Staffing Industry Indicator

Staffing hours hold steady for fifth consecutive week

IT hours show slight seasonal decline

Light industrial hours are 10% ahead of 2025

Office/clerical hours continue to lose ground

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 7% y/y and increased slightly sequentially to a new year-to-date highest level. Professional hours were up 2% y/y. Looking at a skill segment level, Industrial occupation hours were up 10% y/y, IT occupation hours were up 2% y/y, while Office/Clerical hours were down -8% y/y. Industrial hours reached a new year-to-date high and were at their highest level since November 2024.

Professional hours decreased -1.6% sequentially consistent with the pattern observed in recent years in the week prior to Memorial Day, likely reflecting a pullback in activity heading into the holiday weekend.

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

Average weekly hours worked per worker fell slightly to 35.1 hours. On average, Industrial temp workers reported 36.5 hours in the latest week and IT workers performed 37.4 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 mainly 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 growth in demand from clients in manufacturing and logistics, as well as demand related to investment in data centers. Demand for professional staffing is also 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 (May 2026), and our May 2026 US Jobs Report.