Best year since 2008 for global staffing sector

RA Now

The global private employment services industry showed its strongest results last year since the beginning of the recession, research shows.

A return to growth has been reported in the US, Japan and Europe which together comprise 82% of the industry market, according to according to the Economic Report from Ciett, international confederation of private employment services.

In November 2013 the US Staffing Employment Index reached 102, its highest position in six years and a notable growth of 6.9% year-on-year. The Japanese market has hit a record high since 2008, and now employs 1.1 million agency workers, a staggering growth of 26% compared to Q3 2012. In Europe, the monthly Agency Work Business Indicator has entered positive growth (1.4% in November) for the first time since 2011.

The report also reveals more in depth knowledge about the industry and agency workers around the world. In 2012, almost 36 million individuals around the world worked as an agency worker, filling about 11.5 million full-time positions in an industry worth €299.3 billion. On average, this accounts for about 0.9% of the total working population (penetration rate of agency work).

“The private employment services market is considered to be a leading economic indicator, as it directly correlates with market volatility,” said Fred Van Haasteren, Ciett president. “These positive results for 2013 are welcome news as this market leads the way in economic recovery. This will ultimately benefit job-seekers, employers and economies worldwide.”

One important characteristic of agency workers the research found is that on average they are young, 61% are under 30. The fact that only 32% were employed before undertaking agency work shows that agency work is a champion of transitions from education to work and from unemployment to work. Since 68% of agency workers gained a permanent, full-time contract after working in temporary positions and only 14% returned to unemployment after agency work, the transition also works from short to long-term employment. Around 22 million young people were employed as agency workers in 2012.

“Youth unemployment is still a major concern,” van Haasteren added. “Agency work continues to be an active part of the solution and a stepping stone into the labour market. It is positive to see the high numbers of youth taking the initiative to upskill themselves and gain vital experience in a tough market.”

The report also shows that employers use agency workers for a range of reasons, including dealing with peaks in workload, replacing absent staff and for short-term projects. Nearly three quarters (74%) of employers report that they would not consider hiring permanent workers as an alternative to agency work. There are a range of sectors that take advantage of agency workers, with services and manufacturing employing 71% of agency workers in 2012.

“This demonstrates that agency work increasingly complements the traditional direct employer-employee full-time, permanent relationship” said Denis Pennel, Ciett managing director. “Customised career paths and agile organisations are the response to global economic uncertainty and the speed of 21^st century business.”