionals
At Express Employment Professionals, we're in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 579,000 people globally in 2022 and more than 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.
Media Contact
Sheena Hollander, Express Employment Professionals, (405) 840-5000, [email protected], www.ExpressPros.com
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SOURCE Express Employment Professionals
