DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The 2Q 2011 IQNdex shows continued increases in temporary labor bill rates in the U.S., even as unemployment rose the first two months of the quarter. Although U.S. companies saw declining bill rates during the economic downturn, the past seven months have shown steady increases in the rates paid for all job sectors across all U.S. regions. Bill rates for temporary jobs in the Technical-IT sector increased the least of any other job sector, while jobs in business development, financial reporting and regulatory compliance saw the fastest-rising bill rates.
These findings and more are detailed in the IQNdex report released today by IQNavigator Inc. The IQNdex white paper provides analyses on second quarter trends of temporary labor bill rates, including detailed insights into changes by job sector and U.S. geographic region. IQNdex measures the magnitude and direction of change in temporary labor bill rates by skill set and geography that reflect rapidly shifting changes in demand and supply of non-employee workers. These market fluctuations impact U.S. businesses’ financial results and access to temporary worker skillsets as the temporary labor workforce continues to increase in percentage of a typical firm’s total workforce, comprising up to a quarter of the entire U.S. labor force.
Attached to this announcement are two graphics from the IQNdex that illustrate noteworthy trends in the temporary labor market:
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In IT Jobs, Business Skills Command a Premium over Traditionally
Technical Skills
Further analysis of the Technical-IT sector indicates a sharp disparity in the bill rate trends of jobs with different skill sets; those requiring a blend of both business and technical skills have shown significantly higher rate increases than more technical IT jobs focused on development and operational tasks.
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Worker Availability Drives Changes to Temporary Labor Bill Rates
The graphical comparison shows a strong inverse correlation between the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings and the IQNdex of prices, with IQNdex demonstrating upward pressure on temporary labor bill rates when the job seeker/opening ratio is roughly five or below (or, when five or fewer workers are vying for every job opening). During the second quarter of 2011, the job seeker to job opening ratio remained below five, generating continued upward pressure on temporary labor bill rates.
The use of non-employee labor has grown rapidly in the U.S. in recent years as companies rely more heavily on temporary workers, contractors, freelancers and other contingent labor to quickly adjust their labor force and cost structure in response to changing business conditions. The data, benchmarks and analytical findings in IQNdex are the result of a multi-year effort by IQNavigator to develop this first-of-its-kind resource, which can be used by companies to make smarter labor sourcing decisions about how and where to use non-employee workers. The data is also applicable to a broader audience as it provides insights into labor trends that are often indicative of overall economic and employment dynamics.
IQNdex provides highly detailed data about the current bill rates that companies are paying for temporary workers with specific skill sets in U.S. locations, reflecting the true cost of temporary labor to companies. IQNavigator publishes an overview of IQNdex data each quarter at www.IQNtelligence.com, and IQNavigator clients have access to a more complete set of the benchmark and rate information, including market rates by specific geography and worker skill set.
Jason Busch, executive editor of Spend Matters (a procurement industry analyst blog), makes a number of observations from the latest IQNdex report. "On a positive economic note, the Q2 data from IQNdex suggests that the market for contingent workers generally remains healthy based on continued upward wage pressure. This latest data suggests a potentially healthier indicator for the overall U.S. economy than other recent leading indicators including PMI, GDP and consumer spending numbers. However, the 8 percent annualized increase in the first half of 2011 in temporary wage rates is unlikely to be sustainable going into 2012. In addition, the combination of diverse trending patterns for varying job titles and regions suggests the critical importance for procurement, IT and HR organizations to understand the impact of bill rate trends on the contingent resources they are most likely to require in the coming quarters."
“The latest findings in IQNdex further illustrate how much more volatile the bill rates of temporary labor are than permanent wages. Having the ability to understand fluctuations in bill rates in a timely manner greatly impacts how our clients are able to monitor and alter business strategies in response to changing market conditions,” said John F. Martin, chief operating officer of IQNavigator. “Unlike many data sources that rely on surveys or job postings, IQNdex is based on our large database of actual market-clearing transactional rates between buyers and sellers of temporary labor.”
To view the findings and a complete set of charts from the Second Quarter 2011 IQNdex report, or to inquire about a custom MarketIQ or RateIQ analysis, visit www.IQNtelligence.com. In addition to the quarterly IQNdex reports, clients of IQNavigator also gain priority access to custom market rate analyses (MarketIQ) and detailed benchmarking rate reports (RateIQ), which provide temporary labor bill rate analyses by location and skill level of over 130 job titles that have been normalized across millions of assignments.
About IQNavigator
IQNavigator provides software and services that help the world’s best companies manage their extended workforce and procured services in a smarter way—putting the emphasis on “IQ” by giving companies powerful insight into and control over the way they source services and utilize their extensive non-employee workforce. Companies in every sector of the economy and every corner of the world are supplementing their permanent workforce with an extended workforce that enables them to leverage specialized skills, respond quickly to market opportunities, and maintain flexibility in the way they grow. Services procurement and an extended workforce present significant challenges to companies, however, in areas such as visibility, cost control and risk. For more than a decade, IQNavigator has been at the forefront of the industry in providing the software solutions and managed services that address issues inherent with services procurement and extended workforce management, turning those challenges into opportunities for companies to become more nimble, reduce risk and save millions of dollars. For more information about IQNavigator and how its industry-leading offerings such as IQNtelligence are helping many of the world’s most respected companies, visit www.IQNavigator.com.
Note to Editors: Additional graphics and a full white paper are available upon request.
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