February 2024 Magnit Contingent Workforce Insights: Contingent Workforce Employment Decreased by 8.5%

Ahead of International Women’s Day, women account for 67% of job fills in first two months of 2024

March 6, 2024 – Magnit™, an integrated Workforce Management (IWM) platform provider, today revealed findings from its February 2024 Contingent Workforce Data Analysis, which showed that overall hiring is down 8.5%, due to lower hiring rates at the end of the year, followed by a slower rebound in the early months of the year. However, ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, Magnit’s data also identified that women are significantly influencing job growth, accounting for 61% of fills in 2023 and an even more remarkable 67% in the initial months of 2024.

“We’re seeing a surge of women impacting new hires in the labor market,” said Dustin Burgess, Senior Vice President of Strategic Advisory at Magnit. “The uptick we’ve witnessed in the past couple years may be attributed to women reentering the workforce after assuming primary caregiver roles during the pandemic. In the current tight labor market, employers that embrace flexibility and benefits catered to all genders are poised to leverage this trend for sustained growth.”

Magnit’s Contingent Workforce Employment Insights provide an independent measure of the contingent workforce labor market (e.g., freelance, gig economy, temp and/or short-term positions, etc.). Magnit uses proprietary algorithms that aggregate, cleanse, anonymize, and analyze data from a variety of internal and external sources, including hundreds of client programs. The company manages data on hundreds of thousands of contingent workers across over 51,000 unique roles, and categories such as technology, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, life sciences, and consumer products and services. Magnit compared the current three months (December 2023 – February 2024) and the prior three months (September 2023 – November 2023) to determine its findings for the February 2024 release.

QoQ Changes in U.S. Contingent Workforce Employment: -8.5% hiring volume

Changes by Industry (Sector):

• Technology
  • Hiring volume: -14.1%
  • Layoffs: -57.1%
  • Voluntary terminations: -58%
• Financial Services
  • Hiring volume: +32%
  • Layoffs: -76.7%
  • Voluntary terminations: -65.5%
• Healthcare
  • Hiring volume: -13.3%
  • Layoffs: -54.8%
  • Voluntary terminations: -46.4%
• Consumer Products & Services
  • Hiring volume: -39.7%
  • Layoffs: -75.8%
  • Voluntary terminations: -73%
• Manufacturing
  • Hiring volume: +23.6%
  • Layoffs: -61%
  • Voluntary terminations: -31.8%
• Life Sciences
  • Hiring volume: +15.5%
  • Layoffs: -15.4%
  • Voluntary terminations: -40.8%

QoQ Change in U.S. Contingent Workforce Average Hourly Pay: -2.2%

QoQ Hourly Pay Changes by Category:

• Technology: +16.9%
• Financial Services: +10.6%
• Healthcare: -6.3%
• Consumer Products & Services: +25.6%
• Manufacturing: -9.5%
• Life Sciences: +4.4%

Other Timely Trends

Amid the shift to a more skills-based hiring approach, Magnit’s data also shows that analytical skills are in high demand across industries: +55% in the healthcare industry, +27% in financial services and +30% in construction-related roles. This is due to the growing use of data, causing individuals and organizations to recognize the need for enhanced analytical capabilities to make informed decisions.

To compare February’s overview to Magnit’s Q4 data, read Magnit’s latest Contingent Workforce Insights post.

About Magnit

Magnit™ is a global leader and pioneer in contingent workforce management. Our industry-leading Integrated Workforce Management (IWM) Platform is supported by 30+ years of innovation, modern software, proven expertise, and world-class data and intelligence. It enables companies to optimize talent and diversity goals while achieving operational and financial success. With Magnit, companies can adapt quickly to the evolution of work to grow their extended workforce with greater agility, transparency, and speed. magnitglobal.com       

 “Magnit” is a trademark or registered trademark of Magnit, LLC. Any trade, product, or service name referenced in this document using the name “Magnit” is a trademark and/or property of Magnit, LLC.