Economic Report 2022

About the World Employment Confederation
The World Employment Confederation is the voice of the private employment services industry at a global level,
representing national federations as well as workforce solutions companies from across the world. Members of theWorld Employment Confederation represent a wide range of HR services, including agency work, direct recruitment,
career management, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Provider (MSP).
The World Employment Confederation works to broaden recognition of the positive economic and social role which
the private employment services industry plays in enabling work, adaptation, security and prosperity. This role involves
building networks with relevant stakeholders including policy makers, social partners and the academic world; settinghigh recruitment and employment standards and practices; acting as a thought-leader shaping futureproof andcompetitive labour markets and providing strategic data on employment issues.
Should you have any questions regarding the facts and figures published in this Economic Report, do not hesitate to
get in touch with the World Employment Confederation’s Head Office at info@wecglobal.org.

Contents

1

Foreword

02

Overview of Private Employment Services
Key Findings

03
04

Private Employment Services Industry

05

HR services
Agency Work
Direct Recruitment
Career Management
MSP
RPO

12
18
19
20
21

Regional focus
North America
South America
EuropeAsia Pacific

22
23
24
25

WEC Intelligence Resources & Products

26

Glossary

27

Methodology

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WEC Economic Report 2022

Foreword2020 was a historic year in many respects. The COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world andplunged economies into recession and labour markets into freefall. Countries around theworld put in place unprecedented measures to curb infections and safeguard public health.
Measures such as social distancing, restrictions on migration and sectoral lockdowns cameat a significant cost to economic growth. At the same time, governments delivered massive financial support programmes to help businesses and workers. While the struggle withthe pandemic continues into a third year in 2022 and recovery from the global crisis is still
underway, it is important to look back and assess the impact of the pandemic and to draw
lessons from the past.
The private employment services industry was one of many sectors to see a decline in thefirst year of the pandemic. Turnover of the entire industry, bringing together the five service segments agency work, direct recruitment, career management, Managed Services
Providers (MSP) and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), contracted by 9% in 2020.
This decline marks a halt to the positive annual growth seen for the past couple of years but
comes as no surprise.
Despite this challenging context, the private employment services industry focused morethan ever on making a clear and positive contribution in supporting people, businesses, andlabour markets. In 2020, our industry placed more than 58 million people in labour markets
globally. By providing training opportunities, facilitating job transitions, fostering inclusiveness,and providing supplementary access to social benefits, the sector played a crucial role inmitigating the impact of the crisis. This role was particularly needed in the healthcare sector,
which, thanks to agency work, was appropriately staffed and equipped to weather the crisis.
We encourage you to consult our annual Social Impact Reports which provide evidence andanalyses of how the private employment services sector generates more value for workers.
In 2021, we already experienced strong growth in the private employment services industry,
as many of the largest markets began their recovery quickly after the initial and unprecedented downturn of the second quarter of 2020. As conditions improved and businesses
adapted to the new uncertainty brought about by the pandemic, economies and labour markets picked up again. Higher-frequency indicators for the private employment services sector
show that as of the end of 2021, several of the largest markets are already back to pre-crisis
levels in terms of activity and turnover.
As the world of work reinvents itself, the future of the private employment services industry
can only be bright! Our sector is certainly ready to seize the opportunities ahead.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

Denis Pennel
Managing Director

Even Hagelien
Chair of the Economic
Affairs Committee

Private Employment Services
Overview of the private employment services represented in this reportManaged Services
Providers
Agency WorkIs a triangular employment relationship,
defined in ILO Convention 181 as: “Services
consisting of employing
workers with a view tomaking them available
to a third party, who may
be a natural or legal person (“user enterprise”)
which assigns their tasks
and supervises the execution of these tasks”.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

MSP is a service whereby
a company takes on
primary responsibility for
managing an organisation’s contingent
workforce programme.
Typical responsibilities of an MSP include
overall programmemanagement, reporting
and tracking, supplierselection and management, order distribution
and often consolidated
billing. An MSP may or
may not be independentof a staffing provider.

DirectRecruitment
Services for matchingoffers and applications for employment,
without the private
employment agency
becoming a party to theemployment relationships which may arise
therefrom (Source:
ILO Convention 181),
including executive
search and selection.

CareerManagement
Recruitment
Process
Outsourcing
A service by a thirdparty specialist provider,to assume the role ofthe client’s recruiting
department by owningand managing part or
all of its recruitment
process and related
recruitment supply
chain partner relationships, provide the necessary skills, activities,
tools, technologies, andprocess methodologies.

Services which enable
jobs, skills and businessperformance to beviewed in an integrated
way and with a longterm perspective. It
includes primarily
services such as
outplacement andcareer transition,
redeployment andother development
activities designed tohelp organisations
and individuals tomanage changes in thepractices, processes,
conditions and basis of
employment.

Key Findings

In 2020, when the global COVID-19 pandemic turned economies, labour markets
and societies upside down, the private employment services industry, like manyother sectors, was heavily impacted. Turnover for the global industry declined by
9.0% in 20201, compared with a 3.1% contraction of global GDP (International
Monetary Fund). Agency work turnover, the largest segment of the private employment services industry, was down by 10.0% globally. Direct recruitment turnover
dropped by 16.3%, while the MSP and RPO markets contracted by 3.3% and 10.3%
respectively. As entire sectors closed for much of the year in order to contain the
pandemic, and the services sector – the major share of agency work activities –was especially affected, these declines came as no surprise. On the other hand,the career management industry grew in 2020, due its countercyclical nature.
In economic downturns accompanied by waves of dismissals, the career management industry, and in particular outplacement services, are much needed totransition laid off personnel to new employment opportunities.
The largest 15 agency work markets generated 93% of global sector revenues,
while the 15 largest direct recruitment markets accounted for 95% of the global
turnover in that segment of the private employment services industry. Nearly all ofthese markets declined in 2020. Most of them saw drops in the double-digit range,
with the US agency work and direct recruitment turnover down by 12% and 29%
respectively.2 The UK markets contracted by 9% and 38%3 and Germany, France
and the Netherlands fared similarly, at least when looking at the agency work markets. Japan, the second largest agency work market after the United States, is the
only market to have grown in 2020 when looking at revenues. A part of the growthin the Japanese market can be attributed to rising salaries of agency workers due
to regulatory changes, which in turn resulted in an inflation of agencies’ fees.
1 All growth rates throughout the report are in Euro terms. For conversion, the annual averageexchange rate for the respective year as reported by the OECD was applied
2 -11% and -25% in local currency
3 -8% and -37% in local currency

