Covid-19 is proving to be the biggest shock to the IT staffing market in more than a decade, if not longer. In periods of great uncertainty, market data and analysis take on even greater strategic importance.
One resource available to staffing firms to identify how sudden forces, such as Covid-19, are disrupting the marketplace is SIA’s Pulse Survey. In the March 2020 Pulse Survey, US IT temporary staffing revenue increased 4% year over year in aggregate, down from 9% in the January 2020 survey. The deceleration likely captures early headwinds stemming from Covid-19 in late February.
SIA typically produces its Pulse Surveys on a bi-monthly basis. However, due to the rapidly evolving environment, we will be increasing the frequency of this survey to be monthly. The survey not only exhibits trends specific to IT staffing by revenue, but also gross margin, bill rates, unfilled orders, new orders and recruiting difficulty to better gauge market conditions.
In addition to surveys, SIA updates its US staffing forecast every April and September. Very shortly SIA will be publishing its April update, which includes our finalized market size estimates for 2019, an updated forecast for 2020 (revised due to Covid-19) and we will also introduce estimates for 2021. We encourage corporate members to attend our upcoming Staffing Industry Report Webinar on April 7 where we will discuss our IT staffing forecast in greater depth and providing analysis around the impact of Covid-19 on the sector.
Lastly, for the convenience of our members, we have curated links to SIA reports germane to the current environment in our Covid-19 Resource Center. Importantly, this resource also includes links to some of the best third-party research and insights on business and economic impacts, regulatory changes, and government stimulus plans. We update these links regularly, so we suggest bookmarking it.
In addition to these resources already available or soon to be available, SIA is currently working on several pieces of previously unplanned research to help staffing firms navigate these unforeseen challenges. Stay tuned and be well!
