Operating revenue in the Canadian employment services industry fell 7.1 percent in 2009 from the previous year to C$8.66 billion, according to the most recent numbers, which were released April 29, 2011, by Statistics Canada. It was the first decline in operating revenue since 2002.

Employment services operating revenue was C$9.32 billion in 2008 and C$9.11 billion in 2007.

The employment services classification includes temporary staffing firms, executive search firms and direct hire firms. For 2009, temporary staffing accounted for 63.2 percent of Canadian employment services operating revenue.

Ontario represented the lion’s share of the Canadian employment services market with 55.7 percent of revenue being generated within the province. Ontario posted C$4.82 billion in employment services in 2009, down 9.7 percent from C$5.34 billion in 2008.