This is the region of the island where there will be the most jobs in the first quarter of 2024.

Employers in Puerto Rico plan to hire more employees this first quarter (33%), seven points higher than the intentions they had for the same period in 2023, according to ManpowerGroup’s latest Employment Expectations Survey.

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

However, the figure represents a decline from hiring intentions in the previous quarter, a period when some companies typically hire more people because it is the Christmas season.

“It is positive that employers in Puerto Rico continue to show very strong hiring intentions, as this implies that they want to continue to grow their businesses. We need to focus our efforts on achieving these jobs in the face of high levels of talent shortages. It is necessary to continue to transform and adapt to meet the needs of job seekers,” said Melissa Rivera Roena, general manager of MPG Puerto Rico, announcing the survey results on Tuesday.

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

Companies in the southern region showed the highest hiring expectations (57%), followed by the western region with 50%, central with 41% and eastern with 22%. Northern and metropolitan areas show the lowest trends at 14% and 7%, respectively.

Sectors and company sizes that will hire the most

Regarding the size of the companies, The highest hiring expectations are found in mid-sized companies (50-249 employees) with an expectation of 69%. 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 “Nine economic sectors measured in the study predict positive hiring intentions, and all regions of Puerto Rico expect staffing levels to increase.”– emphasized Alberto Alesi, CEO of ManpowerGroup in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.

These are the industries with the highest hiring intent.

However, the sectors with the highest intention to hire in Puerto Rico in the first quarter of the year are communications services (74%).which increased by 16 percentage points from the last quarter and by 66 points from the first quarter of 2023.

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

For her part, President of ManpowerGroup in Latin America Monica Flores noted that The positions most in demand by employers in Puerto Rico are in the information technology and data analytics, operations and logistics, sales and marketing, human resources, and customer service sectors.

“In Puerto Rico, we continue to have high hiring standards despite ongoing talent shortages. Training and development are fundamental tools for maintaining and adapting future-ready talent,” said Rivera Roena.

The general manager said inclusion, diversity, soft skills, artificial intelligence, managing multiple generations in the workplace and continuous learning “are not fashionable topics, they are necessary in the current work environment.” Their adoption is important not only for transforming organizational culture, but also for retaining and attracting the best minds into our ranks.”

Rivera Roena explained that job market trends in Puerto Rico show that there are challenges in implementing artificial intelligence when considering the jobs available in the field, training staff to use the technology’s features, and understanding what existing skills need to be updated.

The first quarter survey was conducted from October 1 to October 31, 2023, with 500 Puerto Rican employers participating.