April 18, 2013 – During the first quarter of 2013, the U.S. economy demonstrated strong demand for temporary/non-permanent workers according to the most recent IQNdex report, which provides insights about the segment of the U.S. labor market comprised of non-permanent workers such as freelancers, contract workers, temps, staffing agency employees and independent professionals. During Q1 2013, the Master IQNdex rose 0.6 percentage points on the IQNdex, reflecting an acceleration of rate growth over the prior quarter.

“While the overall job market remains weak, the Q1 IQNdex report shows that demand for non-permanent workers in the U.S. is strong, indicating that employers are utilizing temporary labor as a means of expanding their workforce rather than traditional full-time employees.” said Gary Pollard, VP, Information Products at IQNavigator. “This continues a macro trend we have seen in the overall labor market over the past couple of years as companies have taken a cautious approach to hiring. This demand for non-permanent workers may be a precursor of traditional hiring. The data shows that companies are hiring people with specialized skills who spearhead growth-oriented projects that often lead to the hiring of traditional employees at a later date.”

The Master IQNdex is based on analysis of millions of data points across all geographic areas of the U.S. and across four major job categories. To read further analysis of temp labor bill rates broken down by geographic region and job sector, download the most recent IQNdex report.

Key insights in the Q1 2013 IQNdex report include the following:

• The Master IQNdex rose from 106.7 to 107.3 over the course of Q1, showing significant upward pressure on bill rates for temporary workers as strong demand continued during the quarter.
• Of the half million new jobs created nationwide during the quarter, almost 11 percent were contingent labor roles.
• Temp labor utilization is returning to levels not seen since 2006 and temporary bill rates are increasing faster than direct hire employment costs. (See attached chart)

• Bill rates in the IT job sector experienced an upswing, rising more than 6 points since March 2012, to 105.8. Hourly bill rates for all types of software developers have risen 12 percent over the past two years, with roles requring mobile application development experience rising 14 percent.

To read the full Q1 2013 IQNdex report, please visit http://www.iqntelligence.com.

About IQNavigator
IQNavigator is the proven leader in services procurement solutions, helping global enterprises better manage all types of procured services and their non-employee workforces around the world. With over 5.2 million users from over 125 countries worldwide accessing the IQNavigator platform, IQN is localized in 40 countries and 14 languages. As the only Vendor Management System (VMS) with true mobile capabilities, IQNavigator consistently ranks as the best SOW functionality in independent surveys. IQNavigator’s cloud-based VMS software processes tens of billions of dollars in yearly services spend, enabling clients to intelligently manage and optimize the cost-effectiveness, compliance, visibility and efficiency of complex services procurement and contingent workforce programs. For more information about IQNavigator and how its industry-leading offerings are helping many of the world’s most respected companies, visit www.IQNavigator.com.

# # #

Stephanie Burnham
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing
sburnham@iqnavigator.com
310-403-4710

January 22, 2013 – 2012 was a year of change in the U.S. economy and employment, and that change was reflected in the segment of the U.S. labor market comprised of temporary and contingent workers such as freelancers, contract-based workers, temps, staffing company workers and other non-employee workers. Those trends are the focus of a new IQNdex report that analyzes full-year trends for 2012, providing insights about the fast-growing segment of the U.S. labor force made up of temporary workers.

“Temporary workers are a leading indicator for where the economy is heading because U.S. companies increasingly rely on this type of labor to ramp up their growth plans,” said John F. Martin, CEO of International Markets and Chief Product Officer. “IQNdex provides invaluable information for anyone who wants to understand trends in the labor market, including company executives, economists, HR professionals and managers responsible for services procurement.”

Key insights in the 2012 U.S. IQNdex Retrospective include the following:

• During 2012, billing rates for temporary workers and contingent employees rose 2.7 points overall, outpacing inflation, as unemployment in the U.S. fell 0.7 percent, from 8.5 to 7.8 percent.
• This upward pressure on bill rates for temporary workers indicates rising demand for and/or dwindling supply of temporary workers as general employment rebounds.
• The steady rise in IQNdex in 2012, combined with decreasing unemployment, suggests that improving employment prospects will continue to drive up temporary labor rates in 2013.

