Better than in 2025, and not as well as in 2022. Staffing Industry Analysts, in its September 2026 forecast, expects the US staffing market to grow about 2.4 percent in 2026, to around $183 billion, and about 2.2 percent more in 2027. That is the first revenue growth in three years. The American Staffing Association's own outlook calls 2026 better than 2025 but not a home run. The market is still below its 2022 peak. Growth is back, it is slow, and it is uneven: some firms are growing fast while others are flat.
The numbers
- Growth: about 2.4 percent in 2026, per Staffing Industry Analysts' September 2026 update. Their March update had said about 1 percent, so the year improved as it went.
- Size: roughly $183 billion. Still under the 2022 peak, which was around $244 billion, and about level with the market before the pandemic.
- Segments: industrial staffing is the fastest-growing segment at about 7 percent, and most segments SIA tracks are expected to rise.
- The ASA view: the American Staffing Association's 2026 outlook says better than 2025, with hiring uncertainty and inflation still weighing on clients. Its weekly staffing index ran a little above 2025 levels early in the year.
- Firm by firm: results are uneven. Many firms report low single-digit growth. Some report strong double-digit gains. The average hides both.
Numbers are as of late October 2026. Check the sources for updates.
What it means on a desk
Clients are ordering again, carefully. They are not flooding agencies with orders the way they did in 2021 and 2022. Each order is scrutinized, each markup is questioned, and each bad morning is a reason to try someone else. In a market like this, the agency does not win on volume. It wins on each order landing.
What the growing firms do differently
Talk to firms with double-digit growth in a 2 percent market and you hear the same things.
They own a niche. Industrial, healthcare, skilled trades. They know the requirements cold, and clients in that niche refer them.
Their first submittal is usually the one. Written orders, checked submittals, confirmed starts. Clients who do not have to check the work reorder without a sales call.
They count honestly. Fill rate that counts only placements that stuck. Retention past 30 days. They see problems weeks before a survey would.
They do not chase bad orders. An order at the wrong rate with no decision-maker is a weight, not a pipeline. They close it politely and spend the hours on orders that fill.
Where M-Tracker fits
In a slow market, every order has to land. M-Tracker reads each submittal and confirmation against the client's order before the client sees it, with a plain-words note on what is missing, so the first candidate the client meets is the right one and the start happens. The firms growing in 2026 are the ones whose work does not come back.
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Questions people ask
Is temp staffing growing or direct hire?
SIA's forecast shows most segments rising, with industrial temp strongest. Direct hire tends to follow the broader hiring market, which is cautious.
Will 2027 be better?
SIA expects about 2 percent more growth. Nobody is forecasting a return to 2022.
Should a small agency worry?
A small agency in a clear niche with right-first-time orders is in a good position. A small generalist competing on price is in a harder one.
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