U.S. staffing companies employed an average of 2.2 million temporary and contract workers per week in the fourth quarter of 2024—up 37,000 jobs from the third quarter of 2024—according to data released today by the American Staffing Association. The association’s Staffing Employment and Sales Survey showed that staffing sales totaled $30.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, little changed (up 0.1%) quarter-to-quarter and 10.4% below levels from the same period in 2023.

Continued concerns about macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions dampened hiring and job creation across most business sectors in the U.S. in 2024. For the full year of 2024, industry sales were $124.0 billion, down 13.0% from 2023.

Over the course of 2024, staffing companies provided employment to 11.2 million temporary and contract employees, down from 12.7 million hired in 2023. The average length of employment with a staffing agency held at 10.1 weeks. Of note, the sequential gains in fourth quarter staffing employment and sales hint at a return to normalization and the historic seasonal trend of regular growth from the second to the fourth quarters of the year.

“Although the recent growth in staffing employment and sales is encouraging, broader market uncertainties will continue to impact the pace of its recovery in the short term,” said Richard Wahlquist, ASA chief executive officer. “However, industry leaders are confident about the increasingly important roles that the industry will play in 2025 and beyond in helping organizations achieve higher degrees of workforce flexibility, efficiency, productivity, and engagement.”