Private employment agencies around the world placed 61 million people in jobs in 2024, according to the World Employment Confederation’s 2026 Industry Impact Report, even as industry revenues fell 4.2%. In the United States, the picture is steadier than the headlines suggest. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 2.49 million temporary help services jobs in September 2026, about 1.6% of all nonfarm payroll employment and 15,200 more than a year earlier. Meanwhile, ManpowerGroup’s Q4 2026 survey found a US net employment outlook of 36%.
This page collects the most citable staffing industry statistics for 2026, traced to the original research.
Summary: key staffing industry statistics at a glance
- 61 million: people placed in jobs by private employment agencies worldwide in 2024, including 58.4 million through temporary agency work and 2.5 million through direct recruitment (World Employment Confederation, 2026).
- 4.2%: decline in global staffing industry revenues in 2024 (World Employment Confederation, 2026).
- 2.49 million: US temporary help services jobs in September 2026, versus 2.47 million in September 2025 (BLS Employment Situation, seasonally adjusted).
- 3.18 million: US employment services jobs in September 2026, the broader category that includes temporary help (BLS).
- 1.6%: temporary help’s share of total US nonfarm employment in September 2026 (calculated from BLS data).
- 945,000: people who held a temporary help agency job as their main job in July 2023, or 0.6% of total employment (BLS Contingent Worker Supplement).
- 36%: net US employer hiring outlook for Q4 2026 (ManpowerGroup, Q4 2026).
- 4x: how much more likely top-performing staffing firms are to use AI (Bullhorn GRID report, 2026).
- 20.2%: share of staffing firms using AI in 2025, more than double the 2023 rate (World Employment Confederation, 2026).
- 76%: share of fuels employers that had trouble hiring in 2025 (US Department of Energy, 2026 USEER).
How big is the global staffing industry in 2026?
Size is easiest to measure in people placed. The World Employment Confederation reports that private employment agencies placed 61 million people in 2024, nearly one million more than in 2023. Of those, 58.4 million were temporary agency placements and 2.5 million were direct recruitment placements. Some 86% of the roles were full-time.
Revenue told a different story. Global industry revenues fell 4.2% in 2024, so volume grew slightly while dollars shrank. The geography also shifted. Asia-Pacific is now the largest market by placements, while North America and Europe contracted. The US and UK together accounted for a decline of nearly 2 million placements.
Who does the work? The same report finds women make up 40% of agency workers globally, students 12%, and workers over 45 about 23%. Roughly 23% of agency workers convert to a permanent contract, though the rate varies widely by country, with Belgium highest at 70%.
US temporary help and staffing employment
The BLS payroll survey is the most-watched measure of US staffing employment. In its September 2026 Employment Situation (released October 2, 2026), BLS reported that temporary help services employment slipped by 10,900 jobs for the month, to 2,486.8 thousand on a seasonally adjusted basis. That is still 15,200 jobs (0.6%) above September 2025.
Zoom out and the trend is a long, shallow recovery. Temporary help peaked in March 2022. By December 2023, BLS had reported that the industry had shed 346,000 jobs from that peak. Today’s level of 2.49 million shows a sector that has stabilized rather than snapped back.
Employment services, the broader BLS category that also covers placement agencies and professional employer organizations, stood at 3,181.6 thousand in September 2026, up 0.8% from 3,157.4 thousand a year earlier.
The wider labor market explains some of the caution. Total nonfarm payrolls rose by just 29,000 in September 2026, the unemployment rate was 4.2%, and average hourly earnings for private employees reached $37.81, up 3.0% over 12 months. The BLS JOLTS report for August 2026 showed 7.1 million job openings (a 4.3% rate), 5.2 million hires (3.3%), and a quits rate of just 1.9%. Employers are posting jobs, but few people are moving.
Two ways to count US agency workers
Journalists often mix up two very different BLS figures. The payroll survey above counts jobs at establishments, which is why it shows roughly 2.5 million temporary help jobs. The household-based Contingent Worker Supplement, last fielded in July 2023 and released in November 2024, asked people about their main job. It found 945,000 temporary help agency workers (0.6% of total employment) and 862,000 contract firm workers (0.5%).
The same supplement puts the broader flexible workforce in context: 6.9 million contingent workers (4.3% of those employed), 11.9 million independent contractors (7.4%), and 2.8 million on-call workers (1.7%). Contingent work rose from 3.8% in May 2017. Both measures are legitimate, but they answer different questions, so cite them with their definitions.
