In this week’s issue:
- Staffing hours grew year-over-year for the first time since September 2022, with engineering leading all segments at 12% median YoY growth.
- ADP added 62,000 private-sector jobs in March, but the February hires rate fell to 3.1%, matching a COVID-era low.
- Sixty percent of organizations are stuck in early-stage AI experimentation, while candidates are already beginning job searches inside LLMs, not job boards.
- Two-thirds of 2026 graduates say they’d take lower pay for job security, and 89% worry AI will eliminate entry-level roles before they land one.
- The DOL proposed raising H-1B prevailing wage floors in a rule expected to add roughly $14,000 per year per sponsored worker.
Staffing hours grow year-over-year for the first time in over three years
U.S. temp staffing hours hit year-to-date highs in the week ending March 21 and grew year-over-year for the first time since September 2022, per the SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator. Both commercial and professional hours were up compared to the same week last year. Commercial hours edged up sequentially; professional slipped 0.8% week-over-week but held positive on a year-over-year basis. Average weekly hours per worker held steady at 35.3 hours. Headwinds persist: sluggish labor market growth, low voluntary turnover, policy uncertainty, and AI-driven client caution. (Learn more)
ASA’s Q4 2025 Staffing Employment and Sales Survey showed the industry averaging 2 million temp and contract workers per week, up 65,000 from Q3. Sales climbed 2.6% quarter-over-quarter to $29.9 billion. The year-over-year employment decline narrowed to 6.1% from 7.5% in Q3, and industry turnover fell to 376% from 416% in 2024. Engineering was the standout, posting 12% median year-over-year growth in SIA’s March Pulse Survey, fueled by data center and power infrastructure demand. (Learn more)
Why it matters: The weekly indicator and quarterly survey are pointing the same direction, and engineering shows exactly where near-term demand is concentrating.
ADP holds steady, but the labor market is frozen underneath the surface
ADP reported 62,000 private-sector jobs added in March, with Education and Health Services leading all sectors at 58,000 jobs. Trade, Transportation, and Utilities shed 58,000 jobs. Annual pay growth held at 4.5% year-over-year, and job-changers saw a recovery in pay premiums after those hit a record low in February. (Learn more)
February’s JOLTS showed job openings little changed at 6.9 million, down from a revised 7.2 million in January. The hires rate fell to 3.1%, matching the COVID-era low from April 2020. The quits rate dropped to 1.9%, its eighth consecutive month at or below 2%. Separations (5.0 million) outpaced hires (4.8 million), meaning the labor market contracted slightly in February even without a spike in layoffs. Initial jobless claims for the week ending March 28 came in at 202,000, near a two-year low, confirming the low-fire dynamic holds. (Learn more)
Why it matters: Workers aren’t moving, employers aren’t firing, and the hires rate just matched a COVID-era low. Temp and contract placements remain the primary tool for workforce flexibility on both sides.
AI is already changing where candidates look before they find you
AI overviews now appear in 21% of Google search results, per a November 2025 Ahrefs analysis, with question-style queries generating an AI overview at least half the time. Twenty-eight percent of U.S. adults already use AI chatbots or AI search engines for simple information, and 11.6% of workers surveyed by iHire have used AI tools to research potential employers. Recruiting experts warn that candidates will soon start, evaluate, and end their entire job search inside LLMs, without visiting a careers site. Companies that haven’t built proactive, LLM-friendly content about their employer brand risk having their only digital narrative written by former employees. (Learn more)
A Conference Board survey of more than 250 HR leaders found 60% of organizations are still in early-stage AI adoption, experimenting but not yet operationalizing at scale. Fewer than half have integrated AI into workflows or measured its impact. And despite widespread fear of displacement, just 6% of organizations cite AI as a primary reason for layoffs. (Learn more)
Why it matters: The candidate search experience is already shifting toward AI, even as most employers are still running pilots. Agencies that get LLM-visible now will outrun clients who haven’t even started.
The Class of 2026 is entering the workforce scared and strategic
Monster’s 2026 State of the Graduate Report found that 67% of new graduates would accept a lower-paying job if it offered greater long-term job security. Job security (52%) now ranks above career growth opportunities (49%) among graduates’ top priorities, a reversal from prior years. Nearly seven in ten graduates (69%) say they are more willing to compromise on their ideal role than they were a year ago, and 75% say they would accept a job they expect to leave within a year if it provided immediate income. (Learn more)
Eighty-nine percent of 2026 graduates worry AI will replace entry-level roles, up sharply from 64% in 2025. Seventy-six percent are concerned the economy will affect their job prospects, and 35% expect their job search to take four months or longer. Despite the anxiety, 79% still believe they will receive a job offer within three months of graduation. (Learn more)
Why it matters: Entry-level candidates are arriving more flexible and more fearful than any prior class. For staffing firms filling contract and temp roles, that’s a deeper and more willing talent pool than the market has seen in years.
DOL proposes a major H-1B wage floor increase
The Department of Labor proposed raising prevailing wage thresholds for H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, and PERM workers in a rule published March 27. Under the proposal, entry-level (Level I) workers would see their wage floor climb from the 17th percentile of OEWS data to the 34th percentile, a jump of more than 30% in dollar terms for many roles. The highest-skilled (Level IV) threshold would rise from the 67th to the 88th percentile. The rule is expected to increase average certified wages by roughly $14,000 per year per sponsored worker, according to an attorney cited by SHRM. The public comment period runs 60 days from the March 27 publication date. (Learn more)
Why it matters: Clients relying on H-1B talent for technical and professional roles face significantly higher labor costs if this rule is finalized, and demand for domestic contract talent could increase as a result.
The StaffingHub Brief provides weekly insights for staffing agency leaders and publishes every Friday. Want to get essential staffing industry news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our weekly and daily newsletters.
