U.S. IT Staffing Industry Continues Fast-Paced Growth

Hot on the heels of an incredibly strong 2022—where revenue grew by 16 percent—the U.S. IT staffing industry is poised for 5 percent anticipated growth in 2023. And that’s not all: The industry is expected to grow by 7 percent in 2024, showcasing three overall strong years for IT staffing.

In 2022, IT staffing industry revenue grew 17 percent. Current challenges include a higher interest rate environment, slower wage increases, recession potential and increased caution for clients, among others. The second half of 2023 may see stronger overall economic growth and greater government spending.

On the whole, the U.S. staffing industry grew 28 percent in 2021, reporting more than $186 billion in revenue; it is expected to grow about 2 percent to exceed $216 billion this year—representing one-third of total global staffing industry revenue. It exceeds the combined revenue of the staffing industry in Australia, France, Germany, India, Spain, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Canada, for example, is anticipated to reach about $8.6 billion in staffing industry revenue this year with France at $30 billion, India at $8.3 billion, the UK at $57.6 billion, Sweden at nearly $4 billion, Belgium at $7.7 billion and Japan exceeding $98 billion in revenue.

In 2021 and 2022, healthcare staffing led the way for the United States, growing 18 percent in 2022 alone so that it now represents the largest portion of staffing in the United States.

From the Great Resignation to the Great Return

For the past two years, we’ve been hearing about the Great Resignation, where thousands of employees across industries resigned their jobs to pursue new passions and changed the shape of the U.S. workforce. Now it’s time to discover more about the Great Return, where workers return to the office or to more traditional roles in the staffing economy.

The Great Return hinges on flexible work conditions, an inclusive environment and the conditions for continued work-life balance.

1. Flexible work conditions: While some people have longed for a return to the office, many workers still enjoy the flexibility of working from home, even part time. Likewise, many are still contending with childcare issues and juggling multiple priorities, so successful companies need to acknowledge the ongoing need for flexibility in scheduling.

2. Inclusive environment: Accessibility needs to go further than before, recognizing those who are immunocompromised, for instance, as well as those who require accommodations for vision and hearing issues, mobility challenges, different seating arrangements and more. For the Great Return to be a great success, inclusive work environments are a must.

3. Work-life balance: For many years, many workers felt like their life was work—it dominated their time with long commutes, longer hours and sky-high expectations. Companies will need to allow for earlier and later start times to ensure easier commutes, offer personal days and make work-life balance a higher priority than ever before.

The Great Return is off to a great start; however, companies interested in cultivating a satisfied and productive workforce will need to keep flexibility, inclusivity and balance in mind when structuring their return-to-work arrangements.

Trends for 2022 in the Staffing World

Needless to say, 2021 has been a year to remember in the staffing industry. From the Great Resignation to continued working from home, the industry has been forced to adjust, evolve and remain on its toes. The next year will bring more of the same and some new trends worth paying attention to:

Flexible work arrangements remain a top priority. As more workers opted for part-time or gig work, companies had to scramble to raise salaries, offer incentives and make flexible working arrangements even more flexible. In 2022 and beyond, remote work will be a must for many employees, and companies will need to determine how to manage both on-site and at-home workers with hybrid schedules and flexible hours. In a nutshell, employers will need to focus on creating an outstanding environment to attract and retain top talent.

Diversity, equity and inclusion matter more than ever. “DEI” can’t just be a buzzword in organizations—it is more critical than ever to walk the talk and make diversity a top priority. Most employees today want to work for companies that share and work towards their DEI goals, yet many say they lack confidence in their employers’ commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workforce. Companies that get this right will stand out from the crowd.

Community-building gets creative. With more employees working remotely, building community is more challenging—but no less important. Likewise, team members’ mental health and well-being should be just as important to companies as their job performance. From virtual networks to Q and A sessions, employees want to build a sense of community at work.

And, not surprisingly, hiring challenges aren’t going away. Creative recruiters and companies are pursuing recently retired workers, for example, to fill openings and bring back expertise.

Vendor on Premises Relationships Expand On-Site HR Work

A VOP can be a VIP for temporary businesses. A vendor on premise is an on-site representative that can handle multiple functions, particularly those that HR would normally manage. A VOP can save your business time and money and be a valuable staffing resource for everything related to temp services.

The extensive benefits of a VOP include:

Reduced costs. As your single point of contact, a vendor on premise can manage payroll, sourcing and your entire temp workforce, helping to control costs throughout your organization. Your VOP can also scale your workforce as needed, based on particular needs and your peak periods, and also manage temp worker reassignment.

Faster job fill. One of the roles of a vendor on premise is to recruit, recruit, recruit, so that you always have a large pool of candidates for ongoing temporary needs and openings. A VOP can screen and interview your candidates and also check references prior to an offer. This significant work will also add up to reduced downtime on site.

Increased safety efforts. In addition to training focused on safety and effectiveness, a vendor on premise will manage overall safety in processes and team members, supporting your company’s overall work and safety efforts.

Greater efficiencies. VOPs are definitely VIPs when it comes to efficiency in the temp workforce. They can monitor employees’ work for productivity, create reports focused on costs and performance, and troubleshoot any issues so your HR team doesn’t have to.

In the end, a vendor on premise extends the work of your HR department and gives them the opportunity to focus on long-term strategy and permanent employees. If you are interested in a vendor on premise for your organization, StaffingForce would be happy to help.

USA Staffing Expected to Rebound in 2021

Just like most everything else in 2020, the staffing industry took a hit over the prior year. However, 2021 is already offering brighter prospects and the USA Staffing Industry will exceed $136 billion this year compared to $119 billion in 2020 . While certain segments will do especially well, staffing is expected to enjoy strong growth throughout the year.

As more companies return to work – and return to work in person – and project greater growth and revenue over the year before, full-time and temporary staffing is enjoying stronger headwinds and positive projections. StaffingForce looks forward to spurring on these trends throughout the year.

Certainly, hiring trends will continue to vary based on both job type and industry sector, but 2021 is expected to be a solid year all around, particularly in contrast to 2020.

In 2020, traveling nurse staffing was a bright spot, with continued growth expected based on overall need for health care and nursing. As the focus continues to return to non-pandemic-related care as well, travel nursing will continue to benefit. IT jobs will also likely see notable growth in the temporary staffing arena.

The positive trends for 2021 are based on decline in Covid-19 cases, a steady recovery in the U.S. economy and continued vaccinations worldwide.