2022: Where the staffing industry thrives

Who doesn’t want to know where they are headed? I suspect most people do. But to do that you need the big picture.

Thanks to Staffing Industry Analysts’ long-range U.S. forecast, suppliers and buyers of staffing services can be confident in making durable plans. This detailed, 39-page report gives very detailed information, and by occupational category.

First the big picture. “We forecast that the U.S. temporary help services market will grow at a compound annual rate of 4.6% between now and 2022.  Underlying our forecast is our expectation of continued shifts away from the use of independent contractors due to misclassification enforcement, as well as the deepening adoption of temporary workers in both professional and industrial occupations. For example, the utilization of temporary workers in healthcare occupations and construction occupations remains below the national average, and so we believe increasing adoption rates will facilitate future growth in these markets, “says Timothy Landhuis, senior research analyst at SIA.

Within individual categories of employment, there’s a shift to higher-skilled jobs according to Bureau of Labor Statistics projections used in SIA’s analysis. Sectors like healthcare, educational services, professional and business services are expected to expand significantly.

The construction sector also shows among the fastest in projected job growth. The fact is that construction workers may not be getting Ph.Ds, but their job requires certain skills — they use heavy equipment, need to read building plans and know what they are doing. And they can’t be offshored.  

At the same time, some sectors are projected to experience significant job declines. They include manufacturing, utilities and the federal government.

Drops notwithstanding, the good news is that within temporary staffing, we are seeing a compound annual growth rate of more than three percent, indicating that the staffing industry is continuing to grow not just in absolute terms but share of labor force. So both buyers and suppliers have access to a bigger staffing industry and a more flexible labor force. Given the war for talent, this should keep folks smiling — for a long time.