How big is healthcare staffing in 2026?
Healthcare is now the largest single skill segment in US staffing, with SIA-projected revenue of about $38.7 billion. The structural drivers have not eased: national job-openings data shows roughly 1.42 million unfilled healthcare and social assistance positions, healthcare accounted for the overwhelming majority of private-sector job growth in late 2025, and clinician attrition remains severe - surveys cited in industry statistics find half of clinicians have considered leaving their role and a quarter of nurses have considered leaving the profession. Long-range forecasts put healthcare staffing on a multi-year growth path near a 6% compound rate.
Which healthcare niches are strongest?
Locum tenens arguably had the best 2025 of any staffing sub-vertical and search demand for it remains elevated into 2026 - physician and advanced-practice coverage gaps are structural, not cyclical. Allied health and behavioral health continue to outpace general nurse staffing as travel-nurse demand normalizes from its pandemic peak.
And industrial?
SIA forecasts low single-digit industrial staffing growth in 2026, with manufacturing and logistics clients still cautious, smaller regional accounts outperforming enterprise ones, and the real momentum concentrating in construction and skilled trades. The upside case exists - SIA notes signs the year could beat its estimates - but it has not arrived yet.
The StaffingPulse view: if you serve both verticals, staff your growth bets asymmetrically: healthcare rewards capacity now, industrial rewards positioning for the turn - build the skilled-trades bench and the regional client list before the demand curve confirms it.