The Level Index
Staffing & RecruitingHow does your staffing agency compare?
Gross margin, recruiter productivity, time-to-fill, and DSO benchmarks for U.S. temporary staffing, executive search, and managed services. Sourced from Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), American Staffing Association (ASA), Bullhorn GRID, BLS, and Level engagements.
Last refreshed April 2026. SIA U.S. forecast updates, ASA quarterly statistics, Bullhorn GRID 2026 industry trends report, BLS CES temp help series, and 10-K filings of public staffing companies.
$184B
U.S. staffing market (2024 SIA)
27K+
U.S. staffing & recruiting firms
2.54M
Temp help jobs (BLS Dec 2024)
376%
Industry turnover (ASA 2025)
About the Data
The Level Index is compiled from operating data across 2,200+ service businesses plus named public filings, government statistics, and industry association surveys. This page focuses on industrial, clerical, healthcare, it & executive staffing — drawn from SIA · ASA · Bullhorn · BLS, public company 10-Ks, and Level engagements. Where private-company quartile data is not publicly published, we use the best available median, range, or surveyed cohort and label the source clearly.
Methodology
True P10–P90 percentile distributions for $1–50M U.S. staffing firms are not published in free public sources; SIA segment reports and NAPS benchmarking are member-restricted. Where percentiles are not available, this page uses Bullhorn distributions, public company filings, ASA macro stats, and SIA-cited segment medians, all clearly labeled.
The Level CLEAR Framework
Five pillars of staffing & recruiting financial health
Every metric in the Level Index maps to one of five pillars. Together they give you a complete picture of where money is made, lost, stuck, or at risk.
DSO (your team gets paid weekly, clients pay in 45+ days), payroll funding cycle, working capital. Cash timing is the #1 reason staffing agencies blow up in downturns.
Recruiter productivity (GP per producer), time-to-fill, submittal-to-fill ratio, recruiter turnover. The recruiter IS the product.
Gross margin by vertical (IT/F&A high, light industrial low), EBITDA margin, SG&A leverage, perm fee mix. Segment choice drives margin more than execution.
Client retention (NPS 45 industry avg per ClearlyRated), repeat client revenue, fill rate, average bill rate vs. pay rate, conversion fee revenue.
Customer concentration, vertical concentration (tech vs. industrial vs. healthcare), MSP/VMS exposure, workers comp (especially industrial), recruiter turnover.
Key Finding
U.S. temp help employment fell 16% from its 2022 peak — but Bullhorn data shows the winners are getting faster, not bigger.
BLS reports temp help services lost ~505,000 jobs from the March 2022 peak through late 2024. Yet Bullhorn GRID 2026 found that 56% of top-performing agencies now place candidates in under 10 days (22% in under 3 days), and they capture revenue while everyone else fights for scraps. Speed-to-fill correlates with revenue growth more than any other operating metric in staffing.
If your time-to-fill is over 20 days, you are losing winnable orders to faster competitors. The fix is rarely more recruiters — it's better pipeline management and submittal velocity.
DSO is the structural killer in staffing — your team gets paid weekly while clients pay in 45+ days.
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)
Source / sample: Robert Half FY2024 10-K + industry guidance
Staffing is a float business. RHI's implied ~49-day DSO is what scaled, diversified staffing looks like. Healthcare staffing typically runs 45–60+ days because hospital RCM is slow. If your DSO exceeds your payroll cycle by more than 30 days, you need factoring or a larger revolver.
Speed-to-fill is the single best predictor of revenue growth.
Time-to-Fill (Bullhorn GRID 2026)
Source / sample: Bullhorn GRID 2026 (n: thousands of staffing firms)
In tight niches, days to placement is a competitive weapon. The top-25% of search firms generate ~3× the submissions per recruiter (Hunt Scanlon / Recruiterflow) — better pipeline beats more recruiters every time.
Top-quartile recruiters generate $380K+ gross profit each. The rest don't.
Annual Gross Profit per Producer / Recruiter
Source / sample: Recruiterflow 'Staffing Industry Metrics' aggregate (2025)
The top-25% generate 3× the submissions of average recruiters (Hunt Scanlon). Comp ratios at top-performers commonly reach 30–35% of GP — the math only works when GP per producer is at the top of the curve.
