Engineering is holding steady in recent months. Per the November 2021 Pulse Survey Report, engineering staffing segment revenues were up a median 15% year over year, which is in line with the 14% increase in the prior (September) survey. Of note, a net 57% of respondents in the September survey reported positive year-over-year revenue growth, but in November, that jumped to a net 83%. A net 53% of engineering staffing companies observed an increasing trend in new orders in the last three months, and a net 58% expect an increasing trend over the next six months.
Per the December 2021 Jobs Report there were 645,000 individuals employed in the natural resources/mining industry group in the US in November 2021, an increase of 8.0% year over year. In October 2021, employment was up 8.9%. While the figure has grown each month since May 2021, it is still 6.5% lower than February 2020. From a broader perspective, the TechServe Alliance reported that engineering employment rose by 0.4% in October month over month to more than 2.6 million jobs, and was up 3.3% year over year. Finally, the SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator for the week ended Dec. 4 shows temporary staffing hours worked in professional occupations (IT, healthcare, finance, engineering, etc.) were up 21% year over year.
While it will be interesting to see where 2021 engineering revenues line up against last year, we have recently looked back at 2020 in our Largest Staffing Firms list reports. Twenty-five firms appeared in the Largest Engineering Staffing Firms in the US: 2021 Update report; the largest engineering staffing firm in 2020 was Actalent (Allegis Group), with engineering staffing revenue greater than $1 billion. The 25 firms on the list accounted for 66% of the engineering staffing market, by SIA’s estimates. Interestingly, the market share of the largest five firms (38%) was at its lowest level since 2009.
In the UK, Morson Group topped the Largest Engineering Staffing Firms in the UK list with 2020 engineering staffing revenue of GBP 729 million. The 12 firms on the list combined for revenue of GBP 2.2 billion, which is 57% of the UK engineering staffing market according to our estimates. Unlike in the US, the market share of the top three and top five firms in the UK increased by 5% over 2019.
Be on the lookout in the first half of 2022 for invites to participate in our Largest Staffing Firms list reports covering year 2021 revenue for all segments/geographies. Meanwhile, the next Pulse Survey will take place in January, which will look at growth over the final month of 2021. To participate in Pulse, Largest Staffing Firms lists, and other reports, look for invite emails or visit our Surveys webpage.