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WEC Economic Report 2022

The number of workers placed in jobs by the private employment services sector
dropped drastically in most countries in 2020. In total, the industry placed 58 million people in the labour market in that year. When excluding China, one of the
few markets which saw an increase in the number of people placed in jobs, 2020
saw an 11% drop in the number of people placed by the agency work sector.
The global penetration rate of the agency work sector also dropped in 2020. The
rate which indicates the share of agency workers in full-time equivalents among
the working population was at 1.5%, down from 1.6% in the year before the pandemic. Sector activity tends to be highly cyclical. The flexibility provided to labour
markets by agency work services acts, on the one hand, as a shock absorberto businesses needing to quickly scale down operations, leading to a relatively
quicker reduction in sector activity during uncertainty at the onset of an economic
downturn. On the other hand, employment in the sector expands more rapidly
than in the overall labour market once conditions show signs of improvement, asbusinesses can quickly hire new workers.
Looking ahead, agency work markets around the world are experiencing a remarkable recovery. The most recent country data indicates several countries being
close to or above pre-crisis levels once again towards the second half of 2021
when looking at both volume and value of the agency work sector. While thiscurrent edition of the Economic Report focuses on the year 2020, it is expectedthat in 2021 the industry made up for much of the losses experienced during theprevious, unprecedented year.

Private Employment Services Industry
Private Employment Services Industry Global Market
2020: €465.8bn
Agency Work: €361.4bn

78%

Top 5 Markets (sales revenues)
2020: €293bn

DirectRecruitment:€59.4bn63%

13%...through an agency €268.7bn

58%

MSP
€37.8bn
8%...through an MSP €92.6bn

20%

RPO: €5.1bn
Career Management: €2.2bn

1%

Note: Statistics gathered from WEC members and Staffing Industry Analysts. Around 71% of MSP
activities fall under agency work. This is represented in the split of agency work revenues.

5|

WEC Economic Report 2022of global revenues

Total turnover of the global private employment services industry in 2020 isestimated at €465.8 billion ($532 bn).
Once again, the agency work sector generated the major share of revenues
among all five HR service segments of the industry, contributing 78% of global
revenues. Agency work revenues stood at €361.4 billion ($412.7 bn) in 2020.
The revenue share of activities which are purely attributed to Managed Services
Provision (MSP) is estimated to be around 8% in 2020 (€37.8 billion), while themajority of MSP activities can actually be attributed to the agency work sector. Direct recruitment activities resulted in revenues of €59.4 billion ($67.8bn), equivalent to 13% of the global industry turnover. Recruitment Process
Outsourcing (RPO) and career management markets remain relatively small insize, at €5.1 billion ($5.8 bn) and €2.2 billion ($2.5 bn) respectively.
While the estimates in this report only include countries that are members of
the World Employment Confederation, their combined market share of the
global private employment services market is close to 100%.

PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INDUSTRY

2021 agency work markets rapidly recovered from much of the losses from 2020%

Agency work activity - Europe (quarterly y-o-y change)

GDP growth - EU28 (quarterly y-o-y change)

‘13

‘18

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20

6

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WEC Economic Report 2022

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘21
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘20
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘19
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘17
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘16
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

In 2021, economic and labour market conditions improved in many countries.
Output in most OECD countries surpassed their pre-crisis levels (OECD). The estimated global loss in working hours for 2021 is 4.5% for the baseline scenario,
compared with 9% in 2020 (ILO). Migrant employment had bounced back as well(OECD). With these improved conditions, the agency work industry around theworld recovered rapidly from the major decline in 2020. The United States, thelargest agency work market globally, already reached pre-crisis levels in the second quarter of 2021. During that period, the volume of agency work assignments
grew by 50% on average compared to the second quarter of 2020, when theindustry experienced its most pronounced contraction. In the subsequent quarters, agency worker volumes continued expanding on a year-on-year basis, up 31%
in Q3 and up 21% in Q4 of 2021.

‘15
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘14
Q4

Q1

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘12
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘11
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘10
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘09
Q4

Q1

Q2

‘08

-40

Q2

-30

In Europe, the sector’s recovery has not been as quick as in the United States, butnonetheless impressive, with most markets being close to pre-crisis levels towards
the end of 2021 and some having already surpassed them. The second quarter of2021 saw impressive growth in agency work activity, up 54% compared with thesame quarter in 2020. Here, as in the United States, growth was unprecedented.
This is largely due to the fact that the base period for comparison is the quarter
during which the impact of the pandemic-induced crisis peaked and resulted in themost pronounced declines observed since these statistics started being collected.
Agency work activity in Europe also continued expanding in the subsequent twoquarters on average, although at a slower pace. The positive growth rates only justabout outpaced the rates of contraction seen in the same quarters of 2020.

