Sectors & Industries IndustrialsStaffing & Employment Services
Best Staffing & Employment Service Stocks to Buy Now (2026)
Top staffing & employment service stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Zen Rating. "A" Rated stocks have returned an average of +32.52% per year, and are the best staffing & employment service stocks to buy now. Learn More.

Industry: Staffing & Employment Ser...

Overview Zen Rating Price Value Growth Financials Momentum Sentiment

Staffing & Employment Services is Zen Rated C and is the 88th ranked industry out of 146 stock market industries

Ticker	Company	Market Cap	Shares	Institutional %	Insider %	Net Insider (L12M)	Net Insider (L3M)
KFY	KORN FERRY	$3.46B	51,887,087	89.66%	10.34%	Net Selling
KFRC	KFORCE INC	$733.25M	17,832,000	59.77%	40.23%	Net Selling	Net Buying
HQI	HIREQUEST INC	$171.94M	13,900,000	2.02%	97.98%	Net Buying
ZIP	ZIPRECRUITER INC	$257.61M	81,522,550	35.91%	64.09%	Net Selling	Net Selling
TNET	TRINET GROUP INC	$1.92B	45,944,643	69.25%	30.75%	Net Selling	Net Selling
MAN	MANPOWERGROUP INC	$1.34B	46,507,342	97.68%	2.32%	Net Selling
UPWK	UPWORK INC	$1.04B	123,518,137	60.83%	39.17%	Net Selling	Net Selling
BZ	KANZHUN LTD	$6.40B	927,657,967	33.71%	0.31%	Net Selling	Net Selling
PAYX	PAYCHEX INC	$33.77B	358,290,881	79.86%	11.52%	Net Selling	Net Selling
ADP	AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING INC	$87.97B	399,734,282	84.78%	2.14%	Net Selling	Net Buying
NSP	INSPERITY INC	$1.18B	38,169,182	68.17%	31.83%	Net Buying	Net Buying
NIXX	NIXXY INC	$14.76M	26,892,429	6.15%	7.84%
KELYA	KELLY SERVICES INC	$369.92M	34,669,190	49.82%	50.18%	Net Selling	Net Buying
RHI	ROBERT HALF INC	$2.78B	102,293,589	94.13%	5.87%	Net Selling	Net Selling
BBSI	BARRETT BUSINESS SERVICES INC	$761.84M	24,559,649	80.74%	19.26%	Net Selling	Net Selling
TBI	TRUEBLUE INC	$169.65M	30,404,091	85.42%	13.78%	Net Selling	Net Buying
ATLN	ATLANTIC INTERNATIONAL CORP	$107.13M	79,358,271	2.41%	97.59%	Net Buying
GLXG	GALAXY PAYROLL GROUP LTD	$2.22M	1,823,012	0.00%	0.00%
STRR	STAR EQUITY HOLDINGS INC	$41.02M	3,695,890	7.07%	92.93%	Net Selling	Net Buying
BGSF	BGSF INC	$59.93M	11,243,967	25.41%	14.03%
IPDN	PROFESSIONAL DIVERSITY NETWORK INC	$6.89M	10,524,032	0.48%	99.52%
JOB	GEE GROUP INC	$25.49M	109,870,686	14.41%	85.59%	Net Selling
MHH	MASTECH DIGITAL INC	$77.51M	11,998,186	18.04%	81.29%	Net Buying	Net Buying

Staffing & Employment Service Stocks FAQ

What are the best staffing & employment service stocks to buy right now in May 2026?

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best staffing & employment service stocks to buy right now are:

1. Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY)

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) is the #1 top staffing & employment service stock out of 23 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +19.88% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) is: Value: B, Growth: C, Momentum: D, Sentiment: C, Safety: A, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) has a Due Diligence Score of 52, which is 17 points higher than the staffing & employment service industry average of 35.

KFY passed 18 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Korn Ferry has seen its stock lose -0.18% over the past year, overperforming other staffing & employment service stocks by 31 percentage points.

Korn Ferry has an average 1 year price target of $72.50, an upside of 8.79% from Korn Ferry's current stock price of $66.64.

