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Kelly Services recruits and employs people to work at customer sites, with most of its business in the United States. Employers pay Kelly for staffing services, and Kelly pays the workers, generally before collecting from customers. Its largest unit, Enterprise Talent Management, serves industrial, contact-center and office staffing needs. Other units supply science, engineering and technology professionals, and education and therapy staff to U.S. schools from preschool through high school.
Beyond supplying workers, Kelly takes responsibility for contracted work and manages parts of customers’ hiring and workforce operations. These services include contact-center work through KellyConnect, recruitment through Sevenstep and RocketPower, and management of other staffing suppliers. Fees for placing people in permanent jobs contribute only a small part of revenue.
The business depends on employers’ demand for workers and Kelly’s ability to recruit qualified people. A group of large customers supplies much of its revenue, but no single customer dominates. Temporary staffing demand is sensitive to the economy, while school staffing slows during summer breaks. Employment rules govern how Kelly hires, pays and assigns workers and can restrict the services it offers.
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Kelly Services depends on employers’ demand for temporary and specialized talent and schools’ staffing needs, with Randstad, Adecco Group and privately held Allegis Group important competitors missing from this list.
ManpowerGroup competes with Kelly Services for employers paying for temporary workers, professional talent and outsourced workforce management, so both depend on hiring demand. Its Americas staffing and interim-services revenue is a useful read on demand for temporary workers.
RCM Technologies Inc competes with Kelly Services for school therapy staffing and employers’ spending on engineering and life-sciences staffing and managed services. Its staffing work for U.S. school districts offers a view of demand for the therapy talent Kelly’s Education business also supplies.
Kforce Inc. competes with Kelly Services for employers’ technology staffing and project work, as well as finance and accounting staffing. Technology generates 93% of Kforce’s revenue, making that revenue line a focused gauge of demand facing Kelly’s science, engineering and technology business.
Robert Half Inc. and Kelly Services compete to supply employers with technology, administrative, accounting and finance talent, exposing both to professional hiring demand. Watch Robert Half’s contract talent and permanent-placement revenue for a read on employers’ use of contract workers and permanent hires.
Trueblue, Inc. and Kelly Services compete to supply temporary workers to manufacturing and other industrial employers, so industrial labor demand matters to both. TrueBlue’s PeopleReady business provides a read on employers’ demand for short-term general and skilled labor.
Everforth, Inc.’s ASGN operations compete with Kelly Services for employers’ technology staffing and project-based IT work. ASGN’s commercial revenue from Fortune 1000 and large mid-market clients is the line to watch for demand for temporary IT professionals and project services.
Korn Ferry competes with Kelly Services to run recruiting for employers and provide interim professionals. Its Workforce Solutions new business and fee revenue, covering outsourced recruitment and interim talent, are the measures most relevant to Kelly’s competing services.
Circle8 Group, Inc.’s Lyneer operations compete with Kelly Services for North American employers’ commercial and professional staffing spending. Large national and multinational clients account for over 60% of Lyneer’s revenue base and often use several staffing firms, making their staffing demand and agreed pricing worth watching.
HireQuest, Inc.’s franchisees compete with Kelly Services to supply U.S. employers with light-industrial and administrative workers. Staffing demand at its Snelling and HireQuest brands is especially relevant because both focus on longer-term light-industrial and administrative assignments.
TTEC Holdings, Inc.’s Engage business competes with KellyConnect to operate customer-care and technical-support services for companies. Watch Engage revenue for demand for outsourced customer support, a business where Kelly lost a large contact-center customer that fully ended in the third quarter of 2025.
Robert Half Inc. earningsRHI
Robert Half's contract-talent and permanent-placement revenue will show whether employers are using temporary professionals or hiring directly in fields where Kelly Services also competes.
Read contract-talent revenue separately from permanent-placement revenue. Strength in both suggests employers are adding contract professionals as well as hiring directly, supporting demand across Kelly's professional talent work. If contract revenue weakens while permanent placements strengthen, employers are still hiring but favoring direct hires, a less supportive signal for temporary staffing.
Kforce Inc. earningsKFRC
Kforce's technology revenue will show how employers are spending on talent and project work in a market where Kelly Services' SET business also competes.
Focus on Kforce's technology revenue, not just its total, because technology generates 93% of its revenue. Growth would indicate firmer employer demand for technology talent and project work, a supportive signal for Kelly's SET business; weakness would point to continued pressure in that market, though it would not establish Kelly's own results.
Trueblue, Inc. earningsTBI
TrueBlue's PeopleReady business will show demand for short-term general and skilled labor, which overlaps with Kelly Services' temporary staffing for industrial employers.
Look for whether demand at PeopleReady strengthens or weakens. Stronger demand means employers are using more short-term general and skilled labor, a supportive signal for Kelly's industrial temporary staffing; weaker demand suggests employers may be cutting that work, putting pressure on comparable demand for Kelly.
RCM Technologies Inc earningsRCMT
RCM Technologies' school-district staffing work will show demand for therapy talent, which Kelly Services also supplies to U.S. education customers.
Watch revenue or demand in RCM Technologies' U.S. school-district staffing work. Strength would suggest schools are maintaining demand for therapy talent, a supportive signal for Kelly's Education business; weakness would point to tighter school hiring and pressure on comparable services. RCM's result is a market read, not evidence that Kelly won or lost a contract.
Kelly Services Inc earningsThis company
Kelly Services' report will show whether staffing demand is stabilizing and whether service mix and employee-related costs are still squeezing its gross profit rate.
Read Enterprise Talent Management (ETM) and Science, Engineering & Technology (SET) service revenue alongside the overall gross profit rate—the share of revenue left after direct service costs. If ETM and SET revenue stabilizes and the rate stops falling, customer demand is no longer weakening and Kelly is keeping more of each revenue dollar after direct costs. If revenue falls and the rate declines further, demand, service mix, or employee costs are still weighing on the business. Education follows a different school calendar, so read it separately from ETM and SET to see whether pressure is concentrated or broad.
Circle8 Group, Inc. earningsCIRC
Circle8's revenue and client pricing will show demand and price pressure in the commercial and professional staffing market where Kelly Services also competes.
Read Circle8's commercial and professional staffing revenue alongside any client-pricing detail it reports. Steady revenue and pricing would suggest large clients are still using staffing firms without sharply increasing price pressure, a supportive signal for Kelly's comparable work. Weaker revenue or pricing would point to reduced client demand or tougher price competition for similar business.
TTEC Holdings, Inc. earningsTTEC
TTEC's Engage revenue will show demand for outsourced customer care and technical support, services that Kelly Services' KellyConnect also competes to provide.
Watch TTEC's Engage revenue. Growth would show that companies are still buying outsourced customer care and technical support, a supportive demand signal for KellyConnect; weakness would suggest that demand is shrinking or competition is intensifying. Kelly's former large contact-center customer fully ended in the third quarter of 2025, so TTEC's growth would not establish that Kelly has replaced that work.
Korn Ferry earningsKFY
Korn Ferry's Workforce Solutions new business and fee revenue will show employer demand for outsourced recruiting and interim talent, services that Kelly Services' TalentSolutions also provides.
Read Workforce Solutions' new business alongside its fee revenue. Strength in both would suggest employers are more willing to outsource recruiting or use interim professionals, a supportive signal for Kelly's TalentSolutions. Weaker new business and falling fees would point to softer demand or fewer projects converting into revenue, suggesting a cooler market for Kelly's comparable services.
