The Swiss temporary staffing sector shrank by 5.8% in 2023 when compared to 2022, according to Swiss Staffing, the Swiss Federation of Staffing Companies. The labour shortage had a major impact on staffing firms’ business development in 2023 as job seekers were less readily available.

Despite the 5.8% decrease in 2023 for the temporary staffing sector, the permanent staffing sector grew for the third year in a row, seeing a rise of 8.7% in 2023 compared with the previous year. The difficult labour market situation for companies had prompted them to increase working with staffing service providers to fill permanent positions.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, both the temporary staffing and permanent staffing sectors saw an annual decline, at 7.2% and −1.2%, respectively. These were the first declines since the pandemic.

Meanwhile, in December 2023, the temporary staffing sector saw a fall of 3.3% when compared to the prior year, while the permanent staffing sector reported an increase.

Research from Swiss Staffing also noted that job ads across Switzerland saw increases in the primary and ancillary construction, trade and healthcare sectors when compared with 2022. 

Bernhard Hänggi, CEO of Randstad Switzerland, said, “There is an increasing amount of seasonality in construction. Building takes place if the weather allows.' To Hänggi, the boom in job advertisements with staffing service providers does not necessarily mean strong business growth in these professions. Instead, the figures show which professional profiles are most affected by the labour shortage among corporate clients. The number of candidates available is therefore directly limiting growth for companies and sectors.

According to Swiss Staffing, given the impending economic slowdown, staffing service providers will once again play a more important role for labour market integration in 2024.

Hänggi said, “The labour market remains robust, the recent increase in unemployment is due to a rise in frictional unemployment. Staffing service providers help to keep this period as short as possible.”

CEOs of staffing service providers are pessimistic about the market’s development. Only a third, or 34%, of respondents to a survey conducted by gfs-zürich on behalf of swissstaffing expect to see an increase in business activities within the next six months.