Which country has the most private employment agencies?

It’s China, according to new research by Ciett, the International Confederation of Private Employment  Agencies.

China has the most private employment agencies at 49,000 in 2010, according to the report. That’s more than the three next-largest countries combined — Japan has 20,000 private employment agencies, the U.S. has 13,900 and the U.K. has 11,500.

Ciett’s numbers may not always agree with those of other sources, however. Two other sources, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census, even differ in U.S. counts.

Nevertheless, according to Ciett, there are 128,000 private employment agencies in the world based on data from 37 countries. Places that didn’t appear on the list included large countries such as India and Russia.

It’s surprising China has so many agencies. In the same report last year, Ciett didn’t list the number of Chinese employment agencies. And the sheer number of agencies in China also raises questions: How is a private employment agency defined in China? What does the average Chinese staffing firm look like? What types of workers do they place? The report didn’t have information on the number of contingent workers that China has.

Regardless, if there really are 49,000 agencies in China, we will no doubt be hearing more about the staffing industry in that country.

To go to the Ciett website for the full report, click here.