The Covid pandemic of 2020 has brought a tumultuous spring for nearly all business owners and executives, and the healthcare staffing industry is no exception. Nevertheless, April revenue results appear much better for healthcare staffing firms than for other skill segments of the US staffing industry, according to SIA’s May Pulse Survey.

The May Pulse Survey measured revenue results for each of the four subsegments of healthcare staffing. Travel nurse firms reported median revenue growth of 10% year over year in April, with results likely supported by travel nurse demand from Covid-19 hot spots as well as the higher pay rates for such assignments. Per diem nurse staffing firms indicated a median 6% decline year over year, locum tenens firms reported 5% growth, and allied healthcare staffing firms reported flat revenue year over year in April.

While the May Pulse Survey sample size is not large enough to perfectly reflect the healthcare staffing industry, it does at least directionally suggest that healthcare staffing is doing better than industrial staffing (down 32% year over year), office/clerical staffing (down 25%) and IT staffing (down 4%).

Consistent with revenue outperformance, healthcare staffing firms reported less cost-cutting measures than other segments of staffing. Only 13% of travel nurse firms in the survey reported laying off internal staff as compared with 47% of all staffing firms in the survey that reported doing so. None of the travel nurse firms reported reducing working hours of internal staff, while this same metric was 29% of all staffing firms in the survey.

In terms of bill rate trends, a net 60% of both travel nurse and per diem nurse staffing firms reported an increasing trend in bill rates over the past three months. This same metric was 39% for allied healthcare staffing firms and a negative 11% for locum tenens firms, potentially signaling some softness in bill rates for temporary physicians.

Corporate members of SIA can download the May Pulse Survey Selected Findings report here.

To receive the full June Pulse Survey report of results, staffing firms with US operations are invited to participate in the survey here.