Gross margin varies 17 points across staffing segments.
Gross Margin by Segment (FY2024)
Source / sample: Kforce, TrueBlue 10-Ks + Staffing Hub 2024 survey
Segment choice matters more than 'generic staffing.' IT/finance commands premium markup; light industrial is brutal on price. Healthcare margin compressed in 2023–2024 as travel nurse rates collapsed (Baird research: −280 bps 2022–2023).
2 more findings
Unlock the full Staffing & Recruiting index
See all 6 findings with charts, sources, and detailed methodology.
Benchmarks by Staffing Segment
Staffing & RecruitingGross margin and recruiter economics vary dramatically by vertical. IT and engineering carry the highest margins; light industrial the lowest.
IT / Technology
Gross margin (Kforce 2024)
26.5%
Finance & Accounting
Gross margin (Kforce 2024)
38.5%
Engineering / Design
Gross margin (Staffing Hub)
~33% avg
Healthcare / Travel
Gross margin (Staffing Hub)
~21% avg
Light Industrial
Gross margin (TBI proxy)
~25.9%
Executive Search
Model
Perm fee — high margin, lumpy
Advanced Staffing & Recruiting Metrics
Sub-segment breakdowns, advanced operational metrics, and percentile distributions for industrial, clerical, healthcare, it & executive staffing.
Want the full breakdown?
See all 10 sub-segment metrics with bottom/median/top quartile splits.
Benchmarks for other service businesses
How does your staffing agency compare?
We'll benchmark your gross margin, recruiter productivity, time-to-fill, and DSO against the industry. Free audit included.
No commitment. Real numbers, not generic advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's a healthy gross margin for a staffing agency?
By segment: IT 26–28%, finance/accounting 35–40%, engineering ~33%, light industrial 25–28%, healthcare/travel 21–24%. Executive search is fee-based and can run 60–90% gross. Your segment choice determines your ceiling more than your operating execution does.
What is the difference between markup and gross margin?
Markup % = (bill rate − pay rate) ÷ pay rate. Gross margin % = (bill rate − pay rate) ÷ bill rate. A 50% markup is only ~33% gross margin. Confusing these is one of the most expensive pricing mistakes in staffing — at scale, the math difference can leave $5–$15/hour on the table.
What is a normal DSO for a staffing company?
Healthy staffing agencies run DSO of 45–55 days. Top quartile is under 35 days. Healthcare staffing runs 45–60+ days because hospital RCM is slow. Robert Half implied ~49 days from FY2024 filings — that's what scaled, diversified staffing looks like. Above 65 days you need factoring or a much larger revolver.
What time-to-fill should I target?
Bullhorn GRID 2026: top performers fill in under 10 days (56% of revenue winners) and the elite 22% fill in under 3 days. If your time-to-fill is consistently above 20 days, you are losing winnable orders to faster competitors. Speed correlates with revenue growth more than any other operating metric.
What revenue should each recruiter generate?
Industry aggregates put top-25% recruiter gross profit at ~$380K annually, with elite search firms at $500K–$750K+. The top quartile generates ~3× the submissions per recruiter of average performers. Comp ratios commonly reach 30–35% of GP at top firms — but only because GP per producer is high enough to support it.
Sources
- • Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) — U.S. forecast updates 2024–2025
- • American Staffing Association (ASA) — quarterly industry statistics
- • Bullhorn GRID — 2026 Industry Trends Report (time-to-fill distributions)
- • Hunt Scanlon / Recruiterflow — recruiter productivity benchmarks
- • BLS Current Employment Statistics — temp help services (CES6056132001)
- • Public staffing 10-Ks: Robert Half (RHI), Kforce (KFRC), ASGN, TrueBlue (TBI), Kelly (KELYA)
- • Level Index — operating data across 2,200+ service businesses + staffing engagements
The Level Index represents the personal analysis and professional opinions of the Level team, compiled from public industry surveys, government statistics, SEC filings, and Level engagements. All data is anonymized and aggregated. Specific figures are rounded and should be treated as directional benchmarks, not precise measurements. The Level Index does not constitute financial advice. Individual results vary based on segment, geography, company size, and operational maturity. © 2026 Level. All rights reserved.