Orange County’s largest employment agencies hit a speedbump on this week’s Business Journal list.
Total annual revenue for the 30 ranked firms declined 0.1% to $926.2 million in 2018. This follows 3% growth in 2017.
Staffing agencies nonetheless added about 75 employees to their local workforce for a total of some 1,500 workers at 78 offices.
Local offices’ temporary placements declined 1% to about 36,000 on the year while permanent placements, also called direct hires, grew by double digits, 12% to nearly 1,100 workers.
Staffing agencies are often seen as a bellwether of the job market as companies tap their services to fill posts ranging from administrative to industrial before making permanent hires.
Companywide revenue for the firms totaled $47 billion, up 2.3% year-over-year.
The list includes firms with OC operations grossing at least $1 million in local revenue.
Of the 30 ranked agencies, 15 reported an increase, eight saw revenue decline, one remained flat and the remaining six were Business Journal estimates.
• Select Staffing, based in Atlanta, remained at No. 1 despite reporting a nearly 14% drop in revenue to $98.5 million. Temporary workers placed by its local office declined to 9,692 workers, also down 14% year-over-year. Companywide revenue was $3 billion, up 3.3% from the previous year.
Regional President Gunnar Gooding said many of its customers are shifting resources to automation, which reduces their need for more employees. He said other factors contributing to last year’s drop in revenue was softening demand for temporary staffing in OC and “the current severe wage inflation for blue collar workers has caused many companies to convert more of their temporary workforce to full time.”
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Gooding said his agency looks to combat these trends by investing more in innovation and technology such as its mobile app, which launched last year and has seen adoption by more than 80% of its temporary associates to help connect with recruiters.
Select also provides “free online education for all our temporary workers across the U.S.,” and 20,000 of its temps have signed-on to its Better Worklife Academy, Gooding said. “With unemployment in Orange County under 4%, we need ways to differentiate ourselves.”
It’s also planning to introduce two specialty staffing divisions focusing entirely on logistics and manufacturing—two sectors he said are “flourishing” in OC.
• Hanover, Md.-based Aerotek Inc. rose two spots to No. 2. The company reported total annual revenue of $94.5 million, up about 3% year-over-year. Its local office in Orange now has 77 employees, after adding three last year.
While it declined to report the number of temporary and permanent workers it’s placed, overall the company partners with more than 18,000 clients and 300,000 contract employees each year.
In a statement, the company said its “growth validates the focus that we’ve placed on providing our clients and candidates with world-class service in addition to the culture that we have instilled internally.”
• No. 3, Roth Staffing Cos. in Orange reported $90.7 million in revenue, down about 5% from 2017. Even with the decrease, the firm is still the largest employment agency based here.
• The list saw the debut of two staffing agencies—both headquartered in Orange County.
Irvine’s ShiftPixy Inc., No. 12, wouldn’t disclose local revenue but brought in $35 million companywide, up 73% year-over-year. It has an estimated 50 corporate employees at its Irvine office.
No. 25, Two Roads Professional Resources Inc. in Huntington Beach was down 2.1% to $6.8 million. The number of temporary staff workers placed declined from 105 to 89 workers and direct hires increased by 15 workers to 35.