Following are additional trends identified in the 2012 U.S. IQNdex Retrospective report, focusing on four major job sectors:

• The IQNdex for the Tech-IT sector rose 5.1 percent in 2012; increases were concentrated in design, development and business-facing roles, while rates for operational and support titles were flat.
• The Professional-Managerial job sector also experienced 2012 hourly rate increases that exceeded the pace of inflation, concentrated in titles requiring higher levels of education.
• Light Industrial rates were up a modest 0.7 percent in 2012, despite a continuing recovery in the manufacturing sector.
• Hourly bill rates for Office-Clerical fell 2.1 percent for the year. Together with Light Industrial, the decline in Office-Clerical rates illustrates that roles typically requiring a college degree increasingly command higher rates, while those needing less education are not receiving rate increases.

Table 1 – IQNdex by Job Sector:

The 2012 U.S. IQNdex Retrospective has in-depth details about the findings outlined above as well as other findings related to geographic areas of the United States and specific metro markets. To read the full report for free, please visit http://www.iqntelligence.com.

About IQNavigator
IQNavigator is the proven leader in services procurement solutions, helping global enterprises better manage all types of procured services and their external workforces around the world. IQNavigator’s cloud-based VMS software processes tens of billions of dollars in yearly services spend, enabling clients to intelligently manage and optimize the cost-effectiveness, compliance, visibility and efficiency of complex services procurement and contingent workforce programs. For more than a decade, IQNavigator has been the leader in providing innovative technology solutions for managing companies’ procured services including statement of work and project-based consultants, contractors, temporary workers and other contingent workers. 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.

###

Stephanie Burnham
Senior Vice President, Marketing
sburnham@iqnavigator.com
310-403-4710

DENVER – 25 October, 2012 – IQNavigator Inc., the leading provider of external workforce and services procurement solutions to Global 2000 companies, today released the findings from its Third Quarter 2012 U.S. IQNdex. IQNdex provides data, insights and analysis of temporary labor prices that is not available from any other source and reflects the rapidly shifting relationship between demand and supply of the U.S. temporary workforce.

Among the notable findings in the third quarter, the report outline:

• The supply of high-skill temporary workers is tightening, resulting in upward pressure on temporary labor bill rates for higher skilled roles in the Professional and IT sectors.
• Bill rates for less-skilled jobs such as in Light Industrial have largely remained flat for more than four years.
• The number of individuals employed by the temporary sector in 3Q 2012 has been level, hovering slightly above the 2.5 million mark.

Connection among education, employment and temporary bill rates
Workers over 25 with at least a 4-year college degree are experiencing lower levels of unemployment at the end of Q3 2012 (4%) as compared to the beginning of the recovery in July 2009 (5.3%). In contrast, workers with only a high school diploma are still experiencing high unemployment levels: 8% at the end of Q3 2012 compared to 12% in July 2009. As a result of the tightening supply of highly-educated workers, there is upward pressure on temporary labor bill rates for higher skilled roles. Professional-Managerial sector bill rates have risen as unemployment among the better-educated segment of the working population has declined. The supply of workers for less skilled roles remains ample in the current economy, as is reflected in Light Industrial rates, which largely have remained flat for more than four years. See Graph 1.

Graph 1: Third Quarter 2012 U.S. IQNdex Temporary Worker Rate Change

“The trends in temporary employment are widely regarded as a leading indicator of broader private sector employment,” said John F. Martin, chief technology officer and CEO of Emerging Markets for IQNavigator. “This makes sense given temporary employees are an employer’s quickest way to meet an increased demand for labor and specific skills. Since the end of the recession, agency temp hiring and temporary labor bill rates have provided advanced notice into upcoming labor supply and costs for private sector employment.”

Graph 2: Third Quarter 2012 U.S. IQNdex Master vs. Employment Indicators

IQNdex Provides Custom Rate Benchmarking for Global 2000
The Third Quarter 2012 IQNdex report provides insight into specific job sectors and geographic regions, and how other economic trends are impacting employers and workers. Further explanation and evidence on these findings is provided in the Third Quarter 2012 IQNdex report, available for download at http://www.iqntelligence.com. Clients of IQNavigator can also request custom market rate analyses and detailed benchmark rate reports (MarketIQ) via their IQNavigator account manager.

