Third-quarter revenue fell 4.5% in constant currency at Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd., the world’s fifth-largest staffing firm. Job postings fell at Indeed and Glassdoor, both of which are owned by the Tokyo-based company. Revenue also fell at the company’s matching and solutions segment in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023. However, staffing revenue at the firm edged up with an increase in Japan, though it fell in Europe, the US, and Australia.
Indeed and Glassdoor — which comprise the company’s HR technology segment — saw revenue fall 17.2% when measured in US dollars in the third quarter.
Job postings, both free and paid, fell year over year in the US and other countries even as traffic to the sites increased. The number of unique visitors per month on Indeed was more than 350 million globally.
In the US, revenue at Indeed and Glassdoor fell by 21.3% in the fiscal third quarter, while non-US revenue fell 6.3%.
Recruit also reported that Indeed has officially sunsetted pay-per-application pricing.
Looking at Recruit’s staffing segment, revenue there rose 0.6% year over year. Japanese staffing revenue increased by 10.9%, but international staffing revenue from Europe, the US, and Japan fell 6.9% on a constant currency basis. Recruit noted international staffing demand slowed against an uncertain economic outlook.
Recruit’s staffing operations in the US include Staffmark Group LLC and The CSI Cos. Inc.
Recruit’s third operating segment is matching and solutions, where revenue fell 3.9% on a reported basis. The segment includes HR consulting and recruitment in Japan, permanent recruitment in Asia, and nonstaffing marketing platforms such as Hot Pepper Beauty, Hot Pepper Gourmet, and Jalan, an online travel website.
The HR solutions portion of the matching and solutions segment saw third-quarter revenue fall 0.8% on a reported basis, while marketing solutions revenue rose 7.1%.
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Guidance
Recruit expects fourth-quarter revenue to rise 0.3% year over year. However, it forecast revenue to be down 0.9% for its full fiscal year ending March 31, 2024.
In HR technology, the company expects fourth-quarter revenue to be flat on a US dollar basis and fall approximately 15.5% year over year.
Matching and solutions revenue is expected to be down 4.5% in the fourth quarter.
In its staffing division, Recruit forecast Japanese staffing revenue will rise 5% on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter, while Europe, US, and Australia revenue will be up 1%.
For the full year, Japanese staffing revenue is expected to increase by 10%, but Europe, US, and Australian staffing revenue is expected to fall by 2%.
Share price
Shares in Recruit closed up 0.51% today, Feb. 9, in Tokyo to ¥5,887 (US$39.52). They were 7.34% below their 52-week high.
Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd. said Indeed’s switch to pay-per-application pricing for job ads — which it previously announced was ending — did not lower revenue.
Indeed, which is owned by Recruit, sunsetted PPA on Jan. 14 of this year.
“PPA was successful in driving employer engagement on Indeed,” the company said in the documentation provided for today’s third-quarter earnings announcement. “For roles with well-defined requirements, employers provided feedback that paying only for applications that meet those requirements was a positive change. At the same time, for many employers, PPA demanded too many changes to the way they hire.”
The company noted that PPA was designed to allow employers to only pay for qualified candidates. “However, some employers used this feature of PPA to avoid paying for qualified candidates that progressed to the interview and even beyond. This led to monetization of qualified applications that were inconsistent from employer to employer, which was not aligned with our expectations.”
Recruit said it “remains committed to delivering value for all employers with pay for performance at the forefront.”
Recruit also announced that Indeed Plus launched in Japan on Jan. 30. Indeed Plus is a job distribution platform that connects multiple job boards and applicant tracking systems to automatically distribute jobs to the job boards that are judged to be the most appropriate based on the job content and other factors.
Employment in Canada increased by 37,300 jobs in January for a total employment of nearly 33.1 million following three months of little change, Statistics Canada reported today. Gains were all in part-time employment, with the country adding 48,900 jobs while full-time employment fell by 11,600.
Canada’s unemployment rate fell to 5.7% in January from 5.8% in December 2023. It marked the first decline since December 2022.
Wholesale and retail trade led employment growth among industries in January, adding 31,900 jobs, followed by “finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing” and educational services, which added 28,100 and 27,700 jobs, respectively. Industries with declines in employment included accommodation and food services, down 30,300 jobs, and “professional, scientific and technical services,” down 16,500 jobs.
Employment in the public sector rose by 47,600 jobs in January, while the private sector added 7,400 jobs. However, the number of self-employed fell by 17,700.
Among the provinces, Ontario led employment gains in January, adding 23,800 jobs. On the other hand, employment in Quebec fell by 7,500 jobs.