Staffing Industry Statistics

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The staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry makes a vital contribution to the U.S. economy, and provides outstanding job and career opportunities for 16 million employees per year. Click on the tabs below to see the facts and statistics for staffing companies and employees.

Around three million temporary and contract employees work for America’s staffing companies during an average week.

During the course of a year, America’s staffing companies hire 16 million temporary and contract employees.

  • Most staffing employees (73%) work full time, comparable to the overall workforce (74%).
  • Six in 10 staffing employees (64%) work in the industry to fill in the gap between jobs or to help them land a job.
  • One in five (20%) cite schedule flexibility as a reason for choosing temporary/contract work.
Why Staffing 2018

Staffing employees work in virtually all occupations in all sectors:

  • 36% Industrial
  • 24% Office–Clerical and Administrative
  • 21% Professional–Managerial
  • 11% Engineering, Information Technology, and Scientific
  • 8% Health Care

40% of staffing employees work in higher-skilled occupations.

40% of staffing employees work in higher-skilled occupations.

Staffing clients turn to staffing companies to achieve workforce flexibility and access to talent.

In the U.S., there are about 25,000 staffing and recruiting companies, which altogether operate around 49,000 offices. Approximately 56% of companies and 76% of offices are in the temporary and contract staffing sector of the industry.

ASA represents a majority of the industry in both sales and offices.

Staffing companies offer a wide range of employment-related services, predominantly

  • Temporary and contract staffing
  • Recruiting and permanent placement
  • Outsourcing and outplacement
  • Human resource consulting
While staffing industry growth has outpaced overall economic and employment growth, it employs only about 2% of the U.S. nonfarm workforce.