Earnings: Uber, Marriott among companies returning to healthy hiring rates

The latest earnings season is revealing that companies are getting back to healthy hiring rates.

Video transcript

- Coming off a red hot jobs report, with US adding 528,000 positions, in July the hiring picture in the US appears to be shifting. And the post-pandemic hiring challenges for major corporations may be over. Multiple companies, including Uber, Marriott, and MGM, all reporting increased hiring efficiency this earnings season, and most importantly, less turnover, less of the wild ups and downs of people walking out the door. And Seana, we talked about this with Uber when Dara came out and said, we have more drivers making money now than ever before, including pre-pandemic. The question is probably, why? Is it recessionary fears that are causing people to stay in jobs longer and to apply for some of these?

- I think that is right. I think you're exactly right, Dave. And I also think that that's also probably playing into the quit rates at least now. I think people aren't as secure as maybe we were just a couple of months ago when the employees clearly had the upper hand. Now employers are still saying that workers do have the advantage. But I do think it's more of a balanced picture, Rochelle, at least compared to what we were looking at just a few months ago.

Now, they do say the landscape is improving. Some of these companies, like you said, Uber, Kroger, was among them, MGM, saying that the hiring landscape improved. But they're still having some trouble with some specific jobs. MGM saying that they can't necessarily fill the positions that they need for housekeepers and cooks. So even though they're seeing an improvement overall, some very job-specific positions, they're still having a tough time finding those workers.

- And even when we hear about some of these layoffs, they do seem to be strategic. They're not sort of laying off across the board. They're saying, look, we're slowing hiring in this area. But perhaps we're picking up hiring in other areas. And I think that does speak to the environment where even though perhaps there may not be as many options and people might be worried about inflation and recession fears, perhaps holding on to that job or deciding to go out and look for one, still the picture, though, still seems to be leaning towards the employee.