West Monroe has conducted its quarterly survey of executives, and the results are good news for the job market.

According to West Monroe’s Quarterly Executive Poll—Q3 2021, a whopping 77% of executives plan on hiring additional people. In contrast, only 4% expect to lay off more people, while 19% expect little to no change.

Notably, this is a significant increase from the 60% that expected to hire more people in Q2, and the 49% in Q1. 

Not surprisingly, the increased demand for workers is creating its own challenges, with 51% of executives citing a lack of people with the right skillset as the biggest challenge to hiring. The next biggest challenge was heightened competition from other employers, coming in at 16%.

Similarly, 49% of executives cite hiring and retaining a workforce as the biggest threat to their business in Q3. Cyber attacks came in second-place at 13%.

The survey is further evidence of how much the economy is rebounding, and showcases the increased challenges employers are facing.