Merger and acquisition activity in the US staffing industry remained robust last year, with 110 publicly announced transactions in 2019 that involved a staffing firm target, according to SIA’s M&A Trends: North America 2020 Update report. This number of transactions was consistent with the M&A activity recorded in 2018, when there were 112 such deals.

Similarly, the number of deals involving light industrial staffing firms rose to 15 transactions in 2019 from 9 deals in 2018. The vast majority of deals were strategic acquisitions by larger industrial staffing companies. Among the deals were NSC Technologies’ acquisition of Staffing Resources (dba SRI) and ULG Cos., and TransForce’s acquisition of USA Drivers, the latest of a number of deals completed by TransForce in recent years.

As the prospect of a recession looks increasingly likely this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, M&A activity may continue at elevated rates for the remainder of this year as distressed firms consolidate or as owners decide to exit. More insights on the coronavirus impact can be found here. And a more detailed look at more than 1500-plus M&A transactions in staffing and workforce solutions can be found in our interactive database.