This just in from Deutsche Bank:
“The worst perm declines in the last cycle were -59% in 1Q02, four quarters into 10 quarters of YoY declines. RHI’s perm trends are -56% in January after only 3 quarters of declines. Temp trends in January are -26% versus the worst quarter last cycle of -32% (also 1Q02).
Looking at the BLS data this cycle versus last, this cycle looks to be at least a year longer than the last in terms of reaching an inflection point. We caution investors to not use last cycle as a guide and to expect more than 10 quarters of YoY declines in this cycle.”
