Insights and expectations from the Indeed Hiring Lab’s Global Jobs and Hiring Trends Reports for 2025.

In many ways, 2024 was a surprisingly strong year for global labor markets. While markets in most developed economies cooled last year, they mostly did so from positions of strength, generally avoiding the large-scale weakening expected by many observers at the start of the year. But at the start of 2025, any cushion for further slowdowns may be depleted, and further deterioration may begin to lead to higher unemployment and more volatility.

Still, the outlook in some nations (notably the United States) is rosier than in others. The US economy continues to grow at a healthy clip and is expected to stick a rare economic soft landing — in which the job market cools and inflation declines without widespread job losses. But some European countries remain mired in malaise, suffering from flagging labor demand, geopolitical volatility, and limited innovation and adoption of new AI technologies.

Indeed Hiring Lab economists, armed with the most comprehensive and timely labor market data from Indeed, have the pulse of what’s happening in labor markets worldwide. We’ve compiled some of their top insights and expectations for a host of critical countries below, and encourage you to dive deeper into each country’s unique trends by clicking through to the full outlook posts. We will add to this post as outlook reports for more countries are published in the coming weeks.

• The US economy is solid, but there’s little room for continued softening in 2025.
• Hires and quits are near decade-lows, and a pickup in both would be a sign of confidence among employers and job seekers.
• GenAI adoption is growing, but for a strong economic impact, it needs more widespread adoption among a variety of industries — not just tech.

• Something will have to change for the Canadian labor market to avoid a year of disappointment.
• Stronger employer demand is crucial for a labor market turnaround.
• Immigration, and especially emigration, are key policy wildcards for the labor market.
• Wage growth could cool after a strong 2024.
• Generative AI is changing tech jobs but rarely mentioned in other job postings.

• The UK economy performed a little better than expected this year, but 2025 could be challenging.
• Job postings fell in almost all occupational categories in 2024.
• Zero-hours contracts have been gradually rising ahead of anticipated policy changes.
• The popularity of remote and hybrid work will persist, despite employers’ return-to-office pushes.

• After a year marked by a slowdown in activity and political instability, public officials will have to make structural choices in 2025 to maintain the long-term standard of living.
• Wage and purchasing power gains are expected to remain limited while the French unemployment rate will remain close to its current levels.
• The war in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East, and trade tensions will generate strong uncertainties for sectors exposed to trade and commodity prices.

• The competition for talent is cooling down noticeably, and a decline in worker demand is particularly affecting top-paying jobs.
• International interest in jobs in Germany is leveling off, which may construct labor supply.
• AI remains a niche topic in Germany.