BambooHR
Workforce Insights

The employment landscape presented a mixed bag of trends across various industries. Education led the way in hiring with a ratio of 4.9%—likely gearing up for the new school year—followed by nonprofits at 3.5% and healthcare at 3.3%. In contrast, the technology and finance sectors experienced the lowest hiring rates at 2.0% and 2.4% respectively.

Significant changes from July to August 2024:

• 15% decrease in hires for the construction sector, now at 3.1%
• 22% increase in job openings for nonprofit roles, now at 1.6%
• 20% increase in job openings within the healthcare industry, now at 1.3%

There were notable decreases from July to August:

• 31% decrease in hires within the travel & hospitality sector, now hiring at 3.0%
• 21% decrease in hires within the nonprofit sector, despite an increase in job openings

While hires decreased for the nonprofit sector, they had the highest increase in job openings from July to August 2024.

• North America showed the highest hiring ratio at 3.0%, along with the highest turnover ratio at 2.8% and job openings at 1.0%, indicating a dynamic job market.
• Latin America, while having a lower hiring ratio of 2.4%, featured the lowest turnover ratio across all regions at 1.7%, suggesting higher job stability.
• The Asia Pacific region showed moderate activity with a hiring ratio of 2.2%, turnover at 2.1%, and job openings at 0.7%.
• Both Europe and the Middle East/Africa had the same hiring ratio of 2.0%, but Europe had slightly higher turnover and lower job openings compared to the Middle East/Africa.

In August, PTO requests continued to be at their lowest since September of the previous year.

• Globally, 38% of employees made PTO requests, with only 50% approved, marking a 13% decrease from July and an 8% decrease year-over-year with a corresponding 8% drop in approvals.
• In the US, the trend of low PTO requests persisted, with 34% of employees making requests and only 51% approved, reflecting an 8% decrease from July and a 6% decrease from the previous year, with approvals also down by 7%.

This consistent decline in both requests and approvals suggests a possible shift in company policy or employee behavior regarding time off.

PTO request trends across regions remained consistent with the patterns observed throughout the year, showing no significant changes in rankings or percentages from the previous month.

• Europe and the Middle East/Africa (MEA) led the charge in PTO requests, with Europe seeing 55% of its workforce applying for time off and MEA not far behind at 44%.
• In contrast, Latin America recorded the lowest PTO requests at 31%, marking a notable shift from 2023, when North America consistently had the fewest requests.
• Approval ratios varied, with Latin America experiencing the highest approval ratio at 63%, suggesting a more lenient approach towards granting leave compared to Europe, which had the lowest approval ratio at 47%.

Finance had the highest proportion of PTO requests at 51%, followed by the nonprofit industry.

Despite having low PTO request ratios, the construction and restaurant/food & beverage industries continue to see increases in PTO approval ratios, with 56% and 55% approval ratios respectively.

Notably, only 15% of employees in the restaurant/food & beverage industry made PTO requests in August 2024, which is the lowest of any industry and month this year.