About IQNavigator
IQNavigator is the proven leader in services procurement solutions, helping global enterprises better manage all types of procured services and their external workforces around the world. IQNavigator’s cloud-based VMS software processes tens of billions of dollars in yearly services spend, enabling clients to intelligently manage and optimize the cost-effectiveness, compliance, visibility and efficiency of complex services procurement and contingent workforce programs. For more than a decade, IQNavigator has been the leader in providing innovative technology solutions for managing companies’ procured services including statement of work and project-based consultants, contractors, temporary workers and other contingent workers. 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.

###

Stephanie Burnham
Senior Vice President, Marketing
sburnham@iqnavigator.com
310-403-4710

DENVER, July 18, 2012 – IQNavigator Inc., the leading provider of services procurement solutions to Global 2000 companies, today released the findings from its Second Quarter 2012 U.S. IQNdex. IQNdex provides data, insights and analysis of temporary labor prices that is not available from any other source and measures the rapidly shifting relationship between demand and supply of the U.S. temporary workforce.

Among the notable trends in the second quarter, the report uncovered:

• The Technical-IT job sector has continued to show slow but steady rate increases, primarily for roles associated with new system design and development.
• Temporary labor has accounted for 15% of all new job creation since January 2012, recovering 86% of the jobs lost during the recession, higher than almost any other industry.
• Temporary labor rates in the South rose the most of any region in the second quarter, especially in the Professional-Managerial and Technical-IT job sectors.

Temporary Labor Rates Rise for Specific IT Roles
In the Second Quarter 2012 IQNdex report, analysis of the Technical-IT job sector temporary worker bill rates reveals that while bill rates overall have risen over the past 18 months, the rate increase is not evenly distributed across all IT roles. Deeper inspection of this sector reveals that bill rates for roles commonly associated with new system design and development are rising, while bill rates for job titles more involved in operations and maintenance have steadily declined since the beginning of 2011.

Graph 1: Spending on the ‘Next Big Thing’

“One of the most interesting findings in the Q2 IQNdex data is that companies are utilizing contingent labor in a strategic way to kickstart important projects that could be engines for future growth,” said John F. Martin, chief technology officer and CEO of Emerging Markets for IQNavigator. This data indicates that contingent labor gives companies the flexibility to tackle these projects in an accelerated and cost-effective way.”

IQNdex Provides Custom Rate Benchmarking for Global 2000
The Second Quarter 2012 IQNdex report provides insight into specific job sectors and geographic regions, and how other economic trends are impacting employers and workers. Further explanation and evidence on these findings is provided in the Second Quarter 2012 IQNdex report, available for download at http://www.iqntelligence.com. Clients of IQNavigator can also request custom market rate analyses (MarketIQ) and detailed benchmark rate reports (RateIQ) via their IQNavigator account manager.

About IQNavigator
IQNavigator is the proven leader in services procurement solutions to help global enterprises better manage all types of procured services and their non-employee workforces around the world. IQNavigator’s cloud-based VMS software processes tens of billions of dollars in yearly services spend for clients, enabling clients to intelligently manage and optimize the cost-effectiveness, compliance, visibility and efficiency of complex services procurement and contingent workforce programs for many of the world’s best known companies. For more than a decade, IQNavigator has been the leader in providing innovative technology solutions for managing companies’ contingent labor and other services, including statement of work and project-based consultants, contractors and other temporary workers. 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.

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Note to Editors: A detailed graph is being released along with this announcement: “IT: ‘Next Big Thing’ vs. Maintenance.” Additional graphs and a full white paper are available upon request.

Media Contact:
Stephanie Burnham
Vice President, Marketing
sburnham@iqnavigator.com
303-714-9213

18 June 2012 – A new benchmark report from IQNavigator shows that UK temporary labour charge rates for private sector clerical, IT and professional staff are on the decline, reversing the upward trend seen in 2011. The results for the first half of 2012 reflect the weak UK economy and appear to contradict the anticipated upward pressure on rates from the Agency Worker Regulations introduced in the fourth quarter of 2011. The data, which comes from IQNavigator, the leading services procurement solution provider for the Global 2000, is based on the actual hourly rates paid by large private-sector enterprises.