Source: WEC members; Eurostat

PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INDUSTRY%

Agency work activity - US (quarterly y-o-y change)

GDP growth - US (quarterly y-o-y change)

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
-30

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘21
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘20
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘19
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘18
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘17
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘16
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘15
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘14
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘13
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘12
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘11
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘10
Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

‘09
Q4

Q1

7

Q2

‘08

-40

Comparing the current crisis to the previous global crisis, the impact on the sector
has been more pronounced and rapid as is the case for economies and labour
markets in general. At the same time, the recovery, while not fully achieved at theend of 2021, is just as fast and pronounced.

the first sectors to expand again at the turnaround point, when economic outlook
improves after a downturn. In Europe, the agency work sector started expanding
again on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter of 2021, while overall GDP growth
remained negative but close to zero, signalling the onset of the recovery.

The agency work sector remains a sound indicator of where the economy is heading. Historically, sector activity has been highly correlated to GDP growth. Generally,
the flexible employment element characteristic of agency work means that, atthe onset of a contraction, activity in the sector declines before a drop in overall
employment rates – typically a lagging indicator. This was visible throughout the
global financial crisis and is also observed during the crisis induced by the COVID-19
pandemic. On the other hand, agency work activity is, for the same reasons, among

The most recent monthly and quarterly statistics on agency work sector developments can be accessed on the World Employment Confederation website, in a
regularly updated briefing document.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

Source: American Staffing Association; Federal Reserve Bank of St. LouisPRIVATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INDUSTRY

Most services decline, except career management

Global sales revenues of service segments:

2020% change2019 | 2020

Career management€2.2bn+14%

RPO€5.1bn-10%

Direct recruitment

MSP (including
agency work
activities)

Agency work
(excluding MSP
activities)

8

2019

|

WEC Economic Report 2022

-16%€59.4bn€130.5bn-3%€268.7bn-10%Note: Statistics gathered from WEC members and Staffing Industry Analysts.

PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INDUSTRY

The private employment services industry market size contracted by 9.0% between 2019 and2020, when the global COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent containment measures resulted
in the first global economic contraction in more than ten years (IMF). With global supply
chains disrupted, labour migration largely restricted and entire economic sectors having beenclosed, private employment services faced a difficult environment in which to operate. In thesecond quarter of 2020, the share of the global workforce living in countries with required
closures for all but essential workplaces stood as high as 70% (ILO). 2020 therefore marked ahalt to the positive annual growth observed over previous years.
Agency work, the largest segment of the private employment services industry, drove mostof the industry’s decline and saw an annual drop in turnover of 10.0%. The direct recruitment market size saw more a pronounced decline, albeit from a smaller base, down 16.3% in
2020. Turnover generated by MSP activities was down by 3.3% globally, while RPO revenues
dropped by 10.3%. Outplacement, the main type of services delivered by the career management industry, was the only segment of the private employment services industry to experience growth in 2020. Up by 14%, the outplacement sector benefitted from its countercyclicalnature in that demand for its services expanded greatly amid the layoff waves seen during the
COVID-19 crisis.
Virtually all countries were affected by the pandemic, and most have introduced some form ofcontainment measures to limit the spread of the virus. These direct influences, along with indirect negative impacts due to global supply chain disruptions, led to economic contractions
around the world. In effect, nearly all agency work and direct recruitment markets declined in
2020, many of them at double-digit rates.
The decline in the global MSP market was primarily driven by the Europe, Middle East andAfrica (EMEA) region and the Americas, with the smaller Asia Pacific (APAC) region having seen
an expansion in the market in 2020. RPO markets declined across all three regions.
Growth in outplacement was seen across all large markets in 2020, with the US market experiencing particularly strong growth, driving much of the positive evolution of the sector globally.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

-9.0%
y-o-y

€466bnGlobal private
employment
services industry
2020
Agency work
Direct recruitment
Career management
Recruitment Process
Outsourcing
Managed Services
ProvidersPRIVATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INDUSTRY

The number of service providers decreases in most countries

Temporary work agencies
In 2020, a combined 190,000 private employment agencies
were operating in the 40 countries around the world where
figures were available.
Branches of agencies around the world employed 3.7 million
people (based on figures from 35 countries), delivering
employment services to companies and individuals.
In most countries, the number of agencies and internal staff
declined in the first year of the pandemic. One of the few
countries where 2020 saw an increase in operating agencies
and employed staff is China (+16%,+15%). When excluding
China and considering those countries for which comparable
figures were available for 2020 and 2019, the number of agencies operating dropped by 3.9% in 2020, while the number ofinternal staff decreased by 8.6% in the same year.11
These agencies provide client companies and workers withvarious HR services including agency work, direct recruitment,
career management, MSP and RPO. Complementing the public
employment services, they contribute to well-functioning
labour markets by matching employers with jobseekers.
The majority of agencies are in Europe, followed by Asia Pacific,
North America and South America. For more regional market
information, consult the “Regional Focus” section of this report.

PrivateEmployment
Agencies:

Direct recruitment agencies

190,000

Managed Services Providers
Recruitment Process Outsourcing
Career management firms

Internal Staff:

3.7
MILLION

1 When including China, the number of operating agencies and internal staff grew by
4.1% and 6.8% respectively in 2020.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

NOTE: Real figures are most likely higher, as statistics for all countries were not available.

PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INDUSTRY

58 million people were placed in the labour market in 2020
Agency work headcounts (000’s), 2020
In 2020, at least 58 million people were placed in
38 countries around the world in the labour market
by private employment agencies.
The agency work sector placed the vast majority but recorded a year-on-year decline of 11% (ifonly including countries for which comparable
figures for 2020 and 2019 were available). This
figure excludes China, where the number of people placed by the sector saw an increase of 64%
between 2019 and 2020.1 The largest contractionsin the number of placements happened in Brazil,
India and the United States. In the vast majority ofcountries, with very few exceptions, the number ofagency workers dropped.
China overtook the United States in 2020 as themarket with most people placed in jobs by theagency work sector, accounting for more than
one-third of all agency workers placed in jobs globally. In Japan, the number of agency workers rose
as well. Mexico also saw an increase in the numberof workers placed by the sector, surpassing 5 million in 2020, a year before regulation prohibiting
the sector from operating came into effect. The ten
countries which placed the most agency workers
account for more than 90% of all agency workers
placed in jobs globally.

