The May Pulse survey looked at April trends across staffing. Looking just at IT staffing, revenue was up a median 1% year over year but down an aggregate 5% year over year, once again indicating lower growth at larger IT staffing companies. Nonetheless, revenue was slightly up from flat median growth and negative 7% aggregate growth in the previous survey.

And importantly, the net percent of firms reporting positive revenue jumped from down 2% in last survey to up 20% in this month’s, the highest percent in over a year. The trend since just prior to Covid-19 is shown below.

Another important note: From December 2022 to December 2023, the net percent of IT staffing companies reporting increases in new orders was negative, but for the last two surveys, this has been positive. In fact, outside of the initial months of Covid-19, this value has been positive historically.

It appears that things are moving in a positive direction from these graphs. However, the Pulse survey also gave respondents a chance to share challenges they were facing, and this showed there is still uncertainty in the market for IT talent.

Forty percent IT staffing companies who shared specific challenges, referred to difficulties finding new business/job orders and four companies mentioned client delays.

One particular response sums up nicely what a number of IT staffing firms are seeing:

“Navigating delays and deferments of projects, slow hiring decisions and overall lower orders. While we continue to have a massive supply/demand gap in IT talent it is difficult to capitalize by increasing bill rates with clients. Pockets of positive movement but clients are resistant due to their own challenges with inflation and negative market pressures.”

When asked what actions their firms were taking in response to challenges, 61% of IT staffing firm respondents said their firms increased sales headcount and 57% increased marketing spend.

Though momentum is trending upwards, headwinds remain. To see how things go in June, participate in the next (July) Pulse Survey — look for an invite in the beginning of the month, or visit our survey process page. And for those interested in our newly opened UK Pulse Survey, the survey link is also shared on the Surveys page.