AVIXA Pro AV Business Index Falls in October, November Rebound Likely

AVIXA AV industry measures of employment and sales continue monthly seesaw ride with labor shortage leading some firms to turn away work.

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AVIXA Pro AV Business Index Falls in October, November Rebound Likely

The AVIXA Pro AV Business Index is taking the industry on a roller coaster ride month to month.

After showing an encouraging jump in both sales and employment in September, AVIXA’s monthly Pro AV Business Index saw dips in both areas in October. The good news, though, is the early returns for November’s results show another month-to-month rebound for the AV integration industry.

So while it’s too soon to say there’s a trend in one direction or the other, AVIXA senior director of market intelligence Sean Wargo is thankful for the additional data.

He says the numbers can now be used to compare AVIXA’s Pro AV Business Index with other similar gauges of industry health in the construction, architecture and other markets that are tangential to AV.

“It’s nice to look at the seasonality of the numbers or even to compare them from month to month, but the real beauty is to be able to see how they compare to some of the other indicators in other sectors,” says Wargo.

“Unless you see a couple of months in a particular direction, it’s hard to call it a trend. We’ve been bouncing around a little bit,” he says.

In the monthly report, the Pro-AV Sales index fell from 66.2 in September to 59.7 in October, while the Pro-AV Employment Index dipped from 66.0 to 62.3 from September to October.

The Pro AV Business Index measures the health of the industry, based on how many firms either stayed the same or grew at least 5 percent. Any number above 50 is an indication of a healthy market.

“Labor issues are finding firms turning away from some jobs,” says AVIXA director of market intelligence James Chu.

That’s a function of a lack of qualified labor for the job openings at AV integration firms and manufacturers.

“The job switch rate is historically low right now,” says Wargo.

“The number of job postings is great, but it’s harder than usual to find qualified labor. The net new jobs is the issue, not people switching jobs and leaving companies with existing open positions.”

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