Michael C. Buckley
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer at Robert Half
Thank you, Keith, and hello, everyone. As Keith noted global revenues were $1.85 billion in the first quarter. On an as adjusted basis, first quarter talent solutions revenue were up 30% year-over-year. U.S. talent solutions revenue were $1.046 billion, up 38% from the prior year. Non-U.S. talent solutions revenue were $297 million, up 20% year-over-year on an as adjusted basis. We have 317 talent solutions locations worldwide, including 83 locations in 17 countries outside of the United States. In the first quarter, there were 62.4 billing days compared to 62.3 billing days in the first quarter of 2021. The current second quarter has 63.4 billing days, unchanged from the same quarter one year ago.
Currency exchange rate movements during the first quarter had the effect of decreasing reported year-over-year talent solutions revenue by $13 million. This negatively impacted our year-over-year reported talent solutions revenue growth rate by 1.3 percentage points. Contract talent solutions bill rates for the quarter increased 9.1% compared to one year ago. Adjusted for changes in the mix of revenue by functional specialization, currency and country. This rate for the fourth quarter of 2021 was 8.5%.
Now let's take a closer look at the results for Protiviti. Global revenues in the first quarter were $472 million, $369 million of that is from business within the United States and $103 million is from operations outside of the United States. On an as adjusted basis global first-quarter Protiviti revenues were up 20% versus the year-ago period with U.S. Protiviti revenues up 17%. Non-U.S. revenues were up 32% on an as adjusted basis. Exchange rates had the effect of decreasing year-over-year Protiviti revenues by $5 million and decreasing its year-over-year reported growth rate by 1.3 percentage points. Protiviti and its independently owned Member Firms serve clients through a network of 88 locations in 29 countries.
Turning now to gross margin. In contract talent solutions first-quarter gross margin was 40% of applicable revenues compared to 38% of applicable revenues in the first quarter one year ago. Gross margins were positively impacted by expanding pay bill spreads and higher conversion revenues or contract-to-hire, which were 4% of revenues in the quarter as compared to 3.1% of revenues in the same quarter one year ago. Our permanent placement revenues in the first quarter were 13.9% of consolidated talent solutions revenues versus 11.2% of consolidated talent solutions revenues in the same quarter one year ago. When combined with contract talent solutions gross margin, overall talent solutions gross margin was 48.3%, an increase of 2.7 percentage points compared to the year-ago first quarter.
For Protiviti gross margin was 26.2% of Protiviti revenues, compared to 26-5% Protiviti revenues one year ago. Adjusted for deferred compensation-related classification impacts gross margin for Protiviti was 25.3% for the quarter just ended compared to 26.9% one year ago. Gross margin in the current period was impacted by higher staff resource costs, including a significant expansion of headcount during the quarter.
Enterprise selling, general and administrative costs were 28.3% of global revenues in the first quarter compared to 30.3% in the same quarter one year ago. Adjusted for deferred compensation-related classification impacts enterprise SG&A costs were 29.8% for the quarter just ended compared to 29.5% one year ago. Talent solutions SG&A costs were 33.6% of talent solutions revenues in the first quarter versus 37% in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted for deferred compensation-related classification impacts talent solutions SG&A costs were 35.6% for the quarter just ended compared to 36% one year ago. The higher mix of permanent placement revenues this quarter versus one year ago had the effective adding 1.5 percentage points to the quarter's adjusted SG&A ratio.
First-quarter SG&A costs for Protiviti were 13.3% of Protiviti revenues compared to 12.5% of revenues in the year ago period. Operating income for the quarter was $258 million adjusted for deferred compensation-related classification impacts, combined segment income was $228 million in the first quarter. Combined segment margin was 12.5%. First-quarter segment income from our talent solutions divisions was $171 million with a segment margin of 12.7%. Segment income for Protiviti in the first quarter was $57 million with a segment margin of 12.1%. Our first-quarter tax rate was 26%, the same as it was one year ago.
At the end of the first quarter accounts receivable were $1.072 billion and implied days sales outstanding or DSO was 53 days. Before we move on to second-quarter guidance let's review some of the monthly revenue trends we saw in the first quarter and so far in April, all adjusted for currency and billing days. Contract talent solutions exited the first quarter with March revenues up 28% versus the prior year compared to a percent increase for the full quarter. Revenue for the first three weeks of April were up 29% compared to the same period one year ago.
Permanent placement revenues in March were up 63% versus March of 2021. This compares to a 69% increase for the full quarter. For the first four weeks of April, permanent placement revenues were up 30% compared to the same period in 2021. We remind you that the comparative period of 2021 -- in 2021 experienced extraordinary growth, with permanent placement achieving 50% growth rates in the first three weeks of April 2021 and 97% for the full quarter.
We provide this information so that you have insight into some of the trends we saw during the first quarter and into the month of April. But as you know, these are very brief time periods. We caution against reading too much into that. With that in mind, we offer the following second-quarter guidance. Revenues $1.855 billion to $1.935 billion income per share $1.53 to $1.63. Midpoint revenues of $1.895 billion are 22% higher than the same period in 2021 on an as adjusted basis. Midpoint EPS of $1.58 is 19% higher than 2021. Note that in the prior year Q2 2021 revenues and EPS had very strong year-over-year growth rates of 40% and 227%, respectively.
The major financial assumptions underlying the midpoint of these estimates are as follows. Revenue growth on a year-over-year basis talent solutions up 25% to 27%, Protiviti up 9% to 11%, overall up 21% to 23%. Gross margin percentages contract talent 39% to 40%, Protiviti 27% to 28%, overall 41% to 43%. SG&A as a percentage of revenues, excluding deferred-compensation classification impacts talent solutions 36% to 37%, Protiviti 14% to 15%, overall 30% to 31%. For segment income talent solutions 12% to 13%, Protiviti 13% to 14%, overall 12% to 13%. Our tax rate 26% to 27%, shares outstanding 109 million to 110 million.
Second-quarter capital expenditures and capitalized cloud computing costs $25 million to $30 million. We limit our guidance to one quarter. All estimates we provide on this call are subject to the risks mentioned in today's press release and in our SEC filings.
Now I'll turn the call back over to Keith.