1 When including China, the global number of people placed by theagency work sector saw an increase of 6% in 2020.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

China

19,290Australia

431

Slovenia*

34

USA

13,600

Switzerland

347

Romania*

33

Japan

6,187

South Africa

220

Russia32

Mexico5,300

Sweden179

Greece31

France2,400

Slovakia*

112

Bulgaria

30

India

1,000

Austria*

89

Lithuania*

27

Netherlands

926

Norway70

Denmark*

17

Germany

783

Portugal*

64

Latvia*

16

Italy

736

Czechia*

61

Croatia*

15

Brazil

720

Ireland48

Hungary*

13

Spain

666

Chile

45

Estonia5

Poland661

Argentina

45

Luxembourg*

3

Belgium

607

Finland*39* Eurostat

Number ofpeople placed byprivate employment
agencies globally:

Numberof placements
through direct
recruitment:

Numberof placements
through temporary
work agencies:

MILLIONMILLIONMILLION58

355

HR SERVICES

Nearly all agency work markets register unprecedented contraction

3.4
36.7

4.9

15.8

5.3

27.2

17.1

8.4

4.7

10.0

107.1

65.7

4.7

5.1

18.3
Top 15 agency work markets, sales revenues (billion €) | annual change (%), 2020

12

|

USA

Japan

UK

Germany

Australia

FranceNetherlands

Italy

Switzerland

Belgium

India

Canada

China

Spain

Sweden

107.1

65.7

36.7

27.2

18.3

17.1

15.8

10.0

8.4

5.3

5.1

4.9

4.7

4.7

3.4

-12

2

-9

-13

-

-22

-11

-5

-1

-14

-16

-16

-4

-15

-14%

%

%

WEC Economic Report 2022

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Note: Statistics gathered from WEC members and Staffing Industry Analysts. Figure for the Netherlands is an estimate based on CBS figures. All growth rates are in Euro terms.

HR SERVICES

In 2020, the 15 largest agency work markets represented 93% of the sector’s global turnover. The threelargest markets – the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom – contributed 58% of the total. The
US agency work industry remained by far the largest market, generating 30% of the global turnover.
Europe is the largest region when looking at regional agency work market values, with nine of the largest
15 markets being located in the region. These markets contributed a combined 36% of sector turnover tothe global figure. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis, all agency work
markets in the region have contracted drastically in 2020. Most agency workers in Europe are employed in
the services sector, which was shut down for a significant length of time in 2020 during the various phasesof containment measures, resulting in these market declines across Europe. France was the hardest hit(-22%), followed by Spain (-15.3%), Belgium (-14.3%), Sweden (-14.1%), Germany (-12.5%), the Netherlands(-10.5%), the United Kingdom (-9.3%), Italy (-4.8%) and Switzerland 1 (-1.1%).
The US agency work market contracted by 12.3% in 2020 due to the global crisis,2 while the Canadianmarket declined by 16.1%.
Turning to the Asia and Pacific region, agency work markets have been more resilient during the pandemic. The Japanese agency work market grew by 1.9% in 2020. This is partly due to the strength of the
manufacturing sector, but also due to regulatory changes stipulating equal pay for agency workers taking
effect. As a consequence of the salary increases, agencies’ rates and turnover were inflated. In Australia,
the agency work market size, while having remained stable in Euro terms, actually expanded in constantcurrency terms.
While 2020 brought about major declines in the agency work sector around the world, 2021 is marked
by a steady recovery of those losses. Many of the largest markets which saw a contraction in 2020
have reached pre-crisis levels again as of Q4 2021. These include Canada, France, Italy, Sweden andthe United States. The Dutch, German and Swiss agency work markets remain slightly below, but close
to their 2019 levels.

1
2

13

In constant currency, the Swiss agency work market contracted by 4.7% in 2020.
In constant currency, the US agency work market contracted by 11% in 2020.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

HR SERVICES

Agency work penetration rates drop in many countries
Agency work penetration rate, 2020 (%)

1.6

1.7%

GLO BAL

1.5 %

1.5

1.6

APAC
1.7

1.7

1.8

2.0

2.1

2.3

2.3

2.5

2.6

2.9

Note: Rates are calculated by dividing the number of agency workers
in full-time equivalents (sources: WEC members; estimates based onheadcount and average headcount/FTEs ratio) by the working-age
population (source: ILO). Regional rates were calculated by dividing
the sum of FTEs by the sum of the working-age population.