“The IQNavigator UK Office Index is already providing an interesting and useful review of the temporary labour market for provider firms as well as line managers, procurement executives and human resource executives,” said Peter Smith, editor and co-managing director of SpendMatters UK/Europe. “It is also providing strong evidence of wider economic conditions in the UK, where the first half of 2012 saw rates for temporary workers flat or slightly declining; not surprising given the state of the UK economy. What is perhaps more surprising is that the Agency Workers Regulations appear to be having limited effect on either rates or use of temporary labour. It looks likely that even when governments introduce more regulations, buyers are still recognising the benefits of flexible resources.”

Reversing 2011 Trend, Rates Declining in 2012

Introduced last year, IQNavigator’s UK Office IQNdex showed an upward surge in hourly rates of more than 10% for the 12 month period ending in November 2011, driven in part by VAT increases and changes to National Insurance. Now, six months later the upward pressure on hourly rates that defined 2011 is gone and the IQNdex shows a flat or slightly declining trend for 2012. The reversal in temporary labour hourly rates in 2012 is attributable to a number of factors:

• Weakening business expansion has reduced demand for temporary labour
• Seasonally lower agency labour utilisation early in the year
• Less spending on highly paid technical and strategy consultants

AWR Shows Little Material Impact on Rates

Five months after AWR became effective, it appears employers have not made significant changes to either rates or agency worker utilisation for white-collar workers, as the UK Office IQNdex has slightly declined so far in 2012. Detailed reviews of client charge rates have shown little or no adjustments are needed when comparing white-collar charge rates to equivalent employee salaries.

IQNdex Description
IQNavigator’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) application is used by leading global companies to manage their temporary workforce and services spend in nearly 50 countries. This flow of millions of assignments gives IQNavigator direct and timely insight into actual market rates. Following the IQNdex US launch in April 2011, IQNavigator has extended the index to UK office temporary workforce, which includes the job sectors Clerical/Admin, IT/Technical and Professional/Managerial.
“Based on transactional data rather than surveys, IQNdex reflects actual market-clearing price changes for temporary labour,” said John F. Martin, CEO of International Markets for IQNavigator. “Access to timely and unique temporary labour rate information provides a clear benefit to our Global 2000 clients who are faced with making staffing and labour decisions in a tightened business climate.”
IQNdex tracks the total hourly charge rate paid by temporary labour buyers, comprising the wage rate, statutory costs paid by the agency and the agency markup. The buyers reflected in the IQNdex are IQNavigator clients in the UK and are typically well-managed programmes that closely monitor and proactively control their spending on temporary labour. To download the latest version of the UK Office IQNdex, visit http://success.iqnavigator.com/ukiqndex-2q12.

About IQNavigator
IQNavigator is the proven leader in services procurement solutions, helping global enterprises better manage all types of procured services and their non-employee workforces around the world. IQNavigator’s cloud-based VMS software processes tens of billions of dollars in yearly services spend, enabling clients to intelligently manage and optimize the cost-effectiveness, compliance, visibility and efficiency of complex services procurement and contingent workforce programs. For more than a decade, IQNavigator has been the leader in providing innovative technology solutions for managing companies’ procured services including statement of work and project-based consultants, contractors, temporary workers and other contingent workers. 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.

# # #

Stephanie Burnham
Vice President, Marketing
sburnham@iqnavigator.com
+1-303-714-9213

Media Contact:
Allie Andrews / Peter Rennison, PRPR
allie@prpr.co.uk / pr@prpr.co.uk
+ 44 (0)1442 245030

DENVER, April 18, 2012 – IQNavigator Inc., the leading provider of services e-procurement solutions to Global 2000 companies, today released the findings from its First Quarter 2012 U.S. IQNdex report. IQNdex provides data, insights and analysis of the temporary labor market that is not available from any other source and measures the rapidly shifting relationship between demand and supply of the U.S. temporary workforce.

Among the notable trends in Q1, the report uncovered:

• The Professional-Managerial job sector remains under the greatest upward rate pressure.
• While temporary labor hiring has been strong since mid-2011, temporary worker bill rates have remained fairly stable since then.
• The Northeast region continues to see increases in bill rates while the West region declined in Q1 2012.

