Google and Meta plan to increase headcount by about 8% in 2024: UBS By Investing.com

According to a survey conducted by UBS, Alphabet (NASDAQ:) and Metaplatform (NASDAQ:) plan to increase headcount by 8% and 7.6%, respectively, in 2024 compared to the previous year.

The investment bank estimates that Google’s overall job openings are about 20% below 2018 levels, with the company adding 18,600 employees during that period, suggesting it will add about 14,900 by 2024.

“Given a much higher disclosure threshold of 183,000 employees at the end of 2023, this would imply a headcount increase of ~8%,” the analysts wrote.

“Unsurprisingly, job postings for technology roles are ~9% higher than 2018 levels, which suggests the average salary per employee added should be higher in 2024.”

Meanwhile, Meta Platforms’ overall job openings indexed to about 48% of 2018 levels, with the company adding about 10,500 employees during that period. This means that there will be approximately 5,100 additional employees in 2024.

“If the company maintains its current pace, this should reflect a ~7.6% increase compared to its disclosed headcount of 673,000 at the end of 2023,” UBS said.

“But postings for technical roles are down 24% in comparison, which suggests how much higher the average salary per employee added will need to be in 2024.”