Staffing hours at year-to-date high in all segments

Staffing hours have been strong and remain steady at their highest levels of 2026. This is true in all major segments, with commercial hours continuing to lead the way, up 6%, compared to 2025. There is strong momentum across the industry. IT hours are up slightly this week and remain just below their high point for the year. Light industrial hours are at a year-to-date high for the second consecutive week and continue to outpace 2025 by 9%. Office/clerical hours took a dip this week, down 2.6%, bringing them 7% below where they were this time in 2025. With the exception of the office/clerical segment, the staffing industry continues to show strong momentum as we near the halfway point of 2026.

SIA | Bullhorn research

Staffing hours hold steady for fourth consecutive week

IT hours are 3% above 2025 levels

Light industrial hours remain at year-to-date high

Office/clerical hours drop 2.6% this week

Staffing Industry Analysts’ perspective

US Staffing hours remained at a year-to-date high and were up 4% compared to a year ago. Commercial hours were up 6% y/y and Professional hours were up 3% y/y. On a skill segment basis, Industrial occupation hours were up 9% y/y and IT occupation hours were up 3% y/y, while Office/Clerical hours were down 7% y/y.

The positive sequential growth trends are consistent with the latest data release from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’s May 2026 US Jobs Report which reported four straight months of growth in Temporary Help Services employment.

Average weekly hours worked per worker edged up to 35.3 hours. On average, Industrial temp workers clocked in 36.5 hours in the latest week and IT workers performed 37.7 hours. For both Industrial and IT so far this year, average weekly hours have trended closely in line with last year, implying that the growth in hours is almost entirely due to an increase in the number of workers on assignment.

The conflict in Iran has yet to show a meaningful direct negative impact on the US staffing industry, at least as far as we can tell. We will continue to keep an eye out for any impacts in future weeks of data.

We believe industrial staffing is benefiting from some degree of recovery in demand from clients in manufacturing and logistics, as well as demand related to investment in data centers.

Similarly, we believe demand for professional staffing is rising as clients move forward on projects that had previously been paused as well as launch new projects related to AI readiness and transformation. According to the latest BLS estimates, US temporary help employment grew sequentially in January, February, March, and April, breaking the pattern of sequential declines that have defined much of the past three years. For more US staffing industry insights, please see our US Staffing Industry Forecast: March 2026 Update, our US Economic and Labor Market Trends (March 2026), and our May 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.

Want to stay up to date on US temporary staffing trends?

Subscribe for timely trends, data, and analysis

Join thousands of recruitment pros who subscribe to Bullhorn Insights to receive exclusive trends and data, powered by Bullhorn.

shape of squares