Published : 1 month ago, on 05/11/2024

By John Revill

ZURICH (Reuters) – Staffing company Adecco expects the hiring market in the United States to pick up following the presidential election, CEO Denis Machuel said on Tuesday, regardless of whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins the White House.

Machuel said hiring had slowed as employers held on to staff and with people being reluctant to switch jobs because of economic and political uncertainties.

Revenues in North America fell by 15% during the three months through September, Adecco reported, worse than the overall group downturn of 4%.

But once the election was out of the way, Machuel expected an improvement.

“We believe very much in the U.S. economy, no matter who governs it,” Machuel told Reuters. “I believe we’re going to see an improvement in the labour market at the beginning of 2025 regardless of who wins.”

During its third quarter, Adecco’s revenue fell to 5.70 billion euros ($6.20 billion), missing forecasts for 5.81 billion euros in a company-gathered consensus of analysts.

Hiring in France and Germany were also difficult, Adecco said, citing the weak macroeconomic situation in general and problems at Germany’s automakers in particular.

Operating profit fell 12% to 162 million euros during the three months to the end of September, exceeding forecasts for 153 million euros.

Still, the revenue trend was not getting worse, Chief Financial Officer Coram Williams said, with sales volumes – equivalent to hours booked by Adecco workers – at a similar level to the second quarter.

The stabilisation trend had continued in October and Adecco was gaining market share against rivals, he said.

“We are down compared to prior year… but the volumes are not getting worse,” Williams said. “And that sets the scene for what we would expect to deliver in Q4, which will be a very similar performance.”

($1 = 0.9193 euros)

(Reporting by John Revill, editing by Miranda Murray and Bernadette Baum)