The average weekly number of temporary and contract workers employed by US staffing companies rose 2.9% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 2.8 million, the American Staffing Association announced today in its “Staffing Employment and Sales” survey. The staffing industry continued its recovery from the pandemic-induced low of just over 2 million workers per week in the second quarter of 2020.

“Through a year marked by economic and geopolitical uncertainty, the staffing industry remained a bright spot in the economy,” said Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and CEO. “The staffing industry is very proud of the role it played in the past year in helping more than 14 and a half million job seekers connect with meaningful work.”

Overall, staffing firms hired a total of 14.6 million temporary and contract employees in 2022, up from the 14.1 million hired in 2021. The average length of employment with a staffing agency was largely unchanged at 10.0 weeks in 2022 from 10.1 weeks in 2021.