Contingent workers’ average hourly pay fell by 8.3% in the fourth quarter from the third, reported VMS and MSP provider Magnit. The decrease was across all roles. However, the reduction was only around 4% when removing seasonal roles, which are often lower-paying roles.

“Although wages fell by 8.3% from Q3, this was largely due to the influx of workers taking lower-paying jobs in the consumer products and services sector,” Dustin Burgess, senior VP of strategic advisory at Magnit, said in a press release.

“Overall, we’re seeing hiring appetites across companies dwindling as job postings decrease, with public sector data likely skewed by workers taking lower-paying positions during the holiday season,” Burgess said. “Given the nature of contract work, we anticipate contingent workforce hiring will rebound quicker from the current hiring slowdown.”

Average hourly pay for technology contingents and financial services contingents rose by 4.7% and 10.9%, respectively, in the fourth quarter. Life sciences contingents also saw an increase of 6.8%. However, average hourly pay fell by 7.2% for healthcare contingents, by 20.3% for those in consumer products and services, and by 0.2% for those in manufacturing.

Magnit’s Q4 Contingent Workforce Data Analysis report also found hiring volume for US contingent workers edged up just 0.3% in the fourth quarter, a slower pace of growth.

By segment, fourth-quarter hiring volume fell by 3.8% for technology contingent workers, by 17.2% for financial services contingents, and by 10.8% for healthcare contingents.

For its report, Magnit uses proprietary algorithms that aggregate, cleanse, anonymize and analyze data from a variety of internal and external sources, including hundreds of client programs.