Staffing agencies in Tampa: 599 locations, Florida's day labor rules and the new $15 wage floor

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

Tampa staffing agencies by the numbers

The figures cover the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area (CBSA 45300) 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.

The split comes from the Census metro file; placement agency figures carry a moderate-noise flag (changed by 2% to 5% for confidentiality).

Temp help's 20,298 employees are mostly temps placed at clients. The Census Bureau classes a temp agency as the employer of the people it supplies, so a branch with 8 recruiters and 120 people on assignment counts 128 employees. Placement and search firms don't employ the people they place, which is why 102 search offices report only 335 employees.

Size and location

In broader bands, 390 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 134 have 20 to 99 and 75 have 100 or more. The 75 is derived, since the 250-plus classes aren't published for the codes together. For temp help alone, the Census Bureau publishes 20 locations with 250 to 499 employees.

Pasco and Hernando employee totals are high-noise (changed by 5% or more for confidentiality), so they're omitted. Hillsborough has 62% of the locations and 70% of the employees, at 46 per location against 35 in Pinellas.

These are establishments with paid employees, not companies; self-employed recruiters aren't counted, and employment is the week of March 12. Professional employer organizations are counted separately (NAICS 561330: 82 locations and 4,169 employees in the metro).

A public staffing company headquartered here

Kforce's 10-K for 2025 reports revenue down 5.4% from $1.41 billion in 2024, and says that at 31 December 2025 it employed over 1,600 associates and had about 7,800 consultants on assignment. It's the only SEC-registered listed staffing company with its business address in the metro.

Which agency for which job

Florida rules that change the quote

The $15 minimum wage. Florida's constitution raised the state minimum wage by $1.00 every 30 September from 2021 until it reached $15.00 an hour on 30 September 2026. From 2027 it is adjusted for inflation each September, with the new rate taking effect the following 1 January.

Day labor pools. Florida's Labor Pool Act (sections 448.20 to 448.26) covers firms that run a labor hall and supply day laborers. A labor pool can't charge workers for safety equipment the job requires, can't charge more than $1.50 each way for transport to the site, and can't charge to cash a paycheck. It must provide restrooms, drinking water and seating at the hall, pay at least the minimum wage, give an itemized statement of deductions with every payment, and comply with workers' compensation law. Workers can sue for violations after giving 60 days' notice to cure, for at least $1,000 per violation.

E-Verify. Since 1 July 2023, Florida private employers with 25 or more employees must verify each new hire through E-Verify within three business days (section 448.095). The agency does this for its temps; you do it when you hire one onto your own payroll.

Worked example: re-pricing a temp order at $15

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

Gulf Gateway Logistics (gulfgateway.example) in Pinellas Park signed a 13-week order for 30 temps at 40 hours a week (15,600 hours) at a $14.50 pay rate and a 38% markup. On 30 September the pay rate has to rise to $15.00.

If the markup is a percentage, it rises with the pay rate: the agency earns $0.19 an hour more on the same work. Ask whether it will hold its margin in dollars instead, which would add $7,800 rather than $10,764. Then check whether $15.00 still fills the shifts; a floor isn't the market rate.

Shortlist and vet

1. Shortlist by specialty using the American Staffing Association directory and ClearlyRated's Tampa listings.
2. Ask about compliance: E-Verify, I-9s, workers' compensation (get the certificate) and, for day labor, how the hall meets the Labor Pool Act.
3. Get the quote in pieces: pay rate, markup or margin, overtime, holiday pay and the conversion schedule.
4. Test the fill rate with a small order before the peak.
5. Check references with two clients in Tampa Bay doing similar work.

If you're looking for work: you shouldn't pay an agency to place you, and day labor pools can't charge you for required safety gear or check cashing. CareerSource Florida's network of local career centers offers free job search help.

Selling to Tampa staffing agencies

Tampa has two buyer groups. The 75 establishments with 100 or more employees, 62 of them temp help, buy volume tools: onboarding, timekeeping, background checks, payroll cards and safety programs. The 304 offices with fewer than five people, more than half of them placement and search offices, buy candidate data, sourcing tools and job advertising, and the owner decides.

Read job postings to sort the list: an agency posting Java and .NET contracts in Westshore buys differently from one posting pickers in Plant City. Bebop researches each agency in a list and suggests the opening angle. How to build a prospect list covers the list-building steps.

Subject: Screening [skill] contractors faster

Hi [first name],

I saw [agency] has [number] open [skill, e.g. .NET developer] contracts in Tampa this month.

When a client asks for three vetted candidates by Friday, the technical screen is usually the bottleneck. Our 45-minute recorded coding assessments come back scored the same day, so your recruiters only call the candidates who pass.

Could I set up a free trial on one of the open reqs?

[Your name]

Local sources

Next step: see how the rest of the state compares in the report on staffing agencies in Florida.