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Regulatory outlook stabilises for the staffing industry

After a quite stark outlook in 2022, the regulatory landscape seems to stabilise a little for the staffing industry in the first half of 2023. The latest edition of the Staffing Executive Regulatory Outlook (SERO) by the World Employment Confederation (WEC) reports an expected neutral regulatory outlook for agency work for the period of March to August 2023 in 13 countries. In 8 countries, the impact of regulation changes is expected to be negative, while in 5 countries, the overall outlook is positive.

Published on 15th May 2023

From the agency work perspective, the overall regulatory outlook for the period of the next six months is neutral in 13 surveyed countries. In 8 countries, the impact of regulation changes is expected to be negative overall, while in 5 countries, the overall outlook is positive.

The most important countries with positive regulatory change are the following:

  • In Italy, sectoral social partners for the sector focused on a renewal of a collective agreement and regulatory changes have been adapted including the removal of restrictive reasons for use introduced by a previous reform and a strengthened role of the industry in active labour market policy.
  • In the Netherlands, the focus is laid on implementing the pension reform based on a political agreement and changes related to user pay. These regulatory changes are positive, while more challenging regulatory change is expected for next year (and thus beyond the time horizon of this edition of the SERO).
  • In the United Kingdom, the government is in a pragmatic phase working toward normalising political processes after some turmoil. Currently, expected regulatory changes for the next six months are small but overall positive for the sector.
  • In Bulgaria, positive changes regarding regulatory proposals on minimum wages and the work permit process for third-country nationals are currently expected. These proposals are not specific to the staffing industry but still important to the sector.

A negative impact of the regulatory change is expected in 8 of the 25 surveyed countries.

  • Australia, with a regulatory change where a new left-wing government has put forward an agenda to inhibit agency work services
  • Norway, where the regulatory discussion focuses on the implementation of the new regulation adopted in December 2022 and includes regulation to use the of agency work for temporary needs and a sectoral ban on the use of agency work in the construction sector in the central and eastern part of Norway.
  • Germany, where a moderate negative change is expected linked to the federal labour court judgment on equal pay regulation and collective labour agreements. The long-term impact of the judgment on the industry remains to be assessed.

WEC members can access a more detailed analysis of the Staffing Executive Regulatory Outlook (SERO) on the Members’ Area.

This edition of the SERO by the World Employment Confederation (WEC) presents the results of the bi-annual poll of top executives of National Staffing Federations around the world conducted in March 2023.

Staffing executives assessed the likelihood and potential impact of regulatory changes on the staffing industry from March 2023 until August 2023.

Executives from 25 WEC national federation members have responded to this edition of the SERO.

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