Human resources professionals and hiring managers in the greater Chicago and south Florida markets report the highest number of open positions within accounting, finance and information technology in almost a year, according to the second-quarter hiring forecast study conducted by staffing provider Brilliant and Richard Curtin, director of surveys of consumers at the University of Michigan.

The study found almost half of businesses indicated openings in full-time, permanent accounting and finance positions, and 20% reported vacant full-time, permanent positions in IT. Further, one-in-five companies reported plans to increase their hiring of accounting and finance professionals and one-in-six for information technology during the year ahead.

“Our study brings important insight into the future of accounting, finance and information technology professions, and the overall climate of the labor market,” said Brilliant CEO Jim Wong. “We remain optimistic that the increase in open positions and the strength in hiring plans indicates continued growth given the recent unpredictable performance of the economy.”

For the next 12 months, 15% of companies surveyed plan to increase IT hiring — down from 23% in the first-quarter survey — and 21% plan to increase their accounting/finance hiring, unchanged from last quarter.

The survey also found increased plans to hire additional temporary professionals; 22% of IT firms expect to hire additional temporary professionals, up from 14% in the first-quarter survey and 15% the quarter before that, returning to just shy of the 23% reported in the Q3 2016 hiring forecast.

For accounting/finance firms, 11% plan to hire additional temporary professionals in the second quarter, up from 8% in the first quarter but still somewhat below 14% in last year’s second-quarter forecast.

The reasons human resources professionals and hiring managers gave for intending to hire temporary professionals were largely due to business needs. No survey taker indicated they were hiring temporary professionals due to economic uncertainty. Some respondents did indicate hiring temporary professionals so they could be evaluated for potential full-time, permanent positions. However, most planned temporary hires, especially for IT, are to perform specific assignments that were limited to specific projects or in-demand roles that needed to be filled.

The survey included nearly 650 human resources professionals and hiring managers within the greater Chicago and south Florida market and was conducted between Jan. 30 and Feb. 7, 2017.