1.2

1.2

1.2

E URO PE

SK SE

IT

SI NO PL ES CZ LV

14|WEC Economic Report 2022

IE

0.02

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.2

0.2

0.2

0.3

0.3

0.3

0.3

0.4

0.4

0.5

0.5

0.6

0.6

0.7

1.1

A M E R I C A S 1.1%

0.7

UK NL CN JP FR BE AU CH AT DE US

1.2 %FI GR PT LU HR AR BR EE LT DK CL RO HU IN RU

HR SERVICES

In 2020, the global weighted average penetration rate of the agency work sector stood at 1.5%, a decline
from 1.6% in 2019. This rate represents the share of agency work in overall employment and can be
subject to various factors. Labour market regulation typically plays an important role, as more restrictive
policies in terms of hiring flexible workers tend to reduce the share of agency workers. Some countries
can be characterised as having a more liberal approach to labour market regulation and hiring and firing,weighing the trade-off between efficiency and responsiveness in labour market transitions on the one
hand and job protection on the other. Another factor can be the maturity of the agency work sector withina country. A higher penetration rate typically indicates an industry that has moved closer to maturity, while
low penetration rates showcase to an extent the potential future growth of the sector in the country.
Due to the flexible nature of agency work, sector employment tends to drop before overall employment
during an economic contraction. This explains the decline of the share of agency work employment in
the year of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. In particular, agency workers currently still havepotentially reduced access to the much used short-time working-/ or furlough schemes, which prevented
massive increases in the number of unemployed, specifically in Europe. This could however also meanthat the real share of agency work within actual hours worked among employed people is underestimatedfor 2020, as employment was artificially kept under control in many countries. The Americas saw the largest decline in the regional penetration rate, due to a massive contraction in the number of agency workers
in Brazil, and a fall in the share in the United States – the region’s two largest countries in terms of total
employed people. In the APAC region, the share of agency work among total employment has grown in
2020, with increases seen in China and Japan.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

HR SERVICES

Services sector employs majority of agency workers, with regional differences
Sectoral distribution of agency workers across regions (%)
3
3

1

3

10
25

20

13

6

19

23
6

3

3
7
48

55

GlobalAPAC

32EuropeSouth America

1

2

8

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia

Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand

0

20
6

11

At a global level, the largest shareof agency workers are employedin the services sector (49%),
while one-fourth work in the
manufacturing industry (25%).
Construction is the third largest
sector at 10%, while the agricultural sector employs just 3% ofagency workers globally.

34

34

37
57
3

54

40
12

1

Eastern Europe

Central & Northern Europe

Southern Europe

Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Poland,
Romania, Russia

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland.

Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain

Agriculture

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WEC Economic Report 2022

36
43

10

49

2

2

Manufacturing

Construction

Services

Public Administration

OtherHR SERVICES

Agency workers in the healthcare sector:

2019

2020

%
30

+10.0%
25

20

15

10

+4.0%
5

+0.7 %

+0.6

+1.0%

+2.5%

%

+0.5%

0

Taking a closer look at the services sector, the share of agency workers working
in healthcare services increased in a number of countries during the period of the
COVID-19 pandemic. As many branches of the services industry were shut down
for a significant time, other sectors experienced shortages in worker numbers,in particular essential and “frontline” sectors. Private employment agencies were17|

WEC Economic Report 2022

well-placed to reallocate workers from shut-down occupations to areas where
they were much needed, in effect mitigating the impact of the crisis on employment, while simultaneously providing relief to care workers who were heavily burdened during the health crisis.

HR SERVICES

Direct recruitment is the service most impacted in nearly all countries

Top 15 markets in direct recruitment,-29%

sales revenues (billion €), 2020,

The global direct recruitment market size dropped to €59 billion in 2020, down by 16.3% from its 2019 level. Turnover inthat segment contracted more sharply than the agency work
market, both globally and in most countries. As the year 2020
was marked by high uncertainty in terms of the evolution ofcontainment measures, employers were reluctant to create
open-ended positions for recruiters to fill.

15.4

The United States, Australia and China were the largest markets
in the direct recruitment sector in terms of value, together generating 57% of the global sector’s turnover in 2020.

-2%
9.8

change 2019/2020 (%)
Much of the decline in the global market size is attributed tothe sharp contraction in the United States, which saw a dropof 29% in 2020. While the United States remained the largest
direct recruitment market, its share of global turnover dropped
from one-third to one-fourth between 2019 and 2020.
APAC remained the best performing region, with Australia,
China and Japan’s combined direct recruitment market contributing 39% to the global market size. Japan was the only
market which did not contract during the year of the COVID19 pandemic, while Australia and China saw less pronounced
contractions than the rest of the world.
In Europe, many markets saw double-digit contractions in theirdirect recruitment markets, with the United Kingdom, one of
the region’s largest markets, down more than any other market(-38%). The Swiss direct recruitment market value also took asignificant hit (-32%), as did Ireland (-23%), Italy (-11%), Spain(-10%) and the Netherlands (-9%)

-4%
8.4

-5%
6.4

+9%
4.8

-38%
3.6

-23%
2.9

-8%
1.1

USA

18

|

Australia

China

WEC Economic Report 2022

GermanyJapan

UK

IrelandNew
Zealand

-11%
1.0

Italy

-10%

-26%

-32%

-9%

-9%

-26%

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.4

0.4

Spain

India

Switzerland

South
Korea

Netherlands

South
AfricaNote: Statistics gathered from WEC members and Staffing Industry Analysts. Germany figure is preliminary, based on 2020 growth rate obtained from the national statistics office.

HR SERVICES

Career management grows due to counter-cyclical nature
Top 10 career management markets, sales revenues (billion €), 2020

0.77

0.35

0.22

0.19

0.14

0.11

0.10

0.09

0.09

0.08

USA

FranceNetherlands

Japan

UK

Germany

Australia

SwedenBelgium

CanadaThe global career management sector’s market size expanded by 14% in 2020,
reaching €2.2 billion. Career management is the only segment among the five
services of the private employment services industry to have grown in 2020.
Outplacement and career transition services, which represent the majority ofactivity and turnover in the sector, support companies and individuals whenemployees need to be laid off, by guiding and preparing them for the next step intheir careers. Being countercyclical, demand for such services tends to increaseduring economic downturns. Amid large waves of layoffs resulting from theimpacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, career management services were therefore
much sought after in 2020, explaining the expansion of the sector.
Much of the growth in the global market size was driven by a significant expansion
in the US market for outplacement, which represents more than one-third of the
global turnover of the sector. In the United States, the government spent relatively
fewer resources on keeping workers employed through the use of short-time

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WEC Economic Report 2022

working schemes, unlike in many European countries. Consequently, the number oflayoffs was much higher and demand for outplacement services grew faster. The US
market was up around 30% in 2020. While the market grew relatively more in termsof the volume of workers who received outplacement services in the United States,
high demand in some specific sectors resulted in shorter transition programmes,
as people needed to be moved to new jobs quickly. Shorter programmes, as aconsequence, resulted in a slightly muted increase in the value of the market.
Together with the US market, the French and Dutch career management markets
generated nearly two-thirds of the global market size. Most large European
outplacement markets also saw pronounced growth in 2020, albeit less strong
than in the United States. Massive investment in short-time working schemes kept
the number of people being laid off under control, resulting in a relatively slower
increase in demand for outplacement services. European markets grew by around
8% in 2020.

