The global staffing industry generated $491 billion in revenue worldwide in 2018, with growth of 5% compared to the previous year, according to a new report by Staffing Industry Analysts, the “Global Staffing Industry Market Estimates and Forecast: November 2019 Update.” But revenue growth is expected to decelerate to 2% this year.

A global economic slowdown that has been heavily weighted toward trade and manufacturing is driving the deceleration. Additionally, certain countries, such as Germany and Italy, are feeling the effects of regulatory changes that are unfavorable for temporary staffing.

The report also noted that three countries generated a majority of revenue last year: the US at 30%, Japan at 13% and the UK at 9%. Eighty-nine percent of staffing revenue was made up by temporary staffing and the remainder by place and search.

“We forecast growth to pick up to 3% next year as part of a mild recovery to the current global economic slowdown, though acknowledge a number of external macro-economic and political risks could jeopardize this recovery,” Adam Pode, SIA’s director of research for EMEA and APAC, stated in the report.

The full report with information by country is available to corporate members of Staffing Industry Analysts.