Trends of recent weeks show that staffing hours worked have been holding roughly steady for both US professional and commercial occupations, according to the latest SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator released today for the week ended May 22.

Hours worked in US commercial staffing rose 21% year over year but were down 10% compared to the same week two years ago. It suggests that much recovery has taken place though there is room to grow.

Meanwhile, professional staffing hours rose 38% year over year in the week ended May 22 and were up 24% compared to two years ago. High levels of healthcare staffing continued to support spend. Portions of IT staffing continued to be up by double digits compared to both one and two years ago.

SIA’s report also noted headwinds continue. These include concerns about safety in the workplace, childcare obligations and unemployment benefits.

“Nevertheless, we believe these headwinds are likely to lessen, as Covid cases continue to decline, and as 24 states plan to discontinue extra unemployment benefits by the end of June,” according to the report.

The SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator measures hours worked. It comprises two sets of analyses: a year-over-year comparison showing how the most recent week compared to the same week 12 months previously and an indexed value that has been benchmarked against data from the week ended Jan. 19, 2019.

The indexed value was 100 in the week ended May 22, following readings of 102 and 101 in the prior two weeks.

Index values for the week ended May 22, by type of staffing:

• Professional staffing: 124, following readings of 124 and 123 in f the prior two weeks.
• Commercial staffing: 89, up from readings of 90 in each of the prior two weeks.

Readings for the most-recent four weeks are subject to revision.

A report on the SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator can be downloaded. See here for more information.