The average weekly number of temporary and contract workers employed by US staffing firms edged downward by 0.6% to 2.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the American Staffing Association’s Staffing and Sales Survey released today. However, the fourth quarter saw the smallest quarterly decline in 2023.

The ASA noted that the decline contradicts the typical seasonal pattern of staffing employment growth from the second to the fourth quarter after a fall in the first quarter.

On a year-over-year basis, staffing jobs declined 16.8% in the fourth quarter and 12.5% for the full year from 2022 to 2023. In addition, staffing companies hired a total of 12.7 million temporary and contract employees, down from the 14.6 million hired in 2022.

Meanwhile, temporary and contract staffing sales decreased 16.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023 to $34.4 billion, while annual sales fell by 10.5% to $142.4 billion.

“The staffing industry takes great pride in the more than 12-and-a-half million people it supported in finding work in 2023, which was a challenging year,” ASA CEO Richard Wahlquist said in a press statement. “Employers across most sectors tapped the brakes on new job creation last year, adding an average of 225,000 jobs per month, down 44% from 399,000 in 2022. The slowdown directly impacted staffing industry employment, which was down by 12.5% in 2023.”

Wahlquist noted that while demand cooled during most of 2023, the last quarter saw the smallest quarter-to-quarter decreases in staffing sales and hires, and industry members are cautiously optimistic about a return to growth later this year.

The ASA Staffing Employment and Sales Survey is conducted on a quarterly basis.