US Pulse Survey Report: May 2024 Selected Highlights

• Respondents in this month’s Pulse Survey reported a median 1% y/y decrease in their US temporary staffing revenue in April, up from a 5% decrease in February. On aggregate, staffing revenue was down 13% y/y, with larger companies performing comparably worse than smaller companies. Of note, however, median growth was positive or flat in all segments outside of healthcare.
• Median revenue growth was positive in locum tenens (+21%), engineering (+3%), and industrial (+2%) skill segments. Growth was flat in four staffing segments as well as direct hire and retained search. The biggest declines were in the travel nurse staffing (-21%) and per diem nursing (-3%) skill segments.
• This month, we asked participants about the actions their firms had taken in response to current challenges. Overall, the most common action taken was increasing sales headcount (55% of respondents). We also asked companies to share some of the biggest challenges they were currently facing. 51 companies (41%) pointed to difficulties finding new business/job orders. Open-ended responses are shared in the full report.
• Average sales difficulty in April (3.67) was up from 3.56 in our prior survey – sales difficulty is at its highest level since we started tracking such data in 2013, outside of the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Meanwhile, average recruiting difficulty increased from 2.94 to 3.18.
• The net increase in new orders of 4% is down from 7% in the previous survey.
• The full 40-page report contains insights on trends in revenue, bill rates, orders, gross margins, recruiting/sales difficulty, and a 6-month outlook for each staffing skill segment.
• Note: The full report is shared with participants only. If you fill out the survey, you get the full report (the one condition being that your firm has US staffing operations).
• The next Pulse Survey will be in July. We will send out survey invites via email in the first half of that month. You can also participate by visiting our Surveys webpage.

Click below to access the report: