US staffing hours tie year-to-date high

U.S. staffing hours rebounded to their pre-Fourth of July level, matching the highest point of the year so far. Commercial hours also matched their 2026 high set in early July, while the professional index sits just one point below the peak it reached in May. Hours across all segments also remain well ahead of 2025 levels. U.S. staffing hours have been running 6-10% above 2025 levels since the beginning of the summer. Light industrial hours continue to surge, up 5% this week while also tying the year-to-date high set before the holiday, and running 16% ahead of the same week last year. Likewise IT hours had a strong week, rising 4.1% and outpacing 2025 by 5%, returning to their spring peak and showing continued signs of strength. Even office/clerical hours are only -5% behind where they were in 2025, a gap that has remained stable for several weeks and is an improvement over the spring. Staffing hours typically reach their summer peak in August, hold steady throughout the rest of the summer, and then begin to slowly climb again through the holidays. If that pattern holds this year, the staffing industry appears on track for a very strong second half of the year.

SIA | Bullhorn research

Commercial staffing hours are 12% above 2025 levels

IT hours remain resilient and regain levels from the spring

Light industrial hours are 16% above 2025 levels

Office/clerical hours remain down, but are getting closer to 2025 levels

Staffing Industry Analysts’ perspective

US Staffing hours were up 9% compared to a year ago in the week ending July 18th, the strongest growth rate since August 2022. Commercial hours were up 12% y/y while Professional hours were up 6% y/y. On a skill segment level, Industrial occupation hours were up 16% y/y (its highest growth rate since August 2021, outside of holiday weeks), IT occupation hours were up 6% y/y, and Office/Clerical hours were down -5% y/y.

Looking at the first half of 2026, both Commercial and Professional staffing hours have displayed a positive sequential growth trend. This is consistent with data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows employment in Temporary Help Services grew in five out of the first six months of this year for a gain of 47,800 such jobs.

Industrial staffing hours have shown impressive growth recently. Industrial staffing hours showed a notable ramp in late April and May, reaching double digit year-over-year growth. Then in June and so far in July, Industrial staffing hours appear to have ramped up even further.

The average weekly hours worked per worker increased to 35.3 hours during the week ending July 18th. On average, Industrial occupations worked 36.3 hours per week while IT occupations averaged 37.3 hours.

We believe industrial staffing has benefitted this year from demand from clients in manufacturing and logistics, as well as demand related to investment in data centers. Demand for professional staffing has come from clients moving forward on projects that had previously been paused as well as from new projects related to AI readiness and transformation. According to the latest BLS estimates, US temporary help employment has grown an average of roughly 8,000 jobs each month from January through June, breaking the pattern of sequential declines that characterized the period from 2023 to 2025. For more US staffing industry insights, please see our US Staffing Industry Forecast: March 2026 Update, our US Economic and Labor Market Trends (May 2026), and our July 2026 US Jobs Report.

About the SIA Bullhorn Staffing Industry Indicator

The SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator is a unique tool for gauging near real time weekly trends in the volume of temporary staffing delivered by staffing firms. Each week the Indicator reports data for the week that ended ten days prior to the release. It reflects weekly hours worked by temporary workers across a sample of staffing companies in the US that utilize Bullhorn’s technology solutions. The Indicator is weighted and benchmarked against US Bureau of Labor Statistics data to approximate the composition of the staffing industry by skill. While the indicator does not presume to perfectly reflect the entire universe of staffing firms, it does represent a sizable sample of the staffing industry, reflecting a wide range of occupations, client industry verticals, and geographic footprint that spans the country.

The Indicator can be used by staffing firms to benchmark their past and current performance, as well as a tool for forecasting near term industry trends and outlook.

As the US temporary staffing industry has often functioned as a co-incident indicator for the US labor market and economy, the SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator is also useful for a broader audience of business leaders and investors who are seeking real-time insight.

The Indicator is a joint custom research effort between Bullhorn and industry advisor Staffing Industry Analysts.

Revisions and Technical notes on the SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator 

We note the readings for the last 4 weeks are subject to revision and so should be viewed as preliminary, with the reading for the last recorded week the most likely to be revised in next week’s data release. For further information on how the Indicator has been created and detailed technical notes please refer to the methodology.

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