Employment Screening Services Market Analysis and Forecast to 2031: By Services (Background Screening, Verification, Medical & Drug Testing), End-Use Industry (IT & Telecom, BFSI, Government Agencies, Travel & Hospitality, Manufacturing, Retail, Healthcare, Others), and Region
The global employment screening services market was valued at US$ 4.4 billion in 2021 and it is anticipated to grow up to US$ 7.1 billion by 2031, at a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period.
Employment screening is the process of examining a candidate to protect an organization from a fraudulent employee. It examines the candidate's behavior, verifies credentials, verifies criminal histories, examines social media, and drug screening activity, which benefits the firm by reducing workplace violence, and preventing incorrect hiring. It is widely used in the banking financial sectors, IT, and other industries, such as government agencies, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail.
Employee screening contributes to the organization's safety and security by allowing businesses to authenticate individuals before hiring them in their organizations. Employment screening is when an employer evaluates a candidate's behavior and screens them for drugs. The major aim of employment screening is to avoid the need to interview many inappropriate candidates and improve the hiring process's overall efficacy. Moreover, employment screening services ensure that the information the individual provides is correct as per the documents provided.
Market Drivers and Trends
Due to the increasing number of job applicants, the demand for employment screening services is due to time-efficient selection systems. The modern era has witnessed a huge population influx in the urban cities of developing and developed economies, searching for a better life. Higher job opportunities, higher living standards, and access to modern amenities services are a few primary factors that have contributed to the migration of the rural population to urban areas worldwide. Thus, there was a rise in the disposable incomes of consumers. As urbanization will continue to grow in the coming years, the need for job creation in urban areas will also grow at full throttle. A competitive region enables industries and firms to create job opportunities, raise productivity, and increase citizens' incomes.
Further, with the increasing number of applicants applying for a job in any organization, selecting the most suitable candidate for a selective profile has become more tedious, and the traditional methods of conducting interviews for job screening are time-consuming and inefficient. Thus, also the end-use industries are increasing the demand for efficient and quicker employment screening services.
Market Restraints and Challenges
As technology evolves, employers find new ways to take advantage of these advancements. Instead of being relegated to increasing productivity, artificial intelligence (AI) is taking on additional roles in the workplace, including monitoring employees and assisting in the hiring process.
But using new technology for decisions could have a few growing pains, including inadvertent discrimination. Two major ways employers use technology could lead to illegal discrimination. First, it’s when making hiring decisions. Second, it monitors employees’ productivity levels and measures their performance. Certain job applicants could find themselves at an unfair and illegal disadvantage in this quest to save time, effort, and money.
Luckily, workplace civil rights enforcement agencies such as the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) are anticipating this potential problem and have taken steps to tackle it. For instance, in May 2022, the U.S. federal government mentioned that AI technology to screen new job candidates or monitor worker productivity could unfairly discriminate against people with disabilities, sending a warning to employers that the commonly used hiring tools could violate civil rights laws.
Thus, emerging technology such as AI could lead to more employment discrimination is acting as a restraining factor for the global employment screening services market.
Global Employment Screening Services Market Segmental Overview
The report analyses the global employment screening services market based on services, end-use industry, and region.
Global Employment Screening Services Market by Services
Based on services, it is segmented into background screening, verification, and medical drug testing. The verification segment is expected to have the largest employment screening services market share in 2021. The verification service includes investigation of professional licenses, employment histories, and educational degrees of the candidates thereby, aiding the recruiters with true and trusted information about the qualifications and work experience required for the applied job designation. Due to these factors mentioned above, the verification segment is expected to receive the main market attraction resulting in market growth.
Global Employment Screening Services Market by End-Use Industry
Based on end-use industry, it is segmented into IT telecom, BFSI, government agencies, travel hospitality, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and others. The retail segment is expected to be the largest segment in the employment screening services market in 2021 because recruiting in the retail profession is strictly regulated, failing to have a proper background screening and drug testing procedure could result in serious consequences. Furthermore, the retail sector has been active throughout the epidemic, and businesses have specifically used pre-employment background checks to prevent viral spread, workplace violence, theft, and fraud. Thus, the retail segment will likely hold a major market share in 2021.
Geographical Analysis of Global Employment Screening Services Market
Region-wise, it is studied across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. The North America market is expected to hold the majority of the market share in 2021. North America is regarded as one of the greatest IT sector hubs, which has resulted in a surge in the number of immigrants looking for work, fueling the expansion of the market in this region. Additionally, the software developers of employment screening services are mostly present in North American region. This, in turn, boosts the demand for employment screening services in the North American region.
Major Players in the Global Employment Screening Services Market COVID-19 Impact
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequent economic downturn had led to the rise in the number of jobless candidates across the globe. This resulted in a negative impact on the employment screening services market. However, post quarter 3 of 2020, the number of COVID-19 cases started to fall across several nations, including the US, which is triggering the gradual normalization of economic activities. Moreover, with offices re-opening, several nations have witnessed a more than expected increase in job openings in 2021. According to data released by the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, the number of job openings rose to ~7.4 million in March 2021 from ~7.1 million in February 2021. The hiring rate had increased to 4% in February 2021 from 3.8% in February 2020 in the US. Thus, despite the steep decline in the first two quarters of 2020, the employment screening services market started experiencing substantial growth as the region's economy started reviving back to normal, accelerating hiring processes across industries. Therefore, the demand for employment screening services is increasing during the post-pandemic scenarios.
Recent Developments
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