Korn Ferry stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 2 analysts covering Korn Ferry, 50% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 50% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

2. Kforce (NYSE:KFRC)

Kforce (NYSE:KFRC) is the #2 top staffing & employment service stock out of 23 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +19.88% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Kforce (NYSE:KFRC) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: B, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Kforce (NYSE:KFRC) has a Due Diligence Score of 46, which is 11 points higher than the staffing & employment service industry average of 35.

KFRC passed 16 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Kforce has seen its stock return 1.12% over the past year, overperforming other staffing & employment service stocks by 33 percentage points.

Kforce has an average 1 year price target of $39.67, a downside of -3.53% from Kforce's current stock price of $41.12.

Kforce stock has a consensus Hold recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 3 analysts covering Kforce, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 33.33% have issued a Buy, 66.67% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

3. Hirequest (NASDAQ:HQI)

Hirequest (NASDAQ:HQI) is the #3 top staffing & employment service stock out of 23 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +7.53% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Hirequest (NASDAQ:HQI) is: Value: C, Growth: D, Momentum: C, Sentiment: A, Safety: B, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Hirequest (NASDAQ:HQI) has a Due Diligence Score of 55, which is 20 points higher than the staffing & employment service industry average of 35.

HQI passed 19 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Hirequest has seen its stock return 30.13% over the past year, overperforming other staffing & employment service stocks by 62 percentage points.

Hirequest has an average 1 year price target of $15.00, an upside of 21.26% from Hirequest's current stock price of $12.37.

Hirequest stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 2 analysts covering Hirequest, 50% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 50% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

What are the staffing & employment service stocks with highest dividends?

Out of 12 staffing & employment service stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 staffing & employment service stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

1. Robert Half (NYSE:RHI)

Robert Half (NYSE:RHI) has an annual dividend yield of 8.68%, which is 5 percentage points higher than the staffing & employment service industry average of 3.8%. Robert Half's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Robert Half's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Robert Half's dividend payout ratio of 181.5% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

2. Insperity (NYSE:NSP)

Insperity (NYSE:NSP) has an annual dividend yield of 7.78%, which is 4 percentage points higher than the staffing & employment service industry average of 3.8%. Insperity's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% two times in the last 10 years. Insperity's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Insperity's dividend payout ratio of -358.2% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

3. Manpowergroup (NYSE:MAN)

Manpowergroup (NYSE:MAN) has an annual dividend yield of 5%, which is 1 percentage points higher than the staffing & employment service industry average of 3.8%. Manpowergroup's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Manpowergroup's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Manpowergroup's dividend payout ratio of -400% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Why are staffing & employment service stocks up?

Staffing & employment service stocks were up 0.23% in the last day, and up 5.19% over the last week.

We couldn't find a catalyst for why staffing & employment service stocks are up.

What are the most undervalued staffing & employment service stocks?

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued staffing & employment service stocks right now are:

1. Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) is the most undervalued staffing & employment service stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Upwork has a valuation score of 71, which is 43 points higher than the staffing & employment service industry average of 28. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Upwork's stock has dropped -45.75% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the staffing & employment service industry by -14 percentage points.

2. Trinet Group (NYSE:TNET)

Trinet Group (NYSE:TNET) is the second most undervalued staffing & employment service stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Trinet Group has a valuation score of 43, which is 15 points higher than the staffing & employment service industry average of 28. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Trinet Group's stock has dropped -47.71% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the staffing & employment service industry by -16 percentage points.

3. Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY)

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) is the third most undervalued staffing & employment service stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Korn Ferry has a valuation score of 43, which is 15 points higher than the staffing & employment service industry average of 28. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Korn Ferry's stock has dropped -0.18% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the staffing & employment service industry by 31 percentage points.

Are staffing & employment service stocks a good buy now?

40% of staffing & employment service stocks rated by analysts are a hold right now. On average, analysts expect staffing & employment service stocks to rise by 17.36% over the next year.

0% of staffing & employment service stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 11.76% of staffing & employment service stocks are rated B (Buy), 70.59% are rated C (Hold), 17.65% are rated D (Sell), and 0% are rated F (Strong Sell).

What is the average p/e ratio of the staffing & employment services industry?

The average P/E ratio of the staffing & employment services industry is 18.14x.

WallStreetZen does not provide financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security.

Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes and is not advice. WallStreetZen does not bear any responsibility for any losses or damage that may occur as a result of reliance on this data.