RGP, a global consulting firm, released new research around the macroeconomic factors and labor market trends that are impacting workforce decisions in the second half of 2024.
The findings show that financial decision makers remain focused on investing in their employees. Despite the higher for longer interest rate environment, 81% of this group is planning to increase investment in workforce development—consistent with RGP’s January poll.
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of financial decision makers said their organization is pausing or delaying some new investments due to macroeconomic conditions ranging from the presidential election (23%) to high interest rates (11%). The top factors that could have the biggest impact on investment in workforce development include a growing urgency to better leverage AI and automation (47%) and hiring challenges in a tightening labor market (45%).
“The latest jobs data illustrates a normalizing yet resilient labor market, and we’re seeing through our own research that companies remain committed to investing in their workforce through training, headcount and outside talent,” said Kate Duchene, Chief Executive Officer of RGP. “We’ve seen some stagnation in the market as the quits rate has remained low for the past seven months, and our findings show that skill acquisition remains a key challenge for employers. These challenges are being amplified by the volume of work that needs to get done, as four out of five companies we surveyed told us they are currently executing digital transformation initiatives.”
Impact of the Accountant Shortage
The ongoing shortage of CPAs has resulted in greater investment in technology, as 43% of financial decision makers said their organization is investing more in end-to-end automated accounting processes and AI tools. Meanwhile, 31% said they are using more consulting talent to transform their finance function and 27% said they are using more interim staffing solutions due to the ongoing accountant shortage.
Nearly half of respondents (45%) said their organization would benefit from additional resources and tools to better leverage fractional work arrangements.
Skill Acquisition Remains a Challenge
One in four (26%) financial decision makers said talent acquisition and retention is their biggest concern in the second half of the year, second only to the integration of more digital strategies, including AI and automation (30%). Nearly 30% of respondents said that it has been more difficult to acquire new skill sets since the start of the year and one in five said their organization has experienced widening skills gaps since the start of the year.
The findings are based on a poll that YouGov conducted on behalf of RGP in the first half of June 2024. Respondents included 213 U.S. full-time professionals at director level or above who influence finance decision-making within their organizations.
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