Industry Research: Trends and Practical Advice for Hiring in 2020

So far, 2020 has been full of mostly bad surprises and what seems to be a constantly shifting new reality. Between the pandemic and the ensuing economic downturn, hiring in 2020 has been particularly fraught. The rise in coronavirus cases in June meant that many businesses, like the restaurant industry, that were reopening and rehiring had to suddenly stop again. Other industries, like health care, tech, and consumer services, have ramped up hiring as a result of the pandemic.

Employment conditions have generally improved since the early months of the pandemic, with unemployment dipping to 10.2 percent in July 2020, down from its highest spike during the pandemic of 14.4 percent in April. More businesses are hiring, but hiring during COVID-19 is an anxiety-filled endeavor, with worries over business closures, slumped economic markets, public health, and more. And if we’ve learned anything about employment and hiring in 2020, it’s that you have to be ready to adapt as conditions continue to change—because they probably will.

The pandemic has been the main force shaping employment and hiring trends in 2020, hitting small businesses particularly hard. According to Yelp, about 20 percent of local businesses who had to close due to COVID-19 have reopened as of June 15, 2020, but there are still almost 140,000 closures across the U.S. The same report estimates that 41 percent of these closures are permanent, with restaurants having the largest share of permanent closures.

What’s also clear is that the modest recovery begun in June is still very much uncertain. Here are a few notable hiring trends in 2020 to help contextualize the current employment and economic landscape.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in July that “the number of involuntary part-time workers is 4.1 million higher than in February.” This number is significant because these are people who have had their hours cut or weren’t able to find full-time work even though they wanted to work full time. It’s a sign that the quality of jobs hasn’t yet recovered from the pandemic.

Glassdoor analyzed employer job postings on their website, finding that 36 percent of employers reduced job openings from June 22 to July 27. Soon after businesses reopened, COVID-19 cases increased, prompting governments and businesses to intervene. This reaction and the resulting loss of business appear to have slowed hiring.

Groups who are already at a disadvantage in a healthy economy suffer more during economic downturns. This pandemic is no different. Women in all racial groups exceed male unemployment by an average of 3 percent. Of all racial groups, Hispanic women have hit the highest level of unemployment at 19.5 percent. Workers between the ages of 16 and 25 hit a whopping 25.3 percent. This unemployment rate in younger workers is because they tend to work in highly-impacted industries, like food services.

Zapier reported that 51 percent of U.S. workers transitioned to working from home in March. Despite the abrupt transition, 65 percent of employees say they’re more productive. And it’s not just big tech companies like Twitter and Facebook that plan on keeping this arrangement long-term. More traditional companies, like Nationwide and Morgan Stanley, also plan on keeping working from home for a large portion of their employees because of how successful it has been.

The pandemic is still the most immediate and affecting factor for hiring in 2020. As Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor senior economist and data scientist, observes in his recent report on the economic recovery, “The lesson over the last two months is that getting the public health crisis under control is key to economic normalcy. While a solid pace of recovery is possible, the economy remains extremely fragile and any progress can be easily and quickly reversed.”

In other words, we are still very much in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., and the way forward still depends on factors that are out of individual or business control, like local and federal government mandates, newest recommendations for health and safety precautions, and possible financial aid initiatives.

Thankfully, you can control how your organization responds to the pandemic, and hiring is a critical component of your response. Your hiring choices still have an effect on recruiting and retaining employees, just like it does at any other time. You still want to keep your employees engaged and productive, and you still want to hire good candidates who will be valuable additions to your workplace culture.

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