Industry Statistics:
The Staffing and Recruiting Industry
- Canada’s staffing and recruiting industry group represents about two million temporary workers or 13.6% of the country’s workforce. (Statistics Canada)
- The staffing and recruiting industry generates more than $15 billion in revenue toward Canada’s economy.
- The industry supports the following functions: information technology (IT); engineering; administrative support; sales & business development; finance & accounting; human resources; professional/managerial services; healthcare; and industrial services.
- The industry is primarily engaged in:
- Permanent placement
- Temporary placement/staffing
- Executive search
- Co-employment staffing services
- Many staffing and recruiting firms also offer:
- Contract staffing
- Temp-to-hire
- Direct hire
- Managed service provider (MSP)
- Skills assessment
- Training and upgrading
- Payroll and benefits administration
- Canada’s workers use staffing and recruiting firms’ services to:
- Break into the workforce
- Bridge to a permanent job
- Access expert support to attain the most attractive offer, benefits and perks
- Enhance their skills
- Transition to a new career
- Gain Canadian experience
- Support side pursuits through flexible hours
- Ease into retirement
- Canadian businesses turn to staffing and recruiting firms’ services to:
- Gauge employee fit before hiring
- Access a wider range of talent, including candidates with specialized or scarce skills
- Fill positions quickly
- Adjust workforce to meet rapidly changing business needs (to special project, seasonal, long-term or unanticipated absence needs)
Statistics Canada Highlights for 2017 (most recent year on record)*
- The employment services industry group realized total operating revenues of $14.5 billion in 2017, up 6.8% from 2016. Most of this revenue was reported by businesses in Ontario (58.3%), Alberta (16.1%) and Quebec (14.5%).
- Temporary staffing services generated 51.0% of the revenue from sales of goods and services in 2017, followed by permanent placements and contract staffing services (39.6%). The main clients for this industry group were Canadian businesses, which accounted for 87.2% of total sales.
- Operating expenses rose 6.1% to $13.9 billion in 2017. Salaries, wages, commissions and benefits (59.0%) and subcontracts (28.6%) were the main expense categories.
- The operating profit margin (4.3%) in 2017 was up compared with the previous year (3.7%).
*Source: Statistics Canada Report on 2017 Survey of Employment Services - Released: 2019-02-14