Note: Based on estimations by members of the World Employment Confederation’s Career Management Task Force.

HR SERVICES

MSP markets decline in Americas and EMEA, but hold steady in APACManaged Services Providers, regional market value (billion €)Americas

EMEA

APAC

Global

135

116
106
9

10
37

119
10

13
46

130
13
43

42

33

77
63

2016

20

|

69

2017

WEC Economic Report 2022

74

67

2018

2019

2020

The global Managed Services Provider (MSP) market was estimated at
a value of €130 billion in 2020, an annual decline of 3.3%. Representing
57% of the global spend, the Americas is the largest region, home totwo of the three largest MSP markets – the United States and Canada.
By far the largest MSP market, both in the region and globally, is theUnited States, generating 52% of global MSP revenues. The regional
MSP market spend in the Americas dropped by 3% in 2020.
The second largest region is Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA),
generating one-third of global spend. Nearly half of the region’s MSP
spend was generated in the UK, which was also the second largest
MSP market globally. The EMEA region was the hardest hit in termsof MSP market size, down by 5% in 2020. Around one-tenth of global
MSP spend was generated in the Asia and Pacific region (APAC), with
Australia and India being the strongest markets. The APAC region held
steady in 2020, up by 1% compared to 2019.
Despite the contraction in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic, MSP markets across all regions experienced pronounced
growth over the past years, with the global market spend remaining
up by 12% in the three years between 2017 and 2020. In particular, thesmaller APAC region expanded rapidly, up by 29% in that period. The
more mature, larger regions grew by 8% (Americas) and 16% (EMEA)
during that time.
Firms which specialise in MSP are third-party service providers
taking over a client company’s contingent workforce management.
The major share of MSP spend (71% in 2020 according to Staffing
Industry Analysts) comprises temporary employees and independent
contractors - meaning that the spend of a large part of MSP
programmes can, in effect, be attributed to revenues from the agency
work sector. This share has been decreasing over the past years. The
remaining share of MSP spend is raised by statement of work and/or
outsourcing activities by the service provider.

Source: Staffing Industry Analysts.

HR SERVICES

RPO markets decline across all regions

Recruitment Process Outsourcing, regional market value (billion €)Americas

The global market value for Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
stood at €5.2 billion in 2020, equivalent to a decline of 9% from2019. Nearly half of the global RPO market value is generated in theAmericas region (48%), which saw a decline of 7% since 2019. The
region containing Europe, the Middle East and Africa represented
one-third of the global RPO value and contracted by 12%. The
smaller Asia and Pacific region was down by 10%.
While RPO markets were down compared to 2019, 2020 marked
the halt of an impressive series of expansions over the past years.
Globally, the value of RPO markets was still up 13% compared to
2018. Across the different regions, RPO markets were also still by
double-digits.
Similar to direct recruitment services, RPO is primarily focused on
filling open-ended vacancies. During the first year of the pandemic,
companies were more reluctant to create new open-ended
vacancies in times of high uncertainty. In effect, RPO and direct
recruitment markets contracted more than MSP and agency work
markets.
RPO is a service whereby a third-party provider takes over a client’s
recruiting department. Going beyond the provision of a contingent
workforce, RPO providers characteristically also specialise inrecruiting a firm’s direct employees, without remaining a part of theresulting employment relationships.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

APAC

Global

5.7

1.1

4.2
3.8

0.9

5.2

1.0

4.6

1.9
1.7

0.9

1.4

1.1
2.7

2.5

2.2
1.8

2016

21

EMEA

2017

2018

2019

2020

Source: Staffing Industry Analysts. Note: No figures for 2017 available. 2017 growth is estimated at 13% by Staffing Industry Analysts.

REGIONAL FOCUS

North America remains driven primarily by the US market

Countries included in figures:
CanadaPlacements

18.9

PrivateEmployment
Agencies

27,300

MexicoInternal
Staff

USA

460,300

MILLION

Agency Work Revenue

MSP Revenue€113.3€72.2

BILLIONBILLION

Trends in the region are primarily driven by developments in the United States, thelargest market in North America and globally by various metrics. Globally, 36% of
people placed in the labour market by the industry were placed in North America,
with 72% of placements in the region completed in the United States. Nearly onethird of global agency work revenues were attributed to the region, with the larg-

22|

WEC Economic Report 2022

Direct Recruitment
Revenue

RPO Revenue

BILLIONBILLION

€15.8

€2.3

est market globally – the United States – generating 94% of the region’s agency
work turnover. In 2020, the region’s agency work market contracted by 13%. North
America also accounted for more than half of the global MSP market, nearly half of
RPO revenues and one-third of direct recruitment turnover.

