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NAICS Code for Staffing and Recruiting Services

Federal staffing is a high-volume market — every federal agency uses contracted staffing for specialized skills, cleared personnel, and temporary capacity. NAICS selection across the 561300 cluster matters because the size standards vary significantly and the competition pools differ.

Primary NAICS codes for staffing services

561320: Temporary Help Services ($34M size standard) The highest-volume federal staffing NAICS. Temporary and contract staffing services. Default primary for most federal staffing firms.

561311: Employment Placement Agencies ($30M size standard) Direct hire placement services. Less federal volume than temp staffing but distinct service.

561312: Executive Search Services ($25.5M size standard) Executive and specialized professional placement services.

561330: Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) ($39.5M size standard) Co-employment and HR outsourcing services. Highest size standard in the staffing cluster.

Secondary NAICS codes to consider

541612: Human Resources Consulting Services ($14M) For staffing firms that also provide HR advisory services.

541611: Administrative Management and General Management Consulting ($24.5M) For staffing firms positioning as management consultants with staffing delivery.

541990: All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services ($17M) Catch-all for specialized workforce services.

Which code should be your primary

Answer one question: what's your revenue-dominant service?

Temporary/contract staffing (you place workers who remain your W-2 employees for the duration of contracts) — primary under 561320.

Direct hire placement (you find candidates, place them as the client's employees, collect placement fees) — primary under 561311.

Executive/specialized search (retained executive placement, specialized technical leadership roles) — primary under 561312.

Co-employment/PEO (you formally co-employ the workers with the client, handle HR/payroll/benefits) — primary under 561330.

Hybrid firms should primary under the revenue-dominant service. Most federal staffing firms are 561320 — federal buyers need contract workforce capacity more than direct hire placement.

Size standard considerations

Staffing NAICS have some of the higher size standards in professional services: $25.5M to $39.5M depending on the specific code. This is significantly higher than general professional services ($17-24M range).

561330 (PEO) at $39.5M is among the highest-receipts-based size standards in any small business category. Firms positioning as PEOs stay small much longer than firms under pure staffing codes.

Growth path: many federal staffing firms start under 561320, then as they take on client HR responsibilities over time, reclassify under 561330 when PEO-style service becomes dominant. The reclassification extends small business status significantly.

Federal demand snapshot

DoD is the largest federal staffing buyer by far. Cleared staffing (Secret, TS, TS/SCI) commands premium rates. Contract workforce at installations, embedded staffing at acquisition programs, and specialized technical staffing across all service branches.

DHS (particularly CBP, ICE, CISA) contracts specialized staffing for operations, IT modernization support, and cybersecurity workforce.

HHS contracts staffing for research support at NIH, claims processing at CMS, and public health workforce at CDC.

VA contracts clinical staffing (contract physicians, nurses, therapists at medical centers), administrative staffing, and IT staffing.

GSA's Temporary Administrative and Professional Services (TAPS) Schedule is the primary vehicle for federal temp staffing. Getting on TAPS is a significant investment but opens substantial volume.

Cleared staffing — the premium tier

Federal staffing work that requires cleared personnel (Secret or above) operates as a distinct market. Firms with a bench of cleared candidates available for placement command premium rates — often 20-40% higher than uncleared equivalents.

Clearance types in demand:

  • Secret — baseline for much DoD and DHS work
  • TS (Top Secret) — higher-sensitivity DoD, intelligence community support
  • TS/SCI with polygraph — intelligence community, specialized DoD programs
  • Public Trust — civilian agency clearances for sensitive roles without classified data access

Getting a Facility Clearance (FCL) as a firm is a multi-month process. Many staffing firms start by partnering with already-cleared primes while pursuing their own FCL.

Set-aside patterns at staffing NAICS

Staffing services see heavy small business set-aside activity across all four primary NAICS.

8(a) set-asides drive major staffing volume. STARS III and other 8(a) vehicles include significant staffing work.

SDVOSB set-asides are common, particularly at DoD and VA for cleared staffing and clinical staffing respectively.

WOSB set-asides appear — staffing NAICS are on the eligible list.

HUBZone set-asides see staffing activity, particularly for regional federal workforces.

Common entry paths

1. GSA TAPS Schedule. Primary federal accessibility for temp staffing. Substantial capture investment but opens government-wide access.

2. Cleared staffing specialization. Building a cleared bench dramatically increases competitive position. Firms that invest in clearance sponsorship and maintenance command premium rates.

3. DoD and DHS IDIQ positioning. Major staffing IDIQs exist at the service branch and DHS component levels. Getting onto these vehicles (or subcontracting under them) is the primary scale path.

4. Vertical specialization. Federal staffing buyers prefer specialists — cleared cyber staffing, healthcare staffing, acquisition support staffing. Narrow specialization competes better than generic staffing.

Common mistakes at staffing NAICS

Commercial staffing practices mismatched to federal. Federal staffing requires understanding of SCA (Service Contract Act) wage determinations, DCAA timekeeping, and federal labor law compliance. Commercial staffing firms often miss these initially.

Underestimating SCA/Davis-Bacon overhead. Service Contract Act (covered service employees) and Davis-Bacon Act (construction workers) set minimum wage and fringe benefit floors for federal contracts. Compliance is detailed and non-negotiable.

Staffing without bench. Federal staffing contracts typically require firms to have or quickly acquire qualified candidates. Firms that plan to recruit after award often miss delivery deadlines. Build bench ahead of pursuit.

Missing the cleared-uncleared rate distinction. Pricing cleared placements at uncleared rates leaves money on the table. Pricing uncleared placements at cleared rates loses bids. Understand the rate structure by clearance level in your market.

Next steps

Use the NAICS recommender to validate your code selection against your specific staffing service mix. For primary NAICS strategy and the 561320 vs 561330 decision, see the NAICS code finder guide.