Companies in the region aim to hire more staff

He 53% of companies plan to expand their structures during 2024 according to Michael Page Central America’s 2024 Labor Market Survey for companies across industries.

According to the survey, 38% of respondents said they would keep the size of their employee workforce constant, while only 7.9% said they would lay off staff.

When asked to what extent they plan to increase the number of employees in their companies, 72.4% answered that they would do so between 1 and 10%, 20% that it would be between 11 and 20%, and 6.9% indicated that they would the increase would be 21% or more.

The research shows that the company’s priorities in 2024 are to strengthen the motivation and commitment of employees employees (51.5%); acquire or develop talents to meet the company’s needs (47.9%); re-establish revenue generation (43.6%), and increase the flow and transparency of communication (17.8%).

Sectors such as banking and finance (13.1%), logistics (8.1%), consumer goods (8.1%), healthcare (8.1%), sales (7.7%), retail (7.7%), food and beverage (7.2%), human resources/consulting (6.8%), technology and telecommunications (6.3%) and construction (5 .4%).

Most respondents work in the Human Resources Department (36.7%), followed by management (25.3%), administration (12.2%) and finance (9%).

Another aspect that the research points to is related to technology. The results show that 77.9% of participating companies plan to invest in digital tools or technology in their company this year.

And 59.8% say they have enough IT talent to take advantage of this technology investment.

28.3% of survey participants say they don’t have enough talent to take advantage of this technology investment. 11.7% of surveyed companies stated that they do not plan to invest in technology within their company.

The demand for profiles with technology skills is growing and there is no slowing down. In the case of Panama and Central America, between 2021 and 2022, more than 100 technology-related jobs have been created and demand exceeds supply, so the recommendation aims to start developing the necessary profiles to face the current work reality.

Study Hybrid Profiles 5.0: The New Revolution in IT, conducted by Michael Pageemphasizes that the prospects for the growth of the IT employment market in Latin America are positive, where there are a total of 22 unicorns (emerging technology companies, whose value exceeds 1,000 million dollars), led by electronic commerce, logistics and financial services.