Staffing agencies in Portland: the Oregon and Washington market, the rules on each side and how to choose

This report is for employers on both sides of the Columbia River choosing a staffing agency, people looking for work through one, and B2B sellers whose customers are staffing firms in the Portland metro.

The Portland-Vancouver market in Census data

The figures cover the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metro Area (CBSA 38900) 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.

Washington County, home to Hillsboro and Beaverton, has the most locations, but Multnomah's are bigger (about 55 employees each against 39), so Multnomah has more people on agency payrolls. Clark County, the Washington side, has 65 locations. Yamhill County's employee count carries the Census Bureau's high-noise flag (the noise added for confidentiality moved it by 5% or more), so it's left out.

Big placement agencies, small search firms

From the Census Bureau's 2023 metro file; average pay is our calculation. Temp help has 85% of the employees because a temp agency is the legal employer of the people it places: the Census definition says they "are employees of the temporary help services establishment." A production temp at a Hillsboro fab supplier is on the agency's payroll, not the plant's. Placement agencies average 37 employees, large for that industry, while the 51 search offices average three.

The Census Bureau doesn't publish the cells above 249 employees, so the 15 is the total less the published classes; the temp help row shows 12 of them are temp locations with 250 to 499 employees. In broader bands, 274 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 105 have 20 to 99 and 62 have 100 or more.

County Business Patterns counts establishments with paid employees, not companies (a firm with offices in Beaverton and Vancouver counts twice) and leaves out self-employed recruiters. Professional employer organizations (NAICS 56133, 35 more locations here) aren't in these figures, and the snapshot is the week of March 12, 2023.

A Vancouver public company, and the PEO question

Barrett Business Services (Nasdaq: BBSI) gives 8100 NE Parkway Drive, Vancouver, Washington, as its principal executive offices in its 10-K for 2025. Its numbers show the difference between the two models:

A PEO co-employs staff you already have and runs payroll, benefits and workers' compensation; the client keeps control of the work, including hiring and firing. A temp agency supplies its own employees to you. If your problem is headcount, you want the second; if it's HR administration for your own people, the first.

Oregon and Washington rules

Worked example: the same crew in two states

Illustrative example. The company and markup are invented; the wage rates are the published minimums for the first half of 2027.

Columbia Slough Supply (slough.example) needs 10 temps at its Hillsboro warehouse, inside the urban growth boundary, and 10 at its Vancouver site for 26 weeks from January 2027, 40 hours a week, at minimum wage with a 40% markup.

The Vancouver crew costs $1,352 more per worker, $13,520 for the team. Oregon resets on 1 July and Washington on 1 January, so a year-long contract covering both sites has four rate periods. Ask the agency to quote each address and each period.

Choosing an agency

1. Decide between a temp agency and a PEO, using the test above, then narrow to the specialty: light industrial and manufacturing, office, IT contract, healthcare, temp-to-hire, direct hire or search.
2. Confirm the business is active with the Oregon Secretary of State or Washington's Corporations and Charities System, and ask for workers' compensation and general liability certificates.
3. For construction work in Oregon, ask for the BOLI license or confirm the agency qualifies for the staffing exclusion.
4. Get pay rate, markup and conversion terms in writing, with the rate for each work address.
5. Check reviews and references: ClearlyRated lists Portland agencies with client and talent ratings.

If you're looking for work, register with two or three agencies that place your kind of job, and ask whether the assignment is in Oregon or Washington before you accept, since the minimum wage differs. Worksystems, which funds workforce programs for Portland and Multnomah and Washington counties, lists the WorkSource Portland Metro job centers on its site.

Selling to Portland staffing agencies

Two-state payroll is the obvious angle: agencies with branches on both sides of the river run two minimum wages, two workers' compensation systems and two tax setups. Temp branches buy screening, timekeeping, safety training and recruiting ads; the large placement agencies buy applicant tracking and candidate data. Build the list from the ASA directory and ClearlyRated, and read job postings to sort semiconductor and manufacturing temp branches from office and IT recruiters. At volume that research is the slow part; Bebop finds agencies that match a description and explains why each fits. To turn the directories into a ranked list, follow how to build a prospect list.

Subject: January rate changes on the Washington side

Hi [first name],

I saw [agency] is filling [role] orders in both [Oregon town] and [Washington town]. With Washington's minimum moving on 1 January and Oregon's on 1 July, the same client can need new bill rates twice a year.

We [what you do] so each work address picks up the right rate automatically.

Worth 15 minutes before your January repricing?

[Your name]

Local sources

Next step: see the wider regional economy in the report on companies in Portland.