Employment
The employment services industry provided 3.5 million jobs in 2004, about 2.4 million of them in temporary help services firms. Professional employer organizations employed about 815,000, and employment placement agencies employed another 262,000. Although about 37,000 of the 64,000 establishments in the industry are temporary help services firms, they employ 7 out of 10 industry workers.
Employment in the employment services industry is distributed throughout the United States. Workers are somewhat younger than those in other industries—43 percent of employment services workers are under 35, compared with 36 percent of all workers, reflecting the large number of clerical and other entry-level positions in the industry that require little formal education.