The recently published Ciett 2016 Economic Report reveals that the global employment and recruitment industry continues to show solid growth and increase both the depth and scope of the HR solutions it provides.

With an annual growth of 8.6% and sales revenues of €450 billion, the sector is in good shape.  From North America to Latin America and from Asia to Europe the industry supports 71.9 million people around the world in securing decent work each year.  It identifies jobs, trains people with the skills they need to succeed in the labour market, and helps them make effective transitions throughout their working lives.

Brazil is the largest market in Latin America, with 2.1 million workers placed by the industry including agency work, recruitment and outplacement.  Mexico is second with 1.7 million workers placed.  Other notable markets in the region include Columbia (596,000); Peru (75,000); Argentina (69,000) and Chile (30,000). Globally, India is the industry’s most significant market with 27.8 million workers placed, followed by the USA (14.6 million), China (8.1 million), Japan (3.1 million), and Europe (11.3 million).

The report, which gathers all the very latest data from Ciett members around the world, demonstrates how the employment and recruitment sector plays a pivotal role in contributing to more efficient labour markets. By acting as a labour market enabler the industry supports companies and workers in adapting to changing demographics, demands and skills.

Our industry is leading in a changing world of work and the professional services and labour market expertise that we provide benefits companies, workers and economies in successfully navigating that change. Added value is delivered in four key areas as the sector enables work, adaptation, security and prosperity. Let’s take a closer look at the contribution it makes to each of them:

Enabling work

The employment and recruitment industry enables work and drives social integration.  It represents a widespread network of labour market professionals with a deep knowledge of local market dynamics and offers the full range of HR services including agency work, permanent recruitment, RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) & MSP (Managed Service Provision), as well as career management.

Agency work grew 12% year on year and represents 70% of the sector’s revenues.  Permanent recruitment is the second largest service accounting for 11% of revenues at €48bn, while RPO represents 6% of sales at €27bn and other HR services 13% of revenue.

Enabling adaptation

The sector enables adaptation to change.  At a global level, it supported five million companies in adapting to changing demand and circumstances over a 12 month period.  It also ensured that almost five million workers around the world received training either directly or through bipartite funds set up by agencies and trade unions. This commitment to lifelong learning supports workers in adapting to the new realities of the workplace and helps them to succeed in the labour market.

Agency workers consistently report high levels of satisfaction and appreciate having their careers managed by professionals. They choose to work through agencies for a variety of reasons – from wanting to achieve better work-life balance, to looking to gain experience or work more flexibly.

Enabling security

As a trusted labour market advisor the sector enables security for both companies and workers. Companies are secure in the knowledge that they can access talent with the skills they need to compete in the marketplace and that they can rely on the industry for tailored-made HR solutions. The industry delivers security to workers by placing them in decent jobs and provides them with stability and income. 30% of people signing with an agency are unemployed, but only 11% return to unemployment at the end of an assignment as the sector provides a stepping stone into the world of work.  Similarly, 43% of people starting agency work were employed before, while 71% then remain in employment.

Enabling Prosperity

As driver of growth the industry enables prosperity.  Companies that use recruitment and employment agencies to meet their staffing needs enjoy turnover growth an average of 5% higher than those who do not. Agencies keep people in employment so support governments by enabling social payments and reducing the level of unemployment allowances.  In addition the industry itself directly employs some 1.6 million staff globally.

While we see pleasing developments our industry is not complacent and is committed to further growth. Today 90% of our global industry revenues are derived from the top 10 markets of China, US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands.  While the more developed markets have an agency penetration rate of 3-4%, the industry represents just 1.6% of the total global working population – so there is certainly room to deepen our role in enabling labour markets around the world.

The full report is available for download at www.Ciett.org/economicreport2016