Market Size for Staffing agency in 2026 [Example]

The total available market (TAM) for staffing agencies globally is estimated based on the number of businesses that utilize staffing services. There are approximately 3 million businesses globally that regularly rely on staffing agencies for their workforce needs. The average spending of these businesses on staffing services, including temporary and permanent placements, is around $50,000 annually per business, which leads to a TAM of approximately $150 billion.

This number covers a wide array of industries: healthcare, technology, manufacturing, retail, and more. Additionally, many small to medium enterprises (SMEs) employ staffing agencies to meet their hiring needs due to the flexibility and expertise they provide in workforce management.

The serviceable addressable market (SAM) focuses on the segment of the TAM that your staffing agency can realistically capture, considering factors such as geographic reach, niche focus, and operational capabilities. If we estimate that your agency can effectively target around 20% of the total businesses in the TAM, that brings the number down to approximately 600,000 businesses.

These businesses typically spend on average $50,000 annually on staffing services, similar to the broader market but with tighter constraints in terms of niche specialization and geographical reach. This results in a SAM of about $30 billion, where your agency can operate actively and actually meet the demands of its clients.

The serviceable obtainable market (SOM) represents the portion of the SAM that you can realistically capture in the first year of operations. Assuming a conservative target market capture rate of about 0.005% of the SAM, this translates to approximately 30 businesses that could become clients of your staffing agency.

If these 30 businesses spend an average of $50,000 annually on staffing services, the SOM comes out to $1.5 million for your first year. This figure reflects a more manageable goal for a smaller agency, keeping in mind the potential challenges of entering a highly competitive market but suggesting a steady growth path in clientele.