Staffing Industry Statistics

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The staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry makes a vital contribution to the U.S. economy while servicing businesses across virtually all industries. Staffing provided job and career opportunities for about 16 million employees per year pre-pandemic (13.6 million during the pandemic).

Nearly 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 over 14.5 million temporary and contract employees.


  • Most staffing employees (73%) work full time, comparable to the overall workforce (75%).
  • 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. (pre-pandemic), there were about 25,000 staffing and recruiting companies, which altogether operate around 49,000 offices. Approximately 56% of companies and 75% 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.