2022 was a busy year. The US staffing industry was on track to a record $185.5 billion in revenue in 2022, according to Staffing Industry Analysts’ estimates. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted a number of workforce ecosystem firms to shut down their Russian operations.

The economy. Worries about the economy continued, with some economists raising concerns a recession could hit next year. Covid ranked as another concern, and workers continued to demand remote work. Quiet quitting emerged as an issue as well.

Quiet quitting. More than one third of human resources professionals, 36%, said quiet quitting was occurring at their workplace, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Quiet quitting refers to the alleged phenomenon of workers doing only the minimum required to get by in their jobs and avoiding extra effort. Investopedia reported the term was first used by a Nashville-based corporate recruiter-turned-career coach in a March 4, 2022, video posted on TikTok and YouTube. It also noted other accounts placed the origin of the term earlier.

Jobs. But even amid talk of quiet quitting and remote work, the US continued to add jobs. In addition, the US staffing industry was on track to reach a record $185.5 billion in revenue this year. That compares to the pre-pandemic market size of $152.8 billion estimated for 2019.

Travel nursing. A particularly fast-growing portion of the staffing industry was the travel nurse segment.

Travel nurse revenue is forecast to grow at a brisk 20% this year to $33.1 billion after surging by 185% in 2021, according to SIA’s “US Staffing Industry Forecast: September 2022 Update” report. It also noted the rise of staffing platforms bolstered growth in the healthcare staffing segment.

“Recent growth in healthcare staffing was spurred by the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and the need for large numbers of travel clinicians to assist with Covid care,” according to the report, which was released in September. “More recently, demand for healthcare staffing is much less related to Covid care, and more driven by the need to fill staff shortages caused by worker attrition (quits and retirements) in an environment of pent-up demand for healthcare services.”

Hybrid model: Remote work remained in the news as well during 2022. Many employees prefer it, though not all managers are fans.

A report by the World Economic Forum found that while a majority of senior leaders want their staff to collaborate in an office setting, most employees prefer to retain a hybrid working model in the post-pandemic era. In fact, two out of three people surveyed globally said it improved their work-life balance, and the majority, 85%, reported saving both time and money by skipping the daily commute.

News from the ecosystem

2022 also saw several changes among firms in the workforce solutions ecosystem. One example is VMS and MSP provider PRO Unlimited, which changed its name to Magnit.

The year also saw some noteworthy M&A deals. Here are some examples:

• Two of Canada’s largest IT staffing firms merged when S.i. Systems ULC acquired Eagle Professional Resources.
• Workday Inc. in January completed its acquisition of VMS provider VNDLY.
• Impellam Group signed a deal to sell its Corestaff light industrial staffing brand in the US to Swipejobs Inc.
• Magnit, formerly PRO Unlimited, acquired MSP provider Geometric Results.
• Beeline, a VMS provider, announced a majority investment from private equity firm Stone Point Capital. Beeline also struck a deal in October to acquire Utmost, a firm that specializes in providing clients with insights into their employee and nonemployee workforces.
• Coupa Software Inc., a spend management software firm that also provides a VMS, announced it was being acquired by software investment firm Thoma Bravo.

Russia invades

Of course, the biggest international headline of 2022 was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It prompted staffing firms, talent platforms and other companies in the workforce ecosystem to cease doing business in Russia.

For example, talent platform Upwork Inc. announced in March that it was suspending operations in Russia and Belarus. That same month, Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd. also announced it was suspending business in Russia — including its Indeed and Glassdoor websites.

Recession concerns

The economy was also a concern in 2022 amid inflation and worries over a possible recession.

The University of California Los Angeles Anderson Forecast released earlier this month noted the US economy is at a crossroads. One direction would result in slower, ongoing growth, while the other would result in a slight, transient recession.

In addition, large tech companies began to lay off workers, though other firms continued hiring IT staff.

The TechServe Alliance on Dec. 7, in commentary on jobs numbers from November, said it continues to be a candidate’s market for IT professionals.

“While layoffs among some high-profile tech companies have been in the news, demand for talent for technology professionals overall remains very strong,” said TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts. “When one sector of the economy reduces its workforce, high-demand skill sets are redeployed to other industries.”

Looking ahead to 2023, recession concerns remain, and the Ukraine war and its negative global impact continue. Meanwhile, the staffing industry continues to move forward.