Staffing Industry Indicator

Commercial hours are now 12% ahead of 2025 levels

IT hours set new high point for the year

Light industrial hours are 15% above this week in 2025

Office/clerical hours improve to be just -4% below 2025 levels

Staffing Industry Analysts’ perspective

US Staffing hours were up 10% compared to a year ago in the week ending August 22nd and remained at a year-to-date high. Commercial hours were up 12% y/y while Professional hours were up 7% y/y. On a skill segment level, Industrial occupation hours were up 15% y/y, IT occupation hours were up 5% y/y, and Office/Clerical hours were down -4% y/y.

Looking at the month-to-month trend so far this year, 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 every month from January to July for a gain of 53,600 such jobs.

Industrial staffing hours have shown impressive growth in recent months. Industrial hours showed a notable ramp in late April and May, reaching double digit year-over-year growth. Then in June and July, Industrial staffing hours appear to have ramped up even further. More insight on the industrial segment can be found in our recently published Industrial Staffing Growth Assessment report.

The average weekly hours worked per worker was 35.6 hours during the week ending August 22nd, slightly up compared with the previous week (35.5), and up versus the same week of the previous year (35.3). On average, Industrial occupations worked 36.7 hours per week while IT occupations averaged 37.7 hours.

We believe industrial staffing has benefitted this year from increased demand from the manufacturing and logistics sectors, as well as demand related to 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 7,700 jobs each month from January through July, in contrast to the pattern of sequential declines that characterized the period from 2023 to 2025. For more US staffing industry insights, please see our US Economic and Labor Market Trends (May 2026), and our August 2026 US Jobs Report.