Staffing agencies in Boise: 103 locations in Ada and Canyon counties and how to check an agency's invoice

This short report is for Treasure Valley employers choosing an agency, job seekers looking for agency work, and sellers whose customers are staffing firms. The metro is small, so the figures are limited; for the wider region, see construction companies in Boise and companies in Boise.

Boise staffing agencies in Census data

US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, Boise City, ID Metro Area (CBSA 14260), NAICS 56131 (Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services) and 56132 (Temporary Help Services):

Nearly all the employees are in temp help because a temp agency employs the people it places: the Census definition says they "are employees of the temporary help services establishment," so warehouse, food processing and office temps count at the agency. The 22 placement and search offices are tiny, about five people each, and 17 of them have fewer than five.

Size. The Census Bureau publishes one size class for the two codes combined: 56 locations have 1 to 4 employees, and the other classes are not published. The temp help row shows 39 locations with 1 to 4 employees, 7 with 10 to 19, 12 with 20 to 49, 9 with 50 to 99 and 12 with 100 to 249; two more temp locations fall in classes that aren't published.

The two counties add to 102; the metro total counts one more location than the county rows. Canyon County, home to Nampa and Caldwell, has fewer agencies but bigger ones: about 42 employees per location against about 28 in Ada.

Limits. County Business Patterns counts establishments with paid employees, not companies, so a firm with branches in Boise and Nampa counts twice, and self-employed recruiters aren't counted. Employment is one week in March 2023. PEOs, 13 more metro locations with 1,183 employees, are classified separately.

Types of agency in the Treasure Valley

For job seekers: register with two or three agencies that place your kind of work, expect the agency to be your employer on any temp assignment, and don't pay a fee to be placed.

Idaho rules to know

Idaho sets few staffing-specific requirements that a client can check. Its minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, the federal rate, according to the US Department of Labor's state table, so pay rates are set by the local market rather than a state or city floor. Co-employment arrangements with PEOs fall under Idaho's Professional Employer Recognition Act (Idaho Code Title 44, Chapter 24), and the Department of Labor's rules let a PEO and its client report the workers under either one's unemployment insurance account (IDAPA 09.01.35.134). For a temp agency, the practical checks are its business entity status with the Idaho Secretary of State, a workers' compensation certificate naming your company and two references.

Worked example: checking the first invoice

Illustrative example. The company, schedule and rates are invented to show the arithmetic.

Snake River Produce Packing (snakeriver.example) in Nampa takes six temps at a $22.40 bill rate ($16.00 pay plus 40%), with overtime billed at 1.5 times the bill rate, $33.60. Four temps work four 10-hour days; two work 46 hours. The agency's invoice bills overtime for every hour over 8 in a day.

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime is due for hours over 40 in a workweek, and hours can't be averaged across weeks. Unless your contract says otherwise, the four 10-hour days are straight time, and over a 20-week season the error would cost $7,168. Check the first three invoices against your own timesheets: hours, overtime, any holiday rate and any markup on expenses.

Selling to Boise staffing agencies

With about 100 locations, the Boise market fits on one spreadsheet. The 81 temp help locations, and especially the 12 with 100 to 249 employees, buy timekeeping and payroll, background checks and drug screens, safety training and workers' compensation; the small placement and search offices buy job ads and candidate data, and the owner decides.

Start with ClearlyRated's 27 Boise listings and the ASA directory, add Boise Metro Chamber members, and check each entity on the Idaho Secretary of State's business search. Read job posts to split Canyon County's plant and warehouse staffers from Boise's office and healthcare specialists. For a bigger territory than the Treasure Valley, Bebop finds agencies that match a description and explains why each fits. For outreach, see how to write a cold email.

Subject: Timesheet to invoice for [agency]'s Canyon County clients

Hi [first name],

I saw [agency] is staffing [role, e.g. packing and sanitation] shifts in Nampa and Caldwell. On mixed schedules, overtime and holiday hours are where client invoice disputes usually start.

We [what you do, e.g. pull client-approved hours straight into billing and flag overtime rules per contract].

Would it help to run last month's invoices through it?

[Your name]

Local sources

Next step: compare a larger Western market in staffing agencies in Denver.