2022 was a strong year for industrial staffing with revenue growing 7% and the size of the segment reached an all-time high of $39.1 billion. Last year’s strength is visible in our 2023 update to the list of Largest Industrial Staffing Firms in the US, which provides an overview of the competitive landscape in this segment.
We estimate that 60 firms generated at least $100 million in US industrial temporary staffing revenue in 2022, collectively representing 84.5% of that the $38.7 billion 2022 market. At 36%, the five largest firms accounted for the same market share in 2022 as in 2021. The combined market share of the 15 largest firms totaled 58% in 2022, down slightly from the 59% they represented in 2021.
Over a longer horizon, the largest firms have meaningfully expanded their combined market shares. In the early 2010s, the top five companies accounted for 28% most years, and only breached 30% in 2014. Thereafter they steadily gained further market share until plateauing at 34% to 35% in the years prior to the pandemic. This expansion is supported by M&A activity, investments in new technologies and brand awareness. The following graph illustrates the market share trend of five- and 15-largest industrial staffing firms since 2008.
Market share of the five and 15 largest industrial staffing firms
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By our estimates, in 2022, the largest industrial staffing firms were Employbridge, Express Employment Professionals, Aerotek (Allegis Group), Randstad and TrueBlue. Manpower, Adecco, Recruit, Kelly Services and Elwood Staffing round out the top 10. The top five companies had combined revenue of nearly $13.9 billion in 2022, up 5.7% from 2021. We estimate that the top 10 companies’ combined revenues were $18.9 billion, up 3.6%
In late 2022, our Pulse Survey saw a large gap open between the year-over-year growth reported by larger and smaller firms. While partially closed, the gap has persisted thus far in 2023. This is reflected in the delta between the aggregate and the median year-over-year revenue growth trends, shown in the chart below.
Aggregate and median reported year-over-year revenue growth for industrial staffing
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If this trend persists through the remainder of 2023, it suggests we may see a degree of compression in the range of market shares individual companies account for when compiling the 2024 update. However, large staffing firms often have more enterprise-scale clients, who scale down quickly but when ready to scale up, move quickly again. Indeed, early responses to our September Pulse Survey suggest this gap may soon close.
