This is the area of ​​the island where employment will be highest in the first quarter of 2024

According to the most recent ManpowerGroup Employment Expectations Survey, employers in Puerto Rico plan to hire more staff this first quarter (33%), up seven points from their intentions for the same period in 2023.

In fact, the results show that Puerto Rico ranked eighth out of 41 countries surveyed And 26% of employers’ hiring expectations exceed the global average.

However, the figure represents a drop compared to the previous quarter’s hiring intentions, which is a period where some companies typically hire more people because it’s the Christmas season.

“It is positive that employers in Puerto Rico continue to show very high intentions to hire employees because it indicates that they want to continue to grow their businesses. Given the shortage of top-level talent, we need to focus our efforts on achieving these jobs. It is necessary to continue to change and adapt to meet the needs of those looking for work,” said Melissa Rivera Roena, general manager of MPG in Puerto Rico, when announcing the survey results this Tuesday.

Employers in the south of the island plan to hire more staff

Companies in the South region showed the highest hiring expectations (57%), followed by the West region with 50%, the Center with 41% and the East with 22%. Northern and metropolitan areas have the lowest trends with 14% and 7% respectively.

Sectors and sizes of companies that will hire the most

Regarding the size of the companies, Mid-sized companies (50-249 employees) have the strongest hiring expectations, with 69% expected. and micro enterprises (1-10 employees) with 36%, followed by large companies (1,000-4,999 employees) with 35%.

“By the first quarter of 2024, “The nine economic sectors measured by the survey predict positive hiring intentions and all regions of Puerto Rico expect to see increases in workforce levels.”Alberto Alessi, General Director of the Manpower Group for Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, published.

These are the sectors in which the most recruitment is aimed

However, the sector with the highest hiring intent in Puerto Rico for the first quarter of the year is communications services (74%).Which has increased by 16 percentage points from the last quarter and 66 points from the first quarter of 2023.

Other sectors with higher labor demand this quarter are information technology companies (64%) and manufacturing (49%) in third place.

For her part, Monica Flores, president of the Manpower Group for Latin America, pointed that out The positions most sought after by employers in Puerto Rico are in the fields of information technology and data analysis, operations and logistics, sales and marketing, human resources and customer service.

“In Puerto Rico we continue with high hiring expectations that face an ongoing talent shortage. Training and updating are fundamental tools to maintain and adapt talent that is ready for the future of work,” said Rivera Roena.

The general manager said that inclusion, diversity, soft skills, artificial intelligence, managing diverse generations in the workplace and continuous learning “are not fashionable topics, they are imperative in the current work landscape. Embracing them is not only essential to transform organizational culture, but also to retain and attract the best minds into our ranks.”

Rivera Roena explained that labor trends in Puerto Rico show that there are challenges in incorporating artificial intelligence when considering the jobs available in that field, training employees to take advantage of those technology functions and understand the need to update current skills.

The Q1 survey was conducted from October 1 to October 31, 2023 with the participation of a total of 500 employers in Puerto Rico.