The latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, which polled more than 39,000 employers across 41 countries, finds a global Net Employment Outlook (NEO) of 24% for Q1 2026. This figure reflects the difference between employers planning to add staff and those planning to cut.

The U.S. sits slightly above that at 27%, but the more instructive story is what’s happening at the edges.

Brazil leads all surveyed countries at 54%, followed by India at 52% and the United Arab Emirates at 46%. These are not marginal advantages. They reflect labor markets with genuine momentum, driven by expanding domestic economies and, in India’s case, an accelerating role as a destination for global workforce investment.

Additionally, LinkedIn’s January 2026 labor market report notes that India’s hiring rate is up 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels, which is the strongest gain of any major economy tracked.

At the other end, Slovakia registers a -3% NEO, the only country in negative territory, with Romania at 0% and Hong Kong at 1%. These markets are effectively flat or contracting in hiring intent.

Europe is not one story in global hiring

For HR leaders with European workforces or attending HR Tech Europe this spring, the regional data deserves close attention. Europe is not a uniform hiring environment. It is a collection of meaningfully different settings operating under a similar economic headline.

The Netherlands leads European markets at 36%, followed by Ireland at 31% and Sweden at 30%. These are strong outlooks by any measure. But France sits at 21%, the U.K. at 13% and Finland at 6%. A CHRO managing talent across the continent is navigating hiring conditions that vary by more than 30 percentage points depending on which market they’re operating in.

That variation has practical implications. Talent acquisition strategies, compensation benchmarking, internal mobility decisions and workforce planning assumptions that work in Amsterdam may not translate to London or Helsinki. The data suggests European CHROs need market-level precision rather than regional generalizations.

It’s worth noting that these figures reflect employer hiring intent for Q1 2026, not absolute hiring volume. LinkedIn data shows actual hiring activity remains below pre-pandemic levels across most of the same markets. While the two measures point in the same direction, intent and activity don’t always move at the same pace.

What’s driving the divergence?

Macroeconomic conditions and monetary policy, not AI displacement, are driving the hiring slowdown across advanced economies, according to LinkedIn’s labor market research. That matters for how CHROs frame internal conversations about workforce strategy. The headwinds are structural and cyclical, not technological. This means they are more likely to shift as conditions change than if automation were the underlying cause.

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