Year in review
State of Global Hiring Report
Our full-year report explores emerging trends from a global database of over one million worker contracts.
Explore the report
The pandemic set off a global transformation in the way we work that defined the early 2020s. Now, we’re beginning to enter a new era in the way companies hire and manage their employees.
We’re Deel, a global HR and payroll company. Deel has over a million contracts and full-time workers as a product of our partnerships with more than 35,000 companies.
Deel’s wide reach and deep relationships give us a unique perspective on emerging employment trends. Here’s what Deel learned last year that is relevant to your workforce management in the years to come:
Gen Z Is Employers’ #1 Priority
Despite the narratives around Gen Z’s challenges adjusting to the workplace, companies are working hard to keep them happy — Gen Z workers received bigger raises in 2024 than any other generation.
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Domestic Hiring Is on the Rise
While organizations are still hiring globally, Deel’s data show an uptick in the number of employers who are favoring candidates closer to home.
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Accountants Are Having a Moment
A shortage of accounting talent and an increasing need for companies to operate in multiple countries resulted in accountants securing bigger salary gains than software engineers last year.
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Terminations Are Slowing Down
While hiring continues to rise, terminations are trending down across the globe. In the United States, terminations fell from their 2023 peak.
It remains to be seen how long these trends will last, but it’s clear companies are rethinking how they build and manage their workforce. Deel will be watching closely to see how hiring evolves in 2025 — and periodically reporting to you about what we learn.
Rise of Gen Z
Gen Z is becoming a priority for employers
Many surveys show managers are concerned about Gen Z’s job performance, but employers are working hard to hire and retain them. Last year, Gen Z saw the fastest salary growth (9%) and had the lowest percentage of contracts ended by involuntary termination (36%) of any generation we measured.
Part of that trend likely reflects the fact that salaries tend to grow faster early in one’s career, but there appears to be more to the story. Even Millennials, who are starting to move up the managerial ladder and develop the deep expertise that creates negotiating leverage, got smaller raises than Gen Z in 2024.
+9
%
Over the course of 2024, Gen Z saw a 9% increase in salaries, the largest change when compared to other generations.
36
%
Gen Z had the lowest percentage of contracts ended by termination (36%) of any generation we measured.
Each generation brings new skills companies need, and Gen Z’s familiarity with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, as well as their focus on learning and development, are key selling points.
2024 worker trends by generation
Gen Z brings digital-native skills, a focus on purpose over pay, and a demand for career personalization and development to the workplace. These traits can translate well when it comes to distributed work, which often enables a high degree of personalization in when, where, and how people work. Organizations can nurture this group by offering flexibility while continuing to invest in their development and career advancement — through mentoring programs or internal mobility opportunities, for example.
—Alice Burks,
Director of People Success at Deel
Domestic Hiring Is on the Rise
RTO mandates are giving domestic hiring a boost
While global hiring is still a major part of the modern economy, employers are looking closer to home for new hires. Last year, domestic hiring—or hiring within the same country—on Deel’s platform grew 104%, compared to 42% for cross-border—or international—hiring. Note, Deel still sees a strong preference for distributed work, as 82% of workers on the platform are remote as of 2024.
In some cases, teams are also setting a tighter radius for international hires. In 2024, half of the cross-border hires in Great Britain were in the same time zone, while 41% of Germany’s cross-border hires lived within an hour of their employer’s time zone.
Cross-border work isn’t going anywhere, but organizations are showing an increasing preference for having more of their workers nearby.
50
%
Half of the cross-border hires in Great Britain last year were in the same time zone.
41
%
41% of the cross-border hires in Germany were within an hour of their employer’s time zone.
Countries with the most organizations hiring on Deel*
% increase of organizations hiring workers
* 82% of all workers hired were remote in 2024. Domestic hires were made in-country. Cross-border hires were made internationally.
Whether or not you're returning to an office, workers within your time zone offer companies more options to work synchronously. Deel's product teams, for example, often sit near their collaborators
—Alan Price,
Director Talent Acquisition at Deel
Demand for accountants
Accountants are the new software engineers
Accountants are having a moment.