REGIONAL FOCUS

South America remains small in market size, largely driven by Brazil

Countries included in figures:
Argentina
BrazilPlacements

Chile
Colombia

0.9

PrivateEmployment
Agencies

5,500

Internal
Staff

350,000

MILLION

Agency Work Revenue

MSP Revenue

€2.6

€2.2

BILLIONBILLION

South America remained the smallest region when comparing the above metrics
to other regions. The region is to a large extent dominated by the Brazilian market,
which accounts for the vast majority of the private employment services industry’s
placement of people in the labour market in South America. 2% of global placements happened in this region, while just below 1% of agency work turnover was

23|

WEC Economic Report 2022

Direct Recruitment
Revenue

RPO Revenue

BILLIONBILLION

€0.3

€0.2

generated here, most of which in Brazil. The Brazilian agency work market has
been contracting over the past years and saw an above-average decline in 2020,
resulting in a fall in the region’s market share overall. South America’s agency work
market size dropped by 37% in 2020.

Note: Statistics gathered from WEC national federations and Staffing Industry Analysts.

REGIONAL FOCUS

Europe sees contraction across all markets

Countries included in figures:

Placements

9

PrivateEmployment
Agencies

75,500Internal
Staff

373,600

MILLION

Agency Work
Revenue€145.3
BILLIONBILLIONMSP Revenue€41.7

Direct Recruitment
Revenue

RPO Revenue

BILLIONBILLION€17.6

BILLION€1.5

BILLION

Nine of the 15 largest agency work markets globally are located in Europe, making it the region generating the largest share of global agency work turnover. A combined 40% of global agency work revenues was raised in European
markets. The European agency work market contracted by 13% in 2020. Europe also generated just under one-thirdof the global market values of the direct recruitment, MSP and RPO markets. The region also stands out as the one
with the largest number of operating private employment agencies. More than 40% of agencies are in Europe,
responsible for placing around 17% of all people placed in jobs globally.

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WEC Economic Report 2022

Austria

Lithuania

Belgium

Luxembourg

Bulgaria

Netherlands

Croatia

NorwayCzech Rep.

PolandDenmark

PortugalEstonia

Romania

Finland

RussiaFranceSlovakia

Germany

Slovenia

GreeceSpain

Hungary

SwedenIreland

Switzerland

Italy

TurkeyLatviaUK

Note: Statistics gathered from WEC national federations and Staffing Industry Analysts.

REGIONAL FOCUS

Positive trends in Japan drive the APAC region

Countries included in figures:
Australia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
New Zealand

Placements

28.2
MSP Revenue

€95.3

€12.6
BILLION

The Asia and Pacific region (APAC) consists of several large markets for the private employment services industry, namely Australia, China and Japan. Most of
the industry’s placements of people in the labour market took place in the APAC
region, to the largest extent driven by China, which placed more workers than any
other country globally. Nearly half of all placements, therefore, happen in the APAC

25|WEC Economic Report 2022

67,100Internal
Staff

948,000

MILLION

Agency Work Revenue

BILLION

PrivateEmployment
Agencies

Direct Recruitment
Revenue

RPO Revenue

BILLIONBILLION

€24.9

€1.0

region. The agency work market in the region generated just above one-fourth ofglobal industry turnover. Japan is the second largest agency work market globallyand the only major market to have grown in 2020, resulting in positive developments in the region overall. The region is characterised by its strong direct recruitment sector, which accounts for 43% of the global direct recruitment market.

Note: Statistics gathered from WEC national federations and Staffing Industry Analysts.

ANNEXWEC Intelligence Resources & ProductsLabour Markets

Private Employment Services Industry

National Federation
Members

Labour Market ResearchMarket Data

Regulatory Environment

Capacity building & benchmarking

Access key global and regional data

Track the industry’s key figures• Global Labour Market Fact Sheet• Annual Economic Report

Understand the staffing regulatory
landscapeBenchmark your federation to yourpeer members• Global Labour Shortage Statistical
Briefing

Compare national staffing markets• Annual Regulatory Report• National Federations Report

Stay informed about the latest
research on Changing World of Work• National Markets Dashboard (onepager)

Forecast the staffing regulatory
evolution

Learn how to build up your capacity
as a federation• Quarterly Staffing Executive
Regulatory Outlook• 4 National Federation Playbooks• WEC/ADAPT The Future of Workmonthly joint newsletter• National Markets Dashboard (full file)

Follow monthly evolution of agency
work markets

Follow the latest labour law developments across the world• Development of the agency work
sector – statistical briefing• WEC-IOE Industrial Relationsand Labour Law monthly joint
newsletter

Compare staffing and labour market
indicators

Get on-demand staffing regulatory
information• Capacity building/benchmarking/discussion forums• Tailored regulation briefings
upon request• WEC-SIA European Employment
Barometer
Learn about worker trends and data
• Social Impact Report
Get more information from the HO• Tailored datafiles upon request

Members Only26|

WEC Economic Report 2022

ANNEX

Glossary of Terms Used and Acronyms

Agency Work

Direct Recruitment

Private Employment Services / Employment Industry

Agency work is a triangular employment relationship,
defined in ILO Convention 181 as: “Services consistingof employing workers with a view to making themavailable to a third party, who may be a natural or legal
person (“user enterprise”) which assigns their tasks
and supervises the execution of these tasks”. It can be
named Dispatched Labour in Asia, Labor Hire in Africaor Temporary Staffing in the USA.

Services for matching offers of and applications for
employment, without the private employment agency
becoming a party to the employment relationships
which may arise therefrom (Source: ILO Convention181), including search and selection.

Agency work is usually one of several other HR services
provided by recruitment and employment agencies,
along with direct recruitment, career management,
RPO and MSP. The collective name for these services isprivate employment services. The employment agency
provides a professional service to a user company
by taking over (a part of) the recruitment and HR
process. In this sense, private employment services arecomparable to other professional and business services
such as auditing and accounting, communications andmarketing, facilities management, etc.

