SIA recently published its May 2020 Pulse Survey Report, which captured April’s performance of participating firms and the impact of Covid-19 across staffing segments. The survey is a useful tool for staffing firms to identify shifting trends in the market and to glean insights on how peers are operating during this period. The Pulse Survey is being conducted on a monthly basis to keep the industry informed throughout the global health crisis.
The Pulse Survey continues to demonstrate that IT staffing is more resilient to this recession than most other staffing segments, but it is clearly not immune. Total temporary staffing revenue at the median declined 18% year over year in April, yet firms with IT staffing as their primary segment reported a median decline of just 4% year over year. While this is a significant outperformance among staffing segments, it still reflects a sharp decrease from 5% year-over-year growth reported in March.
An important leading indicator of growth the survey tracks is trends in new orders. Firms are asked whether they have seen new orders increase, decrease, or stay the same over the past three months. The net proportion is calculated by subtracting the proportion reporting a decrease in new orders from the proportion reporting an increase. In the May report (available only to survey participants) a net 59% of surveyed IT staffing firms reported a declining trend in new orders but a net 26% expect a positive outlook for the next six months from the pent-up demand as the economy reopens.
As a metric, new orders exhibit a high degree of volatility from survey to survey. However, examining results over the past year can surface trends. As shown in the chart below, demand remained solid up until Covid-19 related disruption halted activity beginning in March as buyers have deferred or even canceled many non-essential projects.
Net proportion of IT firms reporting an increase in new orders over the last three months
Source: SIA May 2020 Pulse Survey
Of course, new order trends do not necessarily translate to revenue trends as they neglect trends in bill rates and the supply side of the equation. A tighter talent supply has been a recurring constraint on IT staffing growth. However, we are now — perhaps unsurprisingly — seeing some softening within this metric. Still, certain high-end skills in areas such as cloud, security and infrastructure will continue to remain scarce and in high demand.
Corporate members may access our new Pulse Selected Highlights Report for the month of May. The full 41-page research report is only available to survey participants. We invite staffing firms with US operations to participate in our upcoming June Pulse Survey by visiting our Open Surveys page. For any questions on the survey, please contact Curtis Starkey at cstarkey@staffingindustry.com.
