Third-quarter revenue at TrueBlue Inc. (NYSE: TBI), a provider of industrial staffing and RPO, edged down 0.2% year over year. However, gross margin improved.

The Tacoma, Washington-based company reported revenue fell in its PeopleReady segment, which provides on-demand contingent general and skilled labor. However, revenue rose in the firm’s PeopleManagement and PeopleScout segments.

“Given the uncertainty businesses face regarding their workforce needs, we are pleased with our results this quarter,” said President and CEO Steve Cooper.

“While demand slowed, we filled a higher proportion of orders due to continued improvement in worker supply,” Cooper said. “Tight labor pools are playing to our favor with the strongest bill/pay spreads in recent history, resulting in higher operating income and related margin.”  

Revenue growth in TrueBlue’s PeopleManagement segment was driven by demand for commercial driving services as well as existing client growth during the first half of the year, while revenue in the PeopleScout segment was stimulated by historically high client employee turnover rates.

TrueBlue also noted its JobStack app, included in the PeopleReady segment, dispatched approximately 921,000 shifts in the third quarter, and the digital fill rate increased to 66% compared to 58% for the same period in 2021.

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Guidance

TrueBlue expects fourth-quarter revenue to decline between 12% and 8%. It expects gross margin to contract between 70 and 30 basis points due to shifts in business mix as well as higher workers’ compensation expense.

Share price and market cap

Shares in TrueBlue were down 8.55 % to $19.78 as of 12:07 p.m. Eastern time; they were 25.43% above their 52-week high, according to FT.com. The company had a market cap of $716.16 million.