Global hiring down 20% annually despite more job openings: report

Despite an uptick in job openings across the world, global hiring declined in the year to August 2024, according to data from BambooHR.

Its latest Workforce Insights revealed that global hiring declined 20% year-on-year in August despite job openings increasing by four per cent.

Turnover also went down by 19% YoY, despite seeing a monthly 1.6% increase in August 2024.

^{Source: BambooHR}

By region, North America demonstrated a "dynamic job market" after logging the highest hiring ratio of three percent and a turnover ratio of 2.8%, the highest in the five regions covered in the report.

Latin America is seeing higher job stability than other regions after seeing the lowest turnover ratio of 1.7%, according to the report.

The Asia-Pacific region, on the other hand, posted moderate hiring activity. The hiring ratio is at 2.2%, turnover at 2.1%, while job openings are at 0.7%.

^{Source: BambooHR}

Paid time off requests

Meanwhile, the report also found that requests for paid time off (PTO) in August 2024 continue to be at their lowest since September of the previous year.

Globally, only 38% of employees filed a PTO request, of which only 50% were approved.

By region, Europe saw the highest percentage of employees who filed a PTO request with 55%, of which only 47% were approved.

The highest approval rate for PTOs, however, was in Latin America with 63%. It comes as the region posted the lowest share of employees filing a PTO.

^{Source: BambooHR}

"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," BambooHR said on its website.