For most of the past decade, companies couldn’t hire software engineers fast enough. The fierce competition drove up their salaries. While software engineers are still the most-hired occupation for Deel clients, accounting is becoming the new must-have skill for global organizations. Declining interest in the profession from early-career workers and the increasingly complex tax requirements of a global workforce have made accountants a precious, and increasingly pricy commodity.
Last year, hiring (74%) and salaries (15%) grew faster for accountants than any other job group. Whether this hiring spree will solve the accounting talent shortage will be a major story to watch in the years to come.
Accountants and software engineers in 2024
Top countries hiring accountants
#1
The United States
#2
Australia
#3
Great Britain
Accountants most likely to be hired in
#1
Philippines
#2
United States
#3
Argentina
#4
Mexico
#5
Singapore
In 2025, the job market is more global than ever, thanks to remote work and AI. To stand out, showcase the impact of your work, highlight the unique value you bring, and stay ahead by continually upskilling yourself in AI-driven changes. Adapt & evolve!
—Joel Lalgee,
Founder of TheRealestRecruiter
Termination trends
U.S. terminations are down from their 2023 peak
After hiring aggressively during the pandemic, many companies focused on cost-cutting and efficiency in 2022 and 2023. In May 2023, the percentage of contracts ended as terminations in the U.S. reached a peak of 72%.
In 2024, U.S. employers appeared to dial back on layoffs, as terminations never reached 2023 peaks.
At the same time, workers are also less inclined to leave their roles, likely due to increased competition in the job market and lower salary gains for switching companies. Over the last two years, the total number of people who have quit their roles has decreased slightly from 3% in January 2023 to 2% in December 2024.
-16
%
Globally, we saw 16% fewer involuntary terminations in November 2024 than in January 2024.
-1
%
Over the last two years, the number of people who have quit their roles has decreased slightly from 3% in January 2023 to 2% in December 2024.
% Involuntary Terminations* of all contracts ended
* ”Terminations” indicates involuntary end of employment, including layoffs, for-cause termination, and furloughs.
People are staying in their roles longer, and that has implications for global compensation. For people you've already hired, think about introducing ‘pay-for-performance’ programs to keep top talent engaged and to drive long term-retention. If you're hiring, offering higher compensation goes further now
—Jessica Pillow,
Director of Global Compensation at Deel
Job titles with the greatest percentage increase in terminations
#1
Customer Support
#2
Sales Development Rep
#3
Account Executive
Job titles where terminations slowed down most
#1
Engineering Lead
#2
Accountant
#5
Software Engineer
Conclusion
The world has spent the past five years rethinking work as we know it, and 2024 brought a shift in a new direction. Return-to-office mandates are moving hiring closer to home, new groups of workers are gaining leverage, and the cost-cutting of recent years is slowing down.
As employers continue to adjust to their latest talent needs, Deel is here to help them every step of the way.
Deel’s Data & Methodology
Deel’s report aggregates data from over 1 million contracts and 35,000+ customers across more than 150 countries. All countries, states, and cities in the report have at least 100 worker contracts as of December 2024.
Here’s a breakdown of Deel’s worker and customer base in 2024 (all lists rank-ordered):
Top worker countries
#1
The United States
#2
Philippines
#3
Argentina
#4
India
#5
Great Britain
Top worker cities
#1
Buenos Aires, Argentina
#2
London, Great Britain
#3
Bogota, Colombia
#4
Lahore, Pakistan
#5
São Paulo, Brazil
Top organization countries
#1
The United States
#2
Great Britain
#3
Canada
#4
Germany
#5
Australia
Top job titles on Deel
#1
Software Engineers/Developers
#2
Customer Support
#3
Sales
#4
Product
#5
Project Management
Deel’s data strongly reflects technology and distributed-hiring trends. The company’s data sets, while robust and growing (collected since 2019), do not yet evenly capture customer demographics across all industries. Terms in the report are defined broadly and generally as follows: “Organizations” includes any entity hiring workers. “Teammates” and/or “People” refer to individuals hired to perform work. “Contracts” refers to the number of agreements between customers and workers. “Payments” refers to how workers are paid. “Terminations” indicates involuntary end of employment, including layoffs, for-cause termination, and furloughs.
