Commercial hours slip below 2025 for the first time since February

Total U.S. staffing hours remain ahead of where they were in 2025, but the gap is narrowing. The primary driver of this trend is the slowdown in commercial hours after showing significant strength throughout 2026. Office/clerical hours remained largely stable, meaning the shift in commercial hours is being driven by the light industrial segment. Light industrial hours declined nearly 1% this week and, more significantly, are now only 2% above the same week in 2025. The year-over-year gap for light industrial hours had remained above 4% since March, making this a notable change. However, prior years have occasionally shown a temporary dip around the same time, so it is still early to determine whether this marks the beginning of a broader slowdown in the segment. Professional hours continued to gain ground in the second week after Memorial Day, consistent with seasonal patterns seen in prior years. IT hours followed a similar trajectory.

SIA | Bullhorn research

Commercial hours dip nearly 1%

IT hours continued to bounce back from Memorial Day

Light industrial hours 2% above 2025 levels

Office/clerical hours remain stable this week

Staffing Industry Analysts’ perspective

US Staffing hours were up 2% compared to a year ago. Commercial hours were down -1% y/y while Professional hours were up 2% y/y.

This week’s data confirms a notable deceleration in Commercial staffing y/y growth from the 7% growth rates observed during May. On a skill segment level, Industrial occupation hours were up 2% y/y, IT occupation hours were up 1% y/y, and Office/Clerical hours were down -12% y/y.

Looking at the trend so far this year, both Commercial and Professional staffing hours have pulled back from the robust peak levels reached in May. While IT and Office/Clerical staffing hours showed a decent bounce back from the Memorial Day week dip, Industrial staffing hours have stayed down so far in June. We will be looking to next week’s data release for more insight on whether this signals a lasting pullback in the strong momentum that Industrial staffing volumes have maintained so far this year.

Prior to the Memorial Day holiday week, the positive sequential growth trend was consistent with data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’s June 2026 US Jobs Report that showed five straight months of growth in Temporary Help Services employment.

Average weekly hours worked per worker improved to 35.5 hours in the second week of June. On average, Industrial occupations worked 37.4 hours (a notable sequential uptick and year-to-date high) while IT occupations worked 37.5 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 grew sequentially in each month from January through May, 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 June 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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