Swiss personnel service provider with mixed annual results for 2023
Published: Tuesday, Jan 30th 2024, 10:20
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Swiss personnel service providers can look back on a mixed year in 2023. While the labor shortage caused the temporary business to shrink, the permanent market grew. The outlook for the future is also uncertain.
The temporary staffing business recorded a decline of 5.8 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Swiss Staffingindex published on Tuesday.
In contrast, the market for permanent positions grew for the third year in a row, increasing by 8.7% in 2023 compared to 2022. Due to the difficult labor market situation, companies are currently relying more heavily on personnel service providers to fill permanent positions. If employees currently lose their jobs, personnel service providers are able to relocate them, it is said.
Increased search in the construction and healthcare sectors
In terms of job advertisements, the number in the construction and healthcare trades grew particularly strongly. Carpenters (+164%), tilers (+131%), plasterers (+129%) and bricklayers (+109%) were particularly sought after. The hot summer also led to an increase in demand for refrigeration system fitters - there were 141% more job advertisements here compared to the previous year.
"Seasonality in construction is decreasing more and more," commented Bernhard Hänggi, CEO of Randstad Switzerland. However, the sharp increase in job advertisements does not mean strong business growth in these professions, but rather shows where the shortage of skilled workers is hurting the most.
In the healthcare sector, advertisements for nurses rose significantly (+94%). However, advertisements for childcare professionals fell sharply after the Covid peak of the skills shortage. They fell to 936 from 3213 in the previous year - a drop of 71%.
Economic slowdown makes for an uncertain 2024
How the situation for personnel service providers will develop in the coming year is still uncertain, partly due to the looming economic slowdown. Nevertheless, experts assume that full employment in Switzerland is likely to be maintained in 2024 despite a slight rise in unemployment figures.
"The labor market remains robust, and the recent rise in the unemployment rate is due to an increase in search unemployment," Hänggi said. According to a survey of the CEOs of personnel service providers, however, the picture is somewhat more pessimistic. Only 34 percent expected an increase in business activity over the next six months.
©Keystone/SDA
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