Salaries vs. Bill Rates
In the First Quarter 2012 IQNdex report, analysis of employee salary trends compared against temporary worker bill rates reveals that while employee salaries appear to inexorably rise, temporary worker bill rates fall and rise with market supply and demand. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows employee salaries have continued to rise throughout the recession and subsequent period of high unemployment, while temporary worker bill rates clearly responded to decreased buyer demand and surplus labor supply.

While the gap between employee salary trends and temporary worker bill rate trends narrowed in 2011, a difference has persisted over several years (see Graph 1). With unemployment still over 8 percent and a low level of participation in the workforce, for now there remains a reserve of untapped talent to meet increased demand.

Graph 1: Employer Cost Per Hour vs. Master IQNdex

“IQNdex provides actionable information that employers can use to optimize their contingent labor strategy and make adjustments resulting in more value for their labor spend,” said John F. Martin, chief technology officer and CEO of Emerging Markets for IQNavigator. “Companies that understand the gap between demand and supply for non-permanent workers illustrated in this quarter’s IQNdex can be proactive in renegotiating rates as temporary worker assignments come up for renewal.”

IQNdex Provides Source of Custom Benchmarking for Global 2000
More detailed analysis often yields a deeper story, and the First Quarter 2012 IQNdex report provides insight into specific job sectors and geographic regions, and how other economic trends are impacting employers and workers. Further explanation and evidence on these findings is provided in the First Quarter 2012 IQNdex report, available for download at http://www.iqntelligence.com. Clients of IQNavigator can also request custom market rate analyses (MarketIQ) and detailed benchmark rate reports (RateIQ) via their IQNavigator account manager.

About IQNavigator
IQNavigator is the proven leader in services procurement solutions, helping global enterprises better manage all types of procured services and their non-employee workforces around the world. IQNavigator’s cloud-based VMS software processes tens of billions of dollars in yearly services spend, enabling clients to intelligently manage and optimize the cost-effectiveness, compliance, visibility and efficiency of complex services procurement and contingent workforce programs. For more than a decade, IQNavigator has been the leader in providing innovative technology solutions for managing companies’ contingent labor and other services, including statement of work and project-based consultants, contractors and other temporary workers. Clients use IQNavigator’s VMS software across all types of labor categories including contingent, heavy industrial, light industrial, IT, professional, field services and many more , resulting in dramatically lower costs, mitigation of legal and financial risks and more strategic use of non-employee labor to achieve key business objectives. 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.

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Note to Editors: A detailed graph is being released along with this announcement: Employee Cost Per Hour vs. Master IQNdex. Additional graphs and a full white paper are available upon request.

Media Contact:
Stephanie Burnham
Vice President, Marketing
sburnham@iqnavigator.com
303-714-9213

Several recent government reports show that the U.S. economy ended 2011 on a modest note of encouragement. In its release on the December employment situation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the rate of unemployment declining from 9.1% in August to 8.5% in December.ⁱ While the overall improvement is small, the trend was consistent over four months. This raises hope that U.S. economic activity is finally creating new jobs at a rate that will slowly reduce persistent high unemployment.

The Department of Commerce report on the Gross Domestic Product in the fourth quarter of 2011 is similarly a source of cautious optimism.ⁱⁱ While the full year level of economic growth was a weak 1.7%, the picture brightened throughout the 2011:

Signals of economic improvement may be consistent, but they have yet to gather the strength and momentum to impact overall temporary labor bill rates. The Master IQNdex (download now!) tells the story: aggregate temp labor prices were steady in the second half of 2011. The net change over this period was less than half a percent.

If economic expansion continues in 2012 and the ranks of the unemployed shrinks, there will likely be upward pressure on temporary labor bill rates as the pool of readily available workers grows smaller. The modest improvements in growth and unemployment so far, however, have yet to impact rates beyond a few high skill roles in technology and finance.

Visit IQNtelligence.com today to get the full IQNdex Report!

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i. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012)
ii. (U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2012, January 6). Bureau of Labor Statistics News Releases. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from U.S. Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2012, January 27). Economics & Statistics Administration – Newsroom. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from U.S. Department of Commerce: http://www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/ei/documents/2012/January/grossdomesticproductfourthquarterandannual2011.pdf

DENVER, October 18, 2011 – IQNavigator Inc. today released the findings from its Third Quarter 2011 IQNdex. Among the notable trends, the report uncovered:

• A marked slowing in temporary labor bill rate increases in the third quarter of 2011, compared to the first half of 2011, reflecting a widespread easing of upward rate pressures.
• Only the Professional – Managerial job sector sustained the upward rate trends it experienced in the first half of the year, rising almost 3 percent in the third quarter.
• Light Industrial bill rates continued a downward trend that began in June, falling an additional 2.4 percent through the most recent quarter.

