Staffing agencies in San Antonio: who they are, the Texas rules and how to compare quotes

This page is for three readers: San Antonio employers deciding which agency to call, job seekers working out which agencies are worth registering with, and B2B sellers whose customers are staffing firms.

San Antonio staffing agencies in Census data

The figures cover the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area (CBSA 41700) 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.

No SEC-registered listed staffing company has its business address in the metro, so every agency here is either private or a branch of a company based elsewhere.

Why 314 agencies employ almost 17,000 people

A temp agency is the legal employer of the people it places. The Census Bureau's definition of temporary help services says the individuals supplied "are employees of the temporary help services establishment," while placement and search firms place people who are not their employees. So the employee count below is mostly temps on assignment at warehouses, offices and clinics, not recruiters.

The industry rows come from the same County Business Patterns metro file. Temp help averages 68 employees per location; placement agencies average 14 and search offices 6.

Size and location

The Census Bureau doesn't publish the classes from 50 employees up for the two codes combined, but it does for temp help alone: 38 temp help locations have 50 to 99 employees, 42 have 100 to 249 and 10 have 250 to 499. That leaves two temp help locations in the unpublished 500-plus classes (235 less the published cells). In broader bands, 168 establishments have 1 to 19 employees.

"Not reported" means the Census Bureau's confidentiality noise changed the figure by 5% or more, so it isn't shown here. Bexar County has 87% of the locations and 91% of the employees.

County Business Patterns counts establishments with paid employees, not companies, so a national firm with four San Antonio branches counts four times. Self-employed recruiters are excluded, employment is a single week in March, and professional employer organizations (NAICS 561330: 38 locations and 2,507 employees here) are left out.

Which kind of agency you need

Texas rules that apply in San Antonio

• Labor halls. Texas Labor Code chapter 92 covers "temporary common worker employers": firms that supply unskilled labor and run a labor hall where workers gather and are dispatched. It exempts skilled temp agencies, PEOs and firms without a labor hall (section 92.012). A covered firm is the employer of the workers it supplies (92.021) and must keep records of each worker's hours, work locations, wages and deductions for two years (92.022). Section 92.013 lets a city of more than one million people set stricter standards, so in San Antonio ask whether any city requirement applies to the hall you use.
• PEOs need a state license. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation's data lists 502 PEO licenses; 367 belong to out-of-state firms and 21 to firms with a Bexar County business address. A staffing agency that only supplies temps doesn't need one.
• Pay floor. Texas adopts the federal $7.25 minimum wage by reference, so local temp rates are set by the market.
• Injury cover. Workers' compensation is elective for private employers in Texas (Labor Code 406.002), so ask for the agency's certificate before workers start.

Worked example: three quotes for the same 400 hours

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

Mission Reach Fulfillment (missionreach.example), a distribution center on the South Side, needs ten pickers for about ten weeks and plans to hire the good ones after 400 hours. Each agency pays the worker $17.00 an hour.

Agency C has the lowest markup and the highest cost: $1,524.00 more per worker than B, or $15,240.00 across ten. Ask every agency for its conversion schedule in hours, not weeks, before you compare markups.

Shortlist and vet an agency

1. Write the brief: role, shifts, headcount, start date, site, and what your own staff earn for the same work.
2. Build a long list from the American Staffing Association member directory and ClearlyRated's San Antonio listings (141 firms, with client and talent ratings).
3. Check the entity on the Texas Secretary of State's SOSDirect, and if the firm is really a PEO, on TDLR's license search.
4. Ask for the insurance paperwork: a workers' compensation certificate (or written confirmation it has none) and general liability, both naming you.
5. Get the full quote in writing: pay rate, markup, overtime, holiday pay and the conversion schedule.
6. Call two references with similar roles, then pilot one shift before your peak.

If you're looking for work

Legitimate agencies are paid by the employer. The Federal Trade Commission's advice is blunt: if a placement firm asks you for a fee, especially in advance, walk away. Register with two or three agencies that place your kind of work, and compare them with the free services at Workforce Solutions Alamo, which runs hiring events across a 13-county region. City of San Antonio residents who meet the income limits can get training paid for through Ready to Work SA.

Selling to San Antonio staffing agencies

The big temp branches buy for volume: drug and background screening, onboarding and timekeeping, safety training, protective equipment and worker transport. Placement and search offices buy candidate data, applicant tracking and job advertising. Read each agency's job postings to sort them: a branch posting forklift and picker jobs in the I-35 corridor needs different things from a boutique placing nurses. At volume, that sorting is the slow part; Bebop finds agencies that match a description and explains why each fits. For the list-building method, see how to build a prospect list.

Subject: Same-day screens for your [role] starts

Hi [first name],

I saw [agency] is filling [number] [role] openings for sites in [area] this month. When a client wants people on Monday, waiting on drug screen results is often what pushes the start date.

We run a mobile clinic that does pre-placement drug screens and basic physicals at your branch, with results the same day.

Would it help to price one hiring day for your next start?

[Your name]

Local sources

Next step: compare the rules and numbers in another Texas market in the report on staffing agencies in El Paso.