The staffing industry has been in a difficult place the past few years. Temp jobs are down 640,000 from their peak of 3.2 million in March 2022.  New technologies such as AI as well as macroeconomic factors and new competition are bringing challenges and opportunities. But growth is forecast ahead.

“It’s really an exciting time to be in the industry right now,” SIA Chief Analyst Barry Asin said in the conference’s opening keynote speech at Executive Forum North America today in Miami Beach, Florida. “It’s also just a bit terrifying to be in staffing now.”

Travel nurse revenue, the hardest hit, fell 59.7% between 2024 and 2022. Only a few staffing industry segments such as locum tenens and education — up 34.6% and 23.1%, respectively — saw growth.

Staffing jobs are down overall even as US nonfarm employment has risen and GDP has increased. The blame lies with several factors including labor hoarding, weakness in key client industries and economic uncertainty.

“Instead of an environment of ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’ you are an executive leader in a more challenging time where your leadership and strategy has never been more critical or more valuable,” Timothy Landhuis, VP of research at SIA, said in the keynote.

Just last year, total staffing industry revenue is estimated to have fallen 10%, according to SIA’s US Staffing Industry Forecast: March 2025 Update, unveiled today during the keynote speech. However, the industry’s revenue is poised to grow 1% this year with increases among all segments except healthcare staffing, which is still projected to fall 5%. Growth across all segments will resume in 2026, with total industry revenue poised to increase 3% and healthcare staffing projected to grow 3%.

Asin and Landhuis also discussed topics ranging from artificial intelligence and AI agents to the macroeconomic environment and their effects on the industry.

AI agents are different from traditional chatbots in that they can make decisions and many of them can also learn, Asin noted.

Staffing firms these days also face competition not just from other staffing firms but from the broader world of contingent work, such as independent contracting and big IT consulting firms like Infosys, Accenture and Wipro.

The industry is also watching the impact of the new presidential administration’s actions such as tariffs and their potential effects on the economy.

“The biggest wild card in all this we’ve seen in the last couple of days is around tariffs,” Asin said.

Tariffs, deportations and cuts in legal immigration, and reductions in federal spending might hold back growth, he noted. But the Trump administration also has pro-growth policies such as tax cuts, deregulation and more domestic energy production.

Questions also remain over diversity, equity and inclusion — which is of particular interest to diversity suppliers — though a federal judge has blocked most anti-DE&I executive orders for now.

“Your role has never been more challenging or important,” Landhuis told staffing executives at the conference.

Executive Forum North America continues this week.