U.S. staffing companies employed an average of just under 2.0 million temporary and contract workers per week in the first quarter of 2025, according to data released today by the American Staffing Association—down by 195,000 from the fourth quarter of 2024.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, temporary and contract staffing employment and sales typically decline in the first quarter, grow in subsequent quarters, and peak in the fourth quarter. That trend held true in the last quarter of 2024, and the contraction in the first quarter of 2025 is comparable to the average seasonal fourth-to-first quarter decline of 8.2% since 2008.

Temporary and contract staffing sales also declined as expected. Totaling $28.1 billion in the first quarter of 2025, staffing sales were down 8.8% from the fourth quarter of 2024 and 10.8% from the first quarter of 2024.

“The drop in demand for temporary and contract workers aligns with what we usually see after the holidays,” said Richard Wahlquist, ASA chief executive officer. “Just like the broader economy, temporary and contract employment is being affected by a lack of churn in the labor market. “However, the smaller declines in employment and sales suggest that staffing firms are adapting to the realities of an elongated recovery in labor market churn, seeking to bolster productivity, and delivering new workforce solutions to meet their clients’ evolving labor needs.”