Relocation Volumes & Budgets – Overall & International

More Relocations Last Year, More Expected in 2017, Budgets Continue Rebounding

In 2016, essentially half of companies across company size saw increases in volume, mid-size firms (51%) more so than others. Roughly half of firms relocating people internationally, regardless of size, saw volumes increase as well. Few firms saw volume decreases overall; however, 18% of large firms noted a decline. Mid-size and large firms were more likely than small firms (16% & 14% vs. 6%) to see a decline in international volume. Expectations for 2017 are positive: around half of firms expect volumes to increase overall and internationally, and roughly four out of ten expect stability compared to 2016. There is a continued elevation in small percentages of firms expecting decreases, but the values are well within historical, non-recessionary ranges and not unexpected after a few years of growth.

As volumes increased in the years after the Great Recession, budgets did not initially keep pace. However, for each of the past three years, nearly half of companies report their relocation budgets increased from the previous year, and 47% believe their budgets will again increase in 2017. Last year, while half or more of small and mid-size firms saw budget increases, slightly fewer (41%) large firms did. Projections for 2017 are essentially in line with last year’s experiences across company size. In general, firms of all sizes expect growth or stability for budgets in 2017, and very few expect decreases.

For the sixth straight year, the median numbers for relocations at large firms (200-399) remained at historical, non-recessionary norms after dipping lower in 2010 (100-199). The median remained at normative levels for small firms (1-9) for a second year after trending higher (10-19) in 2014. The median for mid-size firms returned to its normative, non-recessionary range (20-49) after being higher (50-99) the previous two years.
While roughly half or more of firms across industries saw overall relocation volumes increase, the biggest increases occurred with government/military/public administration (56%) and for-profit service firms (50%). As well, 56% and 53% of these firms saw budgets increase. Generally, expectations across industries are similar for volumes and budgets.

Question 1

Number of employees relocated in 2016