IT staffing revenue was down in the first half of this year compared to the first half of 2022, according to the IT Staffing and Solutions Benchmarking Survey Report: 1H23 published by Staffing Industry Analysts. However, among the 25 participating IT staffing firms large and small, the decline was perhaps lower than expected considering how good last year’s first half was and the negative climate in this year’s first half. While the sample might not be representative of the entire IT staffing market, it’s certainly worth taking a look at the trends highlighted in the report.

Revenue was down 1.2% in aggregate and down 5.0% on a median basis in the first half of this year. Volume (hours billed) in the survey was down 4.5%, which implies a 3.3% increase in bill rate. This aligns with what we are seeing in the IT staffing landscape.

It is interesting to view the increase in revenue in the survey by profession; aggregate business/systems analyst revenue was up 11%, and project manager, product manager and cloud architect positions were each up 7%. On the other end, both help desk/PC support and enterprise implementation/maintenance position revenues fell 23%.

Cloud architect had by far the highest median hourly bill rate ($121) as well as the highest pay rate ($89). However, cloud architect recruiting difficulty of 3.7 (on a one-to-five scale) was highest in the survey. Even with the highest pay amongst all positions, demand for cloud-related positions is strong and there is still a notable shortage of cloud architects.

As companies continue to compete for top talent in a tight labor market, it makes sense that we saw overall average contract duration increase to 11.9 months from our estimate of 11.5 months in the first half of 2022 and 8.6 months in 2020.

Also of note, an aggregate 73% of the revenue captured in the survey was generated from direct client orders with no VMS involved. In other words, only 27% of IT staffing company revenue came through a VMS. This is lower than expected and could be a byproduct of this particular sample of companies, though is certainly a trend worth watching.

Total SOW made up 55.8% of aggregate revenue in the first half of 2023. This compares to 59.6% in the survey for the first half of 2022, though up substantially from just 6.0% in 2015. By service delivery engagement type, 53.0% of SOW revenue came from project work (which contains a timeline for completion, set deliverables and acceptance criteria).

H-1B holders comprised 6% of all IT workers among survey respondents in aggregate, with the highest being programmer/coder occupations (16% of H-1B workers).

The IT Benchmarking Report looks at the first half of this year. For a comparison of revenues, Kforce IT Flex revenue was down 3% in 1H23, ASGN Commercial Assignment revenue down 13%, and Robert Half Technology down 13%. In our July Pulse report, data showed June IT staffing revenue was up a median 1% and down 5% on aggregate. For a glimpse into how the second half of 2023 has started, participate in the September Pulse Survey, open until Sept. 19. Visit our surveys page for more info.