Staffing agencies in Oakland and Alameda County: the market and California's shared-liability rules

This report is for East Bay employers choosing an agency, job seekers comparing agencies, and B2B sellers whose customers are staffing firms.

Oakland and Alameda County staffing agencies in Census data

The figures cover Alameda County, California, which includes Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont and Hayward, and two industry codes: NAICS 56131 (Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services) and NAICS 56132 (Temporary Help Services). Source: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023.

Both rows are from the Census county file, with moderate noise (2% to 5%) on placement and search. Those 49 offices are 29 placement agencies and 20 search firms.

Why the employee count is so large

Temp agencies are the employer of the people they place. The Census Bureau's definition says workers supplied by a temp help firm "are employees of the temporary help services establishment," so the 12,696 people counted in temp help are mostly temps working at warehouses, offices and other client sites. Placement and search firms place people on the client's payroll and count only their own staff, which is why 49 offices report 648 employees. Temp help averages 60 employees per location.

Size

In broader bands, 148 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 68 have 20 to 99 and 44 have 100 or more. With the 100-plus classes withheld for the combined codes, the 44 is what remains after the smaller bands are subtracted; for temp help, the two locations with 500 or more are the total less the published classes.

The limits: these are establishments with paid employees, not companies, so national brands count once per branch; self-employed recruiters aren't counted; employment is the week of March 12, 2023; and professional employer organizations (NAICS 561330: 12 locations) are counted separately. This page uses the county because Oakland sits inside the much larger San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro area. No SEC-registered listed staffing company has its business address in Alameda County.

Types of agency, and what each costs you

California rules that change the decision

You share liability as a client employer. Labor Code 2810.3 makes a "client employer" share civil liability with the labor contractor (the agency) for the workers' wages and for any failure to secure valid workers' compensation coverage. It applies to businesses that get workers from an agency to do work within their usual course of business, unless the business has fewer than 25 workers in total (counting agency workers) or uses five or fewer agency workers at a time. The client also can't shift its own workplace safety duties to the agency. A worker must notify the client 30 days before suing. Any waiver of the section is void.

Temps must be paid weekly. Labor Code 201.3 requires a temporary services employer to pay assigned employees at least weekly, regardless of when the assignment ends. Workers on day-to-day assignments who report to the agency's office, are dispatched daily and do non-clerical, non-professional work must be paid at the end of each day.

Pay data reports cover agency workers too. Under Government Code 12999, private employers with 100 or more payroll employees, and private client employers with 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors, must file an annual pay data report with the Civil Rights Department. Reports for 2025 were due on 13 May 2026. If you use 100 or more agency workers, ask the agency for the data you'll need.

Local minimum wages. California's minimum wage is $16.90 an hour in 2026. Oakland's, under Measure FF, is $17.34 from 1 January 2026, and Oakland's hotel minimum wage is $18.85 with health benefits or $25.14 without. The rate that applies is the one where the work is done.

Worked example: an Oakland site on a state-rate quote

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

Estuary Point Distribution (estuarypoint.example) takes 15 full-time temps (31,200 hours a year) for a warehouse in Oakland. An agency based in another city quotes at the state minimum, $16.90, with a 40% markup: a $23.66 bill rate. The work is in Oakland, so the pay rate must be at least $17.34.

The bill difference is small next to the risk. If the agency underpaid, Labor Code 2810.3 would let workers recover the shortfall from Estuary Point as the client employer. Ask every agency to confirm in writing which local minimum wage it applies to your site, and keep a copy of its workers' compensation certificate.

Vetting checklist for an East Bay agency

1. Confirm the pay rate meets the minimum wage for the city where the work is done.
2. Ask how often it pays temps (it must be at least weekly) and how it handles final pay.
3. Get its workers' compensation and liability certificates, naming your company.
4. Ask for an indemnity in the contract for wage claims, since you share liability.
5. Look up the business in the California Secretary of State's bizfile search.
6. Compare ratings from clients and from temps on ClearlyRated, then phone two East Bay clients.

Job seekers: temp agencies in California must pay you at least weekly, and you shouldn't pay a fee to be placed. The City of Oakland's Economic and Workforce Development department, home of the Oakland Workforce Development Board, lists the city's job training programs.

Selling to Alameda County staffing agencies

California's rules make compliance a selling point for every vendor to these agencies. Weekly pay means more payroll runs; shared liability means clients ask for proof of wage compliance; local minimum wages mean pay rates vary by site; and pay data reporting reaches agencies' large clients. Payroll, timekeeping, wage-compliance and reporting tools have a clear opening, and so does anything that helps an agency answer a client's audit. Bebop researches each agency in a list and drafts an opening note. The prospect list guide sets out the process: how to build a prospect list.

Subject: City minimum wages across [agency]'s sites

Hi [first name],

[Agency] places temps at sites across Alameda County, where the minimum wage can change at a city line: Oakland's is $17.34 this year against the state's $16.90.

Our payroll check flags any assignment paid below the local rate for its work site before the weekly run, and gives you a report you can send clients who ask for proof of compliance.

Would a free check of last week's payroll be useful?

[Your name]

Local sources

Next step: compare a market with very different rules in the report on staffing agencies in Salt Lake City.