Staffing in the industries that build, power, and move America
Staffing demand looks different in the sectors Tall Trees Talent serves. A year-over-year comparison of seasonally adjusted BLS payrolls (September 2025 to September 2026, Table B-1) shows how temporary help compares with the industrial economy:
- Construction: 8,364 thousand jobs, up 109,000 (1.3%).
- Manufacturing: 12,652 thousand jobs, up 40,000 (0.3%).
- Transportation and warehousing: 6,608.7 thousand jobs, down 9,800 (0.1%).
- Temporary help services: 2,486.8 thousand jobs, up 15,200 (0.6%).
In other words, temporary help grew faster than manufacturing and transportation over the past year, though more slowly than construction. These percentage changes are calculated from the published BLS levels.
Energy employers face the toughest hiring conditions. The US Department of Energy’s 2026 US Energy and Employment Report found that the energy sector employed 8.4 million workers in 2025, about 5% of all US jobs, but headcount slipped 1% (86,000 workers) from 2024. Even so, hiring remained hard:
- Fuels: 76% of employers experienced hiring difficulty.
- Energy efficiency: 74% had trouble hiring.
- Motor vehicles and component parts: 71% of employers that hired had trouble hiring new workers.
- Electric power generation: 70% experienced at least some hiring difficulty.
- Transmission, distribution, and storage: 67% had trouble hiring, with management positions the hardest to fill.
The same report puts the median annual energy wage at $63,000, 24% higher than the $51,000 median across all US sectors. For energy, construction, manufacturing, and transportation employers, those numbers explain why specialist recruiting and flexible staffing remain core tools even in a soft payroll year.
Hiring outlook: what employers say they will do next
ManpowerGroup’s Employment Outlook Survey for Q4 2026, released September 8, 2026, interviewed 39,878 employers in 42 countries. The global net employment outlook is 29%. The US figure is higher, at 36%.
Globally, 43% of employers plan to add staff, 14% expect reductions, and 41% expect no change. Construction and real estate tied with finance and insurance for the strongest sector outlook, both at 36%. The Americas region posted 36%, Asia-Pacific 34%, and Europe and the Middle East 22%.
Entry-level hiring is also recovering. Some 45% of employers plan to add early-career talent, versus 20% planning to pull back. Company expansion (39%) is the most common reason cited for adding staff, followed by advancing technology (21%).
AI and technology in staffing firms
Technology is now the clearest dividing line between staffing winners and laggards. The 16th annual Bullhorn GRID Industry Trends Report, published February 25, 2026 and based on a survey of nearly 2,300 recruitment professionals, found:
- Top-performing staffing firms are four times more likely to use AI.
- 78% of high-growth firms (those growing revenue more than 25%) use AI tools embedded in their applicant tracking system.
- 55% of firms say AI screening alone improved their KPIs by more than 25%, and 46% say it cut screening time in half or better.
- 56% of the highest-growth firms report average placement times under 10 days.
- Only 10% of firms have put agentic AI across their full workflow.
- 43% of firms expect only modest economic improvement in 2026.
The World Employment Confederation tells a consistent story at a wider scale: 20.2% of firms were using AI in 2025, more than double the share in 2023.
Emerging trends and what’s new in 2026
Several developments set 2026 apart from earlier staffing industry statistics roundups.
Volume is up while revenue is down. Placements rose in 2024, but revenues fell 4.2%, so more people were placed while the industry earned less in total.
The US is the drag on global placements, not the engine. The WEC data shows the US and UK combined lost nearly 2 million placements, while Asia-Pacific became the largest market.
Temporary help has stabilized, but not rebounded. At 2.49 million jobs and 1.6% of payrolls, the sector is up slightly year over year, yet BLS has documented a loss of 346,000 jobs from its March 2022 peak by December 2023.
Employer confidence is rising faster than payroll growth. A US hiring outlook of 36% sits alongside payroll gains of just 29,000 in September, so the gap between intent and action is worth watching in the fourth quarter.
AI adoption is the new performance gap. The Bullhorn data ties AI use directly to faster placements and stronger growth, and most firms have not yet moved beyond basic screening tools.
Skilled-trade scarcity persists. Even as energy employment dipped 1% in 2025, roughly three in four fuels and energy efficiency employers still struggled to hire.
How Tall Trees Talent helps
Tall Trees Talent helps energy, construction, manufacturing, and transportation employers fill individual contributor and manager-level roles with recruiters who have worked in those industries themselves. If your hiring plans run into the shortages described above, explore energy recruiting or learn more about the firm.
