Contingent workforce programs could face increased bill rates even as their use of staffing firms rises over the next six months, according to SIA’s most-recent US Staffing Industry Pulse Survey Report.

A successful program depends upon successful relationships with your staffing suppliers. Keeping abreast of the market conditions, challenges and opportunities these partners face enable enterprise buyers to better understand the ecosystem’s environment and make decisions that help all parties.

“The Pulse Report helps to inform contingent workforce buyers,” says Matt Norton, SIA’s workforce solutions research director. “Understanding the opportunities and the challenges that your staffing partners have enables you to be a more educated buyer and better partner. This not only benefits your program and your organization but also benefits the staffing partner and contingent workers. The results of the most recent report highlight some positive momentum for staffing firms in early 2025 after a disappointing 2024, with orders and bill rates projected to pick up over the next six months.”

Provider Landscape

Bill rates. A net 7% of staffing firms reported an increasing trend in bill rates over the last three months, up from -1% in the November 2024 Update report, which reflected US staffing trends in October. In addition, the net percentage of staffing firms expecting an increasing trend in the next six months rose to 20% in the survey for the January 2025 report from 16% in November 2024.

Except for year-over-year declines of 5% in spend on life sciences workers and 1% in both industrial and finance/accounting staffing, the other six segments were flat.

Labor market balance. Average sales difficulty edged down to 3.64 in December from 3.67 in October (on a scale of 1 to 5). Meanwhile, average recruiting difficulty at 3.02 in December was down from 3.08 in the previous survey. Recruiting difficulty minus sales difficulty remains negative, indicating a loose labor market continues after a period in which it was historically tight.

New orders. The survey found new orders increased a net 2% in the last three months, down from an increase of 23% reported in the survey for the November report. However, staffing firms expect the market to heat up, with a net 70% of staffing firms in December’s survey reporting they expect an increasing trend in the next six months, up from 64% in the previous survey.

“Net new orders have been slowly trending upward since early 2023, and while December’s figure could be just a blip that breaks from that trend, it could also be representative of weakness/flatness in the fourth quarter, partly due to uncertainty surrounding the economy and the election,” says Curtis Starkey, senior research analyst at SIA.

Talent Acquisition Technology and the Staffing Tech Stack

The survey for the January Pulse report also asked participating staffing providers to share their planned spending on talent acquisition technology and the the staffing tech stack.

In terms of talent acquisition technology, the highest spending is expected on engagement; a net 68% of companies plan to increase spending on candidate engagement tools in 2025. On the other end, only a net 6% expect to increase spending on candidate verification and assessment.

As for the Staffing Tech Stack, the highest spending is expected to be on automation; a net 41% of companies plan to increase spending on office automation tools in 2025. On the flip side, a net 8% expect to decrease spending on their back-office tech.

The survey for SIA’s most recent Pulse Report included responses from 188 staffing firms that conduct business in the US. CWS Council members can download selected highlights of the US Staffing Industry Pulse Survey Report: January 2025 Selected Highlights.