Jan. 9, 2020 IT Staffing Report Explore A strong labor market and unemployment at historically low levels - 3.5% as of December 2019 - has continued to drive demand for staffing services. This is particularly the case within the IT staffing segment. Eyeing 11 consecutive years of growth Shweta Palekar | January 7, 2020 Geopolitical uncertainty and recession fears served as headwinds on the economy through much of 2019. However, a strong labor market and unemployment at historically low levels - 3.5% as of December 2019 - have continued to drive demand for staffing services.Click to find out more IT leaders plan increased hiring in first half of year, most to bring on interim pros January 7, 2020 IT decision makers in the US plan more hiring in the first half of 2020, but hiring challenges persist, according to a survey from Robert Half Technology. The survey found 69% anticipate expanding their team in the next six months, up two points from a similar survey for the second half of 2019.Nearly all IT managers polled, 96%, plan to bring on interim professionals.Click to find out more Detroit-headquartered IT staffing firm QStride to be acquired by India-based consultancy January 7, 2020 QStride Inc., a Detroit-based provider of IT staffing, struck a deal to be acquired by Drisla Inc., a provider of consulting in blockchain, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.Drisla is based in Hyderabad, India, with a US office in Princeton, New Jersey.In the deal, Drisla will acquire QStride's assets and customer contacts; it intends to fund the transaction with cash and debt financing.QStride founder and CEO Shane Gianino said the deal represents an important building bloClick to find out more BG Staffing acquires assets of cybersecurity retained search firm January 7, 2020 BG Staffing Inc. (NYSE: BGSF) acquired substantially all the assets of L.J. Kushner & Associates LLC, a provider of cybersecurity retained search services for high- and midlevel security professionals.Plano, Texas-based BG Staffing paid $8.5 million in cash and issued $1.0 million of common stock, subject to a working capital adjustment.Click to find out more Skills mismatch, H-1B visas remain issues in new year January 7, 2020 2020 represents a bright new year moving forward, but some of the same issues that affected 2019 appear poised to have an impact on 2020 as well.From the skills mismatch, to H-1B visas to legislative challenges, here is what some staffing industry executives expect the New Year to bring:Skills mismatch. "The demand on the client side is still consistently high," said Ranjini Poddar, co-founder and CEO of Artech LLC, a New Jersey-headquartered provider of IT staffing.Click to find out more NTT Data Services acquires IT services firm Nete January 8, 2020 IT staffing provider NTT Data Services has acquired Nete, an IT services provider based in McLean, Virginia.Click to find out more IT jobs tick down on supply constraints: TechServe Alliance January 8, 2020 The number of jobs in IT ticked down 0.01% year over year in November despite an otherwise upbeat jobs report for the month, according to a report from the TechServe Alliance, a trade association of the IT and engineering staffing and solutions industry.Click to find out more ‘Perk fatigue’ Is causing talent to take a deeper look — The Staffing Stream January 8, 2020 In a candidate-short market, companies are increasingly using perks in an attempt to attract and keep employees. It's becoming a bit of a perk economy, with in-house baristas, massages at your desk and free lunches provided to lure top talent - and it all sounds pretty good on the face of it.Click to find out more Solvera Solutions acquires IT specialists provider in Winnipeg January 8, 2020 Solvera Solutions, an IT consulting firm based in Western Canada, acquired Apptius Computer Solutions, a provider of IT specialists based in Winnipeg, Manitoba."Apptius is very well regarded in the marketplace and the addition of the highly skilled Apptius team strengthens Solvera's ability to meet client needs in Winnipeg and across western CanadaClick to find out more Robust staffing M&A activity, private equity a big player January 8, 2020 Selling can be the ultimate end-goal for many staffing firm owners, and that bodes well as far as the market goes. Of late, it's been holding up satisfactorily, with private equity having a significant presence.Staffing merger-and-acquisition activity in the US remains robust, according to several M&A specialists.Click to find out more