US staffing market primed for recovery

The US staffing market is set for recovery in 2010, according to Ron Mester, managing director of research and analysis firm Staffing Industry Analysts.

In a live satellite link up to California at APSCo’s member sales conference in London, Mester told delegates that the value of the world’s largest staffing market (on a country-by-country basis) has now fallen to $93bn (£58.5bn), from $126bn in 2008.

But total revenue is predicted to grow to $98bn next year and temporary staffing is forecast to grow in all sectors measured by the research firm, including industrial (15%), finance/accounting (8%), IT (8%), marketing/creative (5%), legal (5%), clinical/scientific (4%), engineering/design (4%), office/clerical (4%) and healthcare (1%).

According to Mester, US recruiters have been more agile in the recession, increasing their value-adds of recruitment process outsourcing, HR outsourcing, managed service provider services, vendor managed services and master supplier services, while there were 8% more staffing companies placing professionals over office staff and industrial staff last year than in 2004.

Mester said: “Over the next 10 years, employment services will be one of the biggest growth industries. Increasingly, there are more people that want to work in flexible arrangements. Management teams are looking for more flexible workforces and there are skill shortages in professional skill sets.”

But elsewhere, Palmer Forecast predicts that US temporary worker demand is set to fall by 13.7% in 2009.

The industry consulting firm’s findings indicated a 22.2% decline in temporary help for Q3 2009, which actually came in at a 24.5 % decline more than predicted due to higher than expected unemployment figures.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, seasonally adjusted temp jobs fell 23.3% year-over-year in September, up from the 24.5% year-over-year decline in August. Temp jobs, seasonally adjusted, fell slightly, 0.1% sequentially from August.

Palmer says this is an encouraging early sign of rebound and provided a 3.1% boost on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. The 2,000 temp job losses were the lowest rate of loss since October 2007.

The unemployment rate increased to 9.8% in September from 9.7% in August, the highest jobless rate since June 1983.