The West Region Experiencing Aggressive Increases in Temporary Rates
The West region has experienced the highest level of unemployment in the nation since April 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This indicates a high supply of temporary workers, typically dampening bill rate increases for that region.

However, temporary labor bill rates in that region have been rising briskly, with the majority of the increase occurring in the past 10 months. When viewed as a ratio of job seekers to job postings, the ratio is consistently lowest in the Western region, meaning that the supply/demand balance is most favorable for job seekers in the West compared to other regions.

“The IQNdex reflects price changes that arise from trends in both supply and demand of temporary workers in local markets,” said John F. Martin, chief operating officer at IQNavigator. “Comparing the IQNdex to various employment factors shows that rate changes for temporary labor are more strongly correlated to the availability of employment opportunities than they are to the overall unemployment rate alone.”

IQNdex Provides Source of Custom Benchmarking for Global 2000
Each quarter, IQNavigator analyzes the data from IQNdex and compares the findings on temporary worker bill rates to current market conditions and economic indicators. More detailed analysis often yields a deeper story. In addition to the exploration of West region unemployment and bill rates described above, this quarter’s publication examines the overall temporary labor rate trends and provides a comparison of IQNdex to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index.

Further explanation and evidence on these three findings is provided in the Third Quarter 2011 IQNdex report, available for download at http://www.iqntelligence.com. Clients of IQNavigator can also request custom market rate analyses (MarketIQ) and detailed benchmark rate reports (RateIQ) via their IQNavigator account manager.

About IQNavigator
IQNavigator software and managed services provide companies with powerful insight into and control over the way they source services and utilize their extensive non-employee workforce. For more than a decade, IQNavigator has been the leader in providing technology solutions for managing companies’ contingent labor and other services around the globe, including project-based consultants, contractors and other temporary workers. Clients use IQNavigator’s VMS software to more intelligently manage billions of dollars in extended workforce spend every year, resulting in dramatically lower costs, mitigation of legal and financial risks and more strategic use of non-employee labor to achieve key business objectives. 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.

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Note to Editors: Detailed graphs are being released along with this announcement: Master IQNdex Consolidated View, Job Sector Trends, and U.S. Geographic by Region. Additional graphs and a full white paper are available upon request.

Media Contact:
Rich Miller
Downing Street ~ A Communications Consultancy
rich@downingstreetcommunications.com
303-877-3966

DENVER, July 6, 2011 – 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 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:

• 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.
• 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 United States 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.

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Note to Editors: Additional graphics and a full white paper are available upon request.

Media Contact:
Rich Miller
Downing Street ~ A Communications Consultancy
rich@downingstreetcommunications.com
303-877-3966

IQNdex was referenced in the Reuters article “As Job Growth Accelerates, Wages May Follow”. Temporary-worker rates and the IQNdex will likely continue to rise if full-time hiring persists (April had the highest hiring level in five years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) and unemployment goes down (the US unemployment rate is down 0.8 overall since November, and those unemployed 27 weeks or longer went down by 2.1 percent in April).

Looking within the IQNdex by job sector, mainly low-skill job sectors showed rate increases (Light Industrial and Clerical/Admin), additional evidence that an overall tightening supply of workers is leading to increased rates. Regionally, all the US census regions showed increases except the Northeast.

Hopefully hiring will continue to aid the economic recovery, and we’ll see how rates respond in the coming months.

Reuters Article Excerpt:

A measure of temporary labor bill rates, compiled by Colorado-based IQNavigator, shows five consecutive monthly increases through April, when rates were at a two-year high.

These rates are an early indicator of upcoming wage inflation, said John Martin, chief operating officer of IQNavigator, whose software lets financial services, technology and other clients manage service costs.

As unemployment has gone down, bill rates have gone up.

“The supply of labor affects the rates that people pay,” Martin said.

Read the Rest of the Reuters Article