Staffing suppliers are integral to your ability to supply your organization with the appropriate contingent workers, making it imperative to stay informed about the market conditions, challenges and opportunities these partners face.

For example, providers participating in SIA’s recent Staffing Industry Pulse Survey expressed optimism about bill rates and orders, indicating increased use of contingent workers and more competition for talent among enterprise buyers.

“This 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 allows 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 offer some positive indicators that the start of 2025 will be slightly better for staffing firms than a sluggish 2024, with orders and bill rates projected to pick up over the next six months.”

Here’s a look at some trends found within the report.

Provider Landscape

Bill rates. A net -1% of staffing firms reported an increasing trend in bill rates over the last three months, down from 1% in the September 2024 Update report, which reflected US staffing trends in August. However, the net percentage of staffing firms expecting an increasing trend in the next six months rose to 16% in the survey for the November report from 13% in September.

Except for year-over-year declines of 3% in spend on industrial workers and 1% in IT staffing, the other seven segments were flat.

Labor market balance. Average sales difficulty increased to 3.67 in October from 3.52 in August (on a scale of 1 to 5). Although buyers may find staffing provers more flexible or willing to make exceptions they previously would not have, this is not a time for buyers to take advantage of these providers.

“Buyers want their providers to be financially strong and stable during good times and also during these more challenging market conditions,” says Dawn McCartney, SIA’s senior VP CWS Council.

Meanwhile, average recruiting difficulty at 3.08 in October was also up from 3.01 in the previous survey. Recruiting difficulty minus sales difficulty remains negative, indicating a loose labor market after a period in which it was historically tight.

New orders. The survey found new orders increased a net 23% in the last three months, up slightly from an increase of 22% reported in the survey for the September report. And staffing firms expect the market to heat up further, with a net 65% of staffing firms in November’s survey reporting they expect an increasing trend in the next six months, up from 59% in the previous survey.

Tactics to Increase Revenue/Profitability

The survey for the November Pulse report also asked participating staffing firms, “What tactics are you currently using to either increase revenue or increase profitability?”

Of the 89 firms that responded, 29% reported increasing sales, sales staff or marketing efforts. In addition, 12% mentioned expanding services/geographies.

The survey for SIA’s most recent Pulse Report included responses from 173 staffing firms that conduct business in the US. CWS Council members can download selected highlights of the US Staffing Industry Pulse Survey Report: November 2024 Selected Highlights.