What Is Staffing Industry Analysis?

Staffing industry analysis is a comprehensive study on the current status and future prospects of job placement services. The analysis typically looks at the activities of major companies in the industry over the course of a year in a particular country. It studies revenue, growth and new developments that may affect supply and demand. The findings are compared to the state of the industry in prior years to reach a conclusion regarding whether the staffing industry is stable or unstable, growing or contracting.

Analysts, market researchers, competitors and economists use industry reports to track changes in a country's business sector on a yearly basis. One of the industries that is tracked closely is the staffing industry. The industry is composed of firms that place temporary, contract and permanent employees with companies that have needs or open positions. These types of employment services are a major source of economic activity in many countries around and directly affect unemployment statistics.

The major part of staffing industry analysis concerns establishing the total revenue generated over the course of a year by companies identified as staffing agencies. Major companies that make up the bulk of that revenue are identified and ranked. Often, these companies are surveyed to provide insight into industry specifics, such as the average number of placements a firm makes per day. This data collection culminates in a determination of the size of the staffing industry and the percentage of the country's total economy it represents. In this way, analysts can determine how important the industry is to the overall economy.

There are also specific details that staffing industry analysis is designed to uncover that are important to staffing agencies. This type of analysis reveals the sources of industry revenue. For example, it determines what portion of revenue comes from temporary placements versus permanent placements. Data like this can help staffing agencies direct their resources into revenue sources that have growth potential, rather than into services that have not seen growth in years.

Trends and major challenges are the other types of information that staffing industry analysis is designed to reveal. The report identifies national and international factors that can affect demand or supply in the near future, such as changes to labor laws and shrinking labor forces due to low birth rates. Analysts use the report to determine the state of the industry within a single country or to compare industries in different countries. Staffing industry analysis can indicate which countries have growing markets for employment services and which countries have stagnant markets.