Facts about the Staffing Industry

• The staffing industry generates some $87 billion in revenue and employs an average of 3 million workers per day.  In the U.S. alone, there are about 6,000 firms operating some 20,000 offices.  Ninety percent of companies have used a staffing service at one time or another.

• Temporary assignments may last from several hours to several years; with the average length of assignment running between three and five months.  However, temporary work is a bridge to permanent employment, as employees showcase their skills to employers who consider them for full-time positions.  Eight out of ten customers say that staffing companies offer a good way to find people who can become permanent employees.

• Nine out of 10 business customers say that staffing companies offer flexibility to their firms so they can keep fully staffed during busy times.   Business customers also rely on staffing firms to provide access to talented workers in the full range of occupations.  Three quarters of business customers say the quality of employees recruited from staffing firms is the same as or better than the quality of their regular employees.

• Temporary employees never pay a fee for staffing services, and receive competitive wages and benefits.  More and more people and companies are looking for the flexibility that temporary or temporary-to-hire employment arrangements provide.  Seventy-nine percent of temporary employees work full time, virtually the same as the rest of the work force.

• The fastest-growing segment of the staffing industry is in temporary professional and technical help.