Staffing Industry Analysts recently published its third annual IT Staffing & Solutions Benchmarking Survey. The survey provides in-depth visibility into the US IT staffing market by gathering data from the past two years on volume and rates by occupation. It also explores industry trends and practices including: VMS/MSP prominence, statement-of-work engagements and client vertical market demand.
The results complement other surveys produced by SIA to help clients benchmark their firms’ financial and operational performance relative to competitors. These include a monthly Pulse Survey, a semiannual Staffing Industry Benchmarking Consortium, and annual surveys issued broadly to staffing firms, large buyer organizations, and temporary workers themselves. What makes the IT Staffing & Solutions Benchmarking survey unique is its strict focus on the IT segment.
The 2018 survey reflects more than $1.7 billion in 2017 IT temporary staffing revenue, generated by 17 participating staffing firms. Aggregate year-over-year revenue growth was 2.1%, slightly lower than the market growth estimated in our US Staffing Industry Forecast: April 2018 Update. Among the 13 specific IT occupations provided as options, software developer/engineer/DevOps accounted for the largest portion of revenue captured by the survey, followed by project manager and business/systems analyst.
The occupations with the highest year-over-year revenue growth rates were cyber/data security, cloud architect and web developer/digital/UI/UX. As software vulnerabilities mount (due in part to cloud migrations) and cyberattacks become more sophisticated, demand for specialized cyber/data security skills continues to exhibit impressive demand. On the other end of the spectrum, the biggest revenue decliner was programmer/coder, reflecting offshoring of many of these roles for lower wages. We mentioned this trend previously in our November 2017 article that analyzed results from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook.
The effects of demand on supply were clearly visible when survey respondents were asked to rate recruiting difficulty for each occupation on a one to five scale, with five indicating extreme difficulty. For the third consecutive year, cyber/data security and cloud architect were rated highest for recruiting difficulty. In contrast, help desk/PC support and technical writer roles were easiest to recruit. The 1.3 average recruiting difficulty for help desk/ PC support is the lowest recruiting difficulty score recorded for any occupation over the three years SIA has conducted this survey.
Average recruiting difficulty, 1-5 scale
While the full report of results is available only to firms that completed the survey, corporate members can access a summary report that presents a sampling of the findings well beyond those covered in this article. If you would like to receive an invitation for your firm to participate in the 2019 survey, please send an email to Brian Wallins at bwallins@staffingindustry.com.
