Market Overview

The total RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) market size (total of three market categories) in FY2020 was valued at 54,600 million yen, down by 3.4% from the previous fiscal year. In this research, the total RPO market refers to the total of the following three categories: 1) recruitment outsourcing, 2) recruitment management system, 3) personnel assessment for recruitment, Although the market size calculated is a reference range as some category sizes overlap, the recruitment activities were sluggish in FY2020 affected negatively by the COVID-19 crisis, which diminished the two categories other than recruitment management systems from the previous fiscal year results.

Noteworthy Topics

Newesworthy Recruitment Support Business

In the labor environment, labor shortage has been prominent, especially young employees. In such a situation where securing of young or good personnel has been severer, the recruitment processes are becoming more complicated. This led outsourcing services for recruitment processes to attract attention.

As to the recruitment knowhow that companies have accumulated over the years, they have come to fail in being effective methods for successful recruitment. This brought about companies to use outsourcing companies specialize in this field for hammering out the recruitment plans and definition of required personnel which used to be the very core part of companies’ recruitment activities. Such a tendency has increased the number of companies that invest generously in recruitment, as they consider it as significant theme as well as one of management strategies in business management, encouraging the use of outsourcing companies with ample recruitment knowhow.

In such an environment, the demand for services provided according to the recruitment challenges at customers – to provide RPO solutions to optimize the recruitment tasks to solve challenges at customers – is stably expanding, which is expected to be the driving force to let the market grow further.

Future Outlook

In the RPO market, the mid-career recruiting area has ample room for market exploration, as more people look for vocational changes based on career self-reliance, where they voluntarily trying to make good careers, and as the government encourages mobilization of human resources to growth business, which has grown the demand for the services steadily. The RPO market (total of three categories) in FY2021 is expected to rise by 11.2% from the previous fiscal year to 60,700 million yen.

When observing the details, all three markets are projected to secure positive growth, with the outsourcing market of recruitment processes (RPO + MSP) expected to expand by 12.2%, the market of recruitment management systems by 12.5%, and that of recruitment-related assessment by 7.4%.

Research Outline