Managed Services Provider (MSP)

Career Management services enable jobs, skills andbusiness performance to be viewed in an integrated
way and with a long-term perspective. It includes primarily services such as outplacement and career transition, redeployment and other development activities
designed to help organisations and individuals to manage changes in the practices, processes, conditions
and basis of employment.

MSP is a service whereby a company takes on primary
responsibility for managing an organisation’s contingent workforce programme. Typical responsibilities
of an MSP include overall programme management,
reporting and tracking, supplier selection and management, order distribution and often consolidated
billing. The vast majority of MSPs also provide theirclients with a vendor management system (VMS) andmay have a physical presence at the client’s site. An
MSP may or may not be independent of a staffing
provider.

Daily Average Number of Agency Workers (in FTEs)

Penetration Rate

Total number of hours worked by all agency workers
in a country over a period of one year divided by theaverage number of hours worked over a period of one
year by a worker with a full-time job with an openended contract.

Daily average number of agency workers (in FTEs)
divided by the working population (as defined by the
ILO as follows: “The employed comprise all persons ofworking age who during a specified brief period, suchas one week or one day, were in the following categories: a) paid employment (whether at work or with a
job but not at work); or b) self-employment (whether
at work or with an enterprise but not at work).”

Career Management

27|

WEC Economic Report 2022

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
A service by a third-party specialist provider, to assume
the role of the client’s recruiting department byowning and managing part or all of its recruitment
process and related recruitment supply chain partner
relationships, providing the necessary skills, activities,
tools, technologies and process methodologies.

ANNEX

Methodology

The data presented in this report is for the calendar year
2020, unless stated otherwise. Sources vary dependingon the data, although the majority of the figures arecollected by the World Employment Confederationfrom its national federation members. This is primarily
the case for the agency work market. Some national
federations gather data directly from their respective
members, whereas others collect data from public
sources or research partner institutions. The World
Employment Confederation also partners with Staffing
Industry Analysts (SIA), allowing for a more complete
assessment of the industry across the various HR services (e.g. MSP, RPO). Whenever a figure did not comedirectly from members of the World Employment
Confederation, it is indicated throughout the report.

For the calculation of the total global market size ofthe private employment services industry, five service
segments have been included: agency work, direct
recruitment, MSP, RPO and career management services. Due to the fact that a major share of MSP activities fall into the agency work category, there exists therisk of double counting sales revenue figures. This isespecially true, since the sources used to gather sales
revenue figures differ for the two service segments inquestion. To minimise the extent of double counting,a certain share of total MSP sales revenues was subtracted and attributed to the total agency work sales
revenues. This share is estimated by Staffing Industry
Analysts to be around 71%.

Disclaimer
This Economic Report is owned by the World
Employment Confederation, whose registered office
is at Tour & Taxis Building, Avenue du Port 86c, Box
302, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. Care and precaution
were taken to ensure that the information publishedin this report is accurate but the World Employment
Confederation publishes this content as supplied andis not responsible for its accuracy or timeliness. You
must take appropriate steps to verify this information

28|

WEC Economic Report 2022

before acting upon it. Any use of this report or its content, including copying or storing it in whole or in part,other than for personal, media-related purposes or
non-commercial use, is prohibited without the priorpermission of the World Employment Confederation.
In any case, the source of the information to be published should be mentioned as ©World Employment
Confederation – Economic Report 2022.

It must be noted that some figures presented in thisreport may be underestimating the true picture of
the global industry, since the World Employment
Confederation does not have members in every country providing statistics. This is specifically the case forthe number of agencies and internal staff. Note alsothat a lack of information on specific countries does
not mean that private employment services are notprovided in that country.
In case of questions on the statistics presented oron the methodology applied, please contact Robin
Lechtenfeld, Labour Market Intelligence Officer at the
WEC Head Office (robin.lechtenfeld@wecglobal.org)

ANNEX

Members of the World Employment Confederation

National Federations
NORTH AMERICANORTH EAST ASIAEUROPE

Canada (CA) - ACSESS
Mexico (MX) - AMECH
United States (US) - ASA

China (CN) - CAFST
Japan (JP) - JASSASouth Korea (KR) - KOHRSIALATIN AMERICAAPAC SOUTHERN

Argentina (AR) - FAETT
Argentina (AR) - CAPE
Brazil (BR) - FENASERHTT
Chile (CL) - Agest
Colombia (CO) - ACOSET
Peru (PE) - AETT

Australia (AU) / New Zealand(NZ) - RCSA
India (IN) - ISF
Indonesia (ID) - ABADI
Philippines (PH) - PALSCON

Austria (AT) - ÖPDBelgium (BE) - Federgon
Bulgaria (BG) - NECB
Croatia (HR) - HUP
Czech Republic (CZ) - APPS
Denmark (DK) - Dansk Erhverv
Estonia (EE) - EPREL
Finland (FI) - HPLFrance (FR) - Prism’emploi
Germany (DE) - BAP
Greece (GR) - ENIDEA
Ireland (IE) - ERF
Italy (IT) - Assolavoro
Latvia (LV) - LPDAA
Lithuania (LT) - LIIA

AFRICASouth Africa (ZA) - APSO

Corporate Members

29|

WEC Economic Report 2022

Luxembourg (LU) - FESNetherlands (NL) - ABU
Norway (NO) - NHOSH
Poland (PL) - Polskie Forum HR
Portugal (PT) - APESPE RH
Romania (RO) - AFSRU
Russia (RU) - ACHAZ
Slovakia (SK) - APAS
Slovenia (SI) - ZAZ
Spain (ES) - ASEMPLEO
Sweden (SE) - Kompetensföretagen
Switzerland (CH) - swissstaffing
Turkey (TR) - OIBD
United Kingdom (UK) - REC

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