Trends set to impact the staffing industry in 2025 include AI spreading across all staffing functions, polarization among US state legislation and increasing reliance on third-party technology for candidate sourcing. These predictions are part of the new Staffing Trends 2025 report by John Nurthen, executive director of global research at SIA.

There has already been a focus on using AI for talent acquisition as well as assessment and verification. This year, however, AI will become ubiquitous throughout the entire staffing organization.

Executive teams can use AI for performance dashboards and predictive analytics. Marketing departments can leverage AI for targeted outreach and programmatic job advertising among other use cases. Business development, finance, recruiting and IT also have use cases for AI.

Also, expect to see polarization across US states in terms of legislation, with issues that range from noncompete agreements to pay transparency.

“Staffing firms will have to cope with an increasingly complex interplay between federal, state and local laws with additional administrative burdens for themselves and their customers,” according to the report. This includes the interaction between federal and local laws.

The report also points to increasing reliance on third-party tech for candidate sourcing. For example, 98% of staffing firms use online job advertising technology and 29% plan to increase its use. Another example: 92% of firms use sourcing automation tools and 24% plan to use them more.

More trends will affect the industry as well; the report covers a total of 10. It also looks at how predictions in previous years have fared.

The full Staffing Trends 2025 report is available online.