NAICS code for a staffing agency: 561320, 561311 or 561312

This page is for staffing, recruiting and PEO firms that need a code for SAM.gov, a state workers' compensation or unemployment account, a bank, insurer or tax return, and for sellers building a list of staffing firms. It covers the four employment services codes, how to choose between them, SIC equivalents, Census counts and SBA size standards.

The employment services codes

All four sit in NAICS 5613, Employment Services:

The Census definitions draw the line in one sentence each. For 561320, "the individuals provided are employees of the temporary help services establishment", though the agency doesn't supervise them at the client's site. For 561311 and 561312, the people placed "are not employees" of the agency.

How to choose

Two entries surprise people. Outplacement services are indexed under 561320, not consulting. And Census includes "intermediary platform services" in both codes: online temp staffing goes with 561320, online job listings with 561311.

If you do both temporary and permanent placement, use the code for whichever brings in more revenue and list the other. For most mixed firms that's 561320, because bill rates on temporary work include the worker's wages and so dwarf placement fees.

The SIC codes for staffing and employment agencies

"SIC code for staffing agency" is 7363; "SIC code for employment agency" or "recruitment agency" is 7361. The split differs from NAICS: SIC 7363 covers both temp agencies and employee leasing, so a list built on 7363 mixes temp firms with PEOs. The SEC uses the same two codes: ManpowerGroup, Robert Half, Kelly Services and the PEO Insperity all file under 7363, and Korn Ferry under 7361. A UK Companies House form uses UK SIC 2007 instead: 78200 for temporary employment agencies, 78109 for other employment placement agencies and 78300 for human resources provision.

How many staffing businesses there are

County Business Patterns, 2023 (NAICS 2017 basis; none of these codes changed in 2022):

Read the employee figures with care. CBP counts everyone on the establishment's payroll, and for temp agencies and PEOs that includes the placed and co-employed workers. That's why 4,343 PEO establishments report 3,777,023 employees, about 870 each, and why 517 of them have 1,000 or more. Executive search is the opposite: about six and a half employees per office.

The whole of 5613 had 56,173 establishments, 7,790,831 employees and $471.8 billion in payroll. CBP counts locations, so a national firm's branches each count once, and it leaves out recruiters working alone without employees.

SBA size standards

From 13 CFR 121.201, effective March 17, 2023 and unchanged in the eCFR as of 28 October 2026, averaged over your latest five complete fiscal years. For a temp agency, receipts are the full amount billed: SBA's receipts rule says employee-based costs such as payroll taxes can't be excluded (13 CFR 121.104). A temp firm reaches $34.0 million much sooner than a placement firm with the same gross margin.

One more rule matters to your clients. When SBA counts employees for a size standard, it includes workers obtained from a temporary agency, PEO or leasing company (13 CFR 121.106). A client near an employee-based size standard may care how many of your people are on its site.

Where the code is used

• Federal contracts. Agencies buying temporary staff or recruiting services name one NAICS code per solicitation (13 CFR 121.402); list 561320 and 561311 in SAM.gov if you'd bid on both.
• Insurers and banks. They compare you with firms in the same code. A temp agency coded as a placement agency hides the fact that its placed workers are on its payroll, which is the first thing an underwriter asks about.
• Tax returns. Schedule C uses one code for the whole group: 561300, Employment services.

Finding staffing companies

Where your state licenses employment agencies or registers PEOs, its registry is the starting list. For public companies, EDGAR lists registrants under SIC 7363 and SIC 7361. The largest US-headquartered ones:

For the private firms behind most of the 56,173 establishments, a Bebop search such as light industrial staffing agencies in Ohio with 20 to 200 internal staff returns matching firms and explains why each fits.

Worked example

Illustrative example. The company and figures are invented.

Northgate Talent (northgate.example) places nurses on 13-week contracts on its own payroll and also does permanent placement for hospital managers. Last year it billed $21.0 million for contract nurses and earned $2.4 million in permanent placement fees. Its codes: 561320 primary, 561311 secondary.

Its five-year receipts were $12.0 million, $15.5 million, $18.0 million, $20.1 million and $23.4 million: $89.0 million in total, an average of $17.8 million, under the $34.0 million standard. Its gross margin on contract nursing is about 25%, so only about $5.3 million of last year's $21.0 million was its own margin. SBA still counts the full $21.0 million. At its growth rate, Northgate should plan for the year its five-year average crosses $34.0 million, when it stops qualifying for small business set-asides even though its margin is a fraction of that.

Next step: turn the code into named accounts with the guide to building a prospect list.