This emerges from the current employment forecast by the Manpower Group. It also focuses on global developments.
Compared to the previous year, companies' willingness to hire has decreased by 7%. This means employers are looking much less optimistically at new hires than they did at the end of 2024.
According to Manpower, all major industries are recording a significant decline in hiring intentions compared to the previous year, with one exception: Energy and Utilities (+56 %).
The Healthcare and Life Sciences sector reports the strongest decline of -26 %, reflecting rising cost pressures and the shortage of skilled workers.
Other sectors:
- Manufacturing & Materials, Consumer Goods & Services as well as Transport, Logistics and Automotive: -10 %.
- Information Technology: -8 % – although this sector continues to be among the more resilient ones, the dynamics in hiring have clearly decreased.
Manpower writes: "Almost one in three employers (32%) relies on permanent employees for seasonal or volatile demand, while 27% use temporary workers and 15% use consultants. For specialized short-term tasks, permanent employees make up 35% of the workforce, with temporary workers (25%) and consultants (16%) playing an increasingly important role."
Regional
The strongest decline in hiring is recorded in French-speaking Switzerland (-32% since Q4 2024).
Ticino, on the other hand, is recovering. For the coming quarter, companies there reported an outlook of 40%, which corresponds to an increase of +46 percentage points compared to the same quarter last year.
What's behind this?
According to Manpower, the survey was conducted in July 2025, i.e., before the introduction of the 39% tariff, yet there was already noticeable uncertainty in the market at the time of the survey.
Many companies are responding to the uncertain situation by increasingly relying on temporary staff and consultants to react more flexibly to fluctuations. Permanent positions are being filled more cautiously.
In addition, strategic factors such as automation, demographic change and flexible working models are playing an increasingly important role. These developments not only influence recruitment but also long-term employee retention and are making the Swiss labor market increasingly complex.
Global Development
For the fourth quarter, the strongest employment outlooks are seen in the Asia-Pacific region with +30%, followed by the Americas with +25% and Europe & Middle East with +18%. Globally, demand for personnel is highest in the Information Technology and Finance & Real Estate sectors.
Source: ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey Results
