A data-driven approach to predict hourly bill rates for US contingent workers

Contingent workers make up a large portion of the service industry workforce. A bill rate is the hourly fee a company pays to a staffing agency for the services of a temporary worker. In reality, the market for contract labor is fluid and bill rates sometimes fluctuate from week to week. Having a systematic approach that proactively aligns pay and bill rates with shifting market conditions can keep clients from underpaying or overpaying for contract talent and create a competitive advantage for recruiters and hiring managers. By using Randstad historical data, we build a machine learning model for the US labor market that predicts high confidence bill rates for a vast range of job titles at different geographical granularities (national, state and MSA) and that takes into account different experience levels.