U.S. manufacturing may be hiring more aggressively than conventional employment data suggests. Staffing and recruiting company HireQuest says manufacturing staffing revenue is running at roughly three times its pre-pandemic level, even as factory job cuts have climbed and broader labor-market indicators point to a cooling hiring environment. The data highlights a growing role for temporary and temp-to-permanent staffing in how manufacturers manage workforce demand.

The U.S. manufacturing labor market is developing a split personality.

On one side, factory job cuts have raised questions about whether manufacturers are pulling back on hiring. On the other, staffing companies are seeing sustained demand for workers across production lines, skilled trades and increasingly automated facilities.

HireQuest, a staffing and recruiting company, says its own manufacturing staffing revenue is currently running at approximately three times its pre-pandemic level, based on its first- and second-quarter reporting.

The company says its manufacturing staffing footprint has also expanded from 32 states in 2020 to 35 states in the first quarter of 2026, with demand spanning food production, metal fabrication, solar assembly, packaging and other industrial operations.

The figures are company-reported rather than an economy-wide measure, but they point to an important change in the way manufacturers may be building their workforces.

Traditional employment statistics tend to emphasize payroll employment and permanent jobs. Staffing firms sit closer to the operational hiring process, where employers can bring in temporary workers to respond to production schedules before committing to permanent headcount.

That distinction matters in a manufacturing economy where demand can change quickly.

A factory adding a new production line, ramping up seasonal output or dealing with a temporary labor shortage does not necessarily need to immediately create permanent positions. Temporary staffing provides a way to add capacity while preserving flexibility.

HireQuest CEO Rick Hermanns argues that this model is becoming a more important part of manufacturing workforce strategy, with temporary and temp-to-permanent positions increasingly serving as a route into permanent employment.

The company’s reported demand also challenges the idea that manufacturing staffing is primarily an entry-level labor market.

HireQuest says employers are seeking production associates, assembly workers, machine operators and pickers and packers, but demand also extends to machinists, maintenance technicians, automation technicians and process engineers.

That mix reflects the changing technology profile of the factory floor.

Manufacturers are investing in robotics, industrial automation, machine vision and other technologies intended to improve productivity. Those systems still require people who can operate, troubleshoot, maintain and optimize them.

For HR leaders, this changes the workforce-planning equation. Automation does not necessarily eliminate the need for labor; in some facilities, it changes the skills that labor needs to have.

The result is a more complex talent-acquisition challenge. Manufacturers need access to workers quickly, but they also need technical skills that can be difficult to source through conventional recruiting channels.

Staffing agencies can provide one solution by acting as a flexible external talent pipeline.

The model is especially relevant for skilled trades. A temporary assignment can give an employer an opportunity to evaluate a worker’s technical capabilities and cultural fit, while giving the worker a route into a permanent manufacturing career.

This “temp-to-hire” structure also potentially reduces some of the risk associated with permanent hiring in an uncertain economic environment.

The timing is notable. The manufacturing sector has been sending mixed signals. S&P Global reported elevated U.S. factory job cuts in June, while the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing PMI has pointed to a period of expansion.

Those indicators are not necessarily contradictory.

Production activity and employment do not always move together, particularly when companies are increasing productivity through automation or adjusting the mix of permanent and contingent labor. A manufacturer can expand output while keeping permanent payroll growth relatively restrained and using staffing firms to meet incremental demand.

That is where HR technology and workforce management systems become increasingly important.

Manufacturers using contingent labor at scale need visibility into worker availability, skills, certifications, schedules, time and attendance, safety requirements and conversion rates. Integrating staffing operations with workforce management and HR systems can make temporary labor a more strategic component of workforce planning rather than an emergency source of workers.

The broader HR technology ecosystem is responding to this shift. HCM platforms from Workday, SAP, Oracle and UKG increasingly sit alongside workforce management, recruiting and skills platforms. Staffing providers occupy another layer, supplying labor-market access that enterprise software alone cannot provide.

For manufacturers, the competitive advantage may increasingly come from connecting these systems.

A workforce platform can identify a shortage of automation technicians. A staffing provider can potentially source them. An analytics system can then track retention, performance and conversion into permanent roles.

That creates a more data-driven approach to contingent workforce management.

HireQuest’s numbers should not be interpreted as proof that manufacturing employment is broadly accelerating. Its staffing revenue represents the company’s own business and customer base, while national employment measures capture a much wider labor market.

But the data does highlight an underappreciated part of the manufacturing workforce story: hiring demand can remain strong even when permanent payroll growth looks weak.

For CHROs and manufacturing workforce leaders, that distinction is becoming harder to ignore. As factories adopt more automation while dealing with volatile production requirements and persistent skills shortages, flexible staffing may become a permanent feature of the industrial workforce model rather than a temporary response to uncertainty.

The next phase of manufacturing hiring may therefore be less about whether companies are hiring and more about how they choose to hire.

Market Landscape

The U.S. manufacturing workforce is being shaped by several competing forces: automation, reshoring and domestic production investment, skilled-labor shortages, uncertain demand and changing employment models.

Staffing companies such as HireQuest operate at the intersection of those trends, providing manufacturers with contingent labor while giving workers potential pathways into permanent positions.

The model complements rather than replaces enterprise HR technology. HCM and workforce-management platforms from SAP, Oracle, Workday and UKG can manage employee records, scheduling and workforce analytics, but staffing providers offer something software cannot: an external labor supply network.

Automation is also changing the skills equation. Factories adopting robotics and advanced production equipment may require fewer workers for certain repetitive tasks while increasing demand for maintenance, controls, engineering and automation expertise.

For HR leaders, that makes skills-based workforce planning increasingly important.

The larger market opportunity is not simply temporary staffing. It is the integration of contingent workforce management, skills intelligence, recruiting technology, workforce analytics and permanent hiring into a single workforce strategy.

Top Insights

• HireQuest reports manufacturing staffing revenue at three times pre-pandemic levels, signaling continued labor demand despite broader concerns about factory job cuts and permanent hiring.
• Temporary and temp-to-permanent models are gaining strategic importance, giving manufacturers flexibility while creating potential pathways from contingent assignments into skilled permanent careers.
• Demand increasingly includes technical roles, from machinists and maintenance technicians to automation specialists and process engineers supporting advanced manufacturing operations.
• Automation is reshaping rather than simply reducing labor demand, increasing the need for workers capable of operating, maintaining and optimizing sophisticated factory systems.
• HR technology must connect permanent and contingent labor planning, integrating staffing, workforce analytics, skills data, scheduling and HCM systems for manufacturing employers.

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