N 78

Staffing and recruitment agencies: Purchase brief

Temporary employment agencies, private recruitment agencies, HR consultants and headhunters – for providers of recruiting, time recording and payroll software, job boards, occupational safety and insurance, and for companies looking for a staffing provider. Turn a request for German company data into a comparable written offer. Define the selection, required fields and acceptance checks before agreeing a one-off delivery.

Our database (as of 21 October 2026): 9,112 businesses in this industry, 8,704 of them with a phone number.

Export of the whole industry: €409 (final price). Selections by federal state, district or your own filters are quoted on request.

Official statistics: 11,376 businesses in Germany according to Destatis, business register, GENESIS table 52111-0010 (reference year 2024, table updated 21 September 2026). Division 78 employment activities: employment placement agencies (78.1), temporary employment agencies (78.2) and other human resources provision (78.3). This is the size of the market, not the size of our database.

ItemCountShare
Businesses in our database9,112100 %
with phone number8,70495.5 %
with email address2,70929.7 %
with website8,55093.8 %
Price for the whole industry€409Final price

What counts as Staffing and temporary employment

Division 78 “Employment activities” has three groups: employment placement (78.1) including executive search, temporary employment agencies (78.2) and other human resources provision (78.3).

Consulting on organisation and personnel development belongs to management consultancy (70.22) and is in the industry Business and consulting services. The Federal Employment Agency and the job centres are not staffing providers within the meaning of this industry.

WZ 2008Official titleFor your selection
78.10Activities of employment placement agenciesprivate recruitment agencies, executive search
78.20Temporary employment agency activitiestemporary agency work, employee leasing
78.30Other human resources provisionpermanent employee leasing, staff secondment

Licence for temporary agency work, trade registration for placement

Hiring out employees requires a licence. For private recruitment, registering the trade is sufficient.

Temporary agency work
Anyone who, as a lender, hires out employees to third parties in the course of their economic activity needs a licence (§ 1 AÜG), which is issued by the Federal Employment Agency. In the agency contract the lender must state whether it holds the licence (§ 12 AÜG).
Private recruitment
For placement, registering the trade is sufficient. A contract in which a recruiter undertakes to place a jobseeker must be in writing and state the fee (§ 296 SGB III).
Commercial register
Larger staffing companies are entered in the commercial register as a GmbH or AG. Many recruiters and HR consultants work as sole traders without an entry.

Not in the export

  • licence under the AÜG and its date
  • number of temporary workers and branches
  • specialisation by occupational group
  • collective agreement and association membership
  • names of branch and HR managers

These 15 columns are included.

Staffing and recruitment agencies: From requirement to written offer

Order specification for Staffing and recruitment agencies: Narrow the offered activities using these codes: 78.10, 78.20, 78.30. State the subgroups you actually intend to purchase and confirm quantity and contact fields for that selection. The following attributes are not promised as export fields: licence under the AÜG and its date; number of temporary workers and branches; specialisation by occupational group; collective agreement and association membership; names of branch and HR managers. Do not make them hidden assumptions in the order; record missing information as a separate question to resolve.

Large temporary employment companies work with many branches that look after clients and applicants locally. An entry represents the company with its address; individual branches are only included where our sources list them separately.

Many staffing providers specialise – in care, logistics, engineering, IT or executives. This specialisation is not a feature of the classification. Company name and website serve as an approximation; describe the orientation you are looking for in your request.

Many companies offer temporary staffing and placement at the same time and are classified under their main activity. If you want to address both services, request the whole of division 78.

Example request

We offer software for scheduling and payroll in temporary staffing and are looking for temporary employment agencies (78.20) in North Rhine-Westphalia with a phone number and website. Please exclude pure HR consultancies. How many companies does the selection include?

Use cases

Who uses lists like this

Software for staffing providers

Scheduling, time recording and payroll: contact temporary employment agencies in a region.

Job boards and media

Win advertising clients among recruiters and temporary employment agencies.

Occupational safety and workwear

Equipment for temporary workers in industry and logistics.

Companies with staffing needs

Compare and contact staffing providers in your own district.

Questions

Staffing and temporary employment: frequently asked questions

Yes. Temporary staffing is classified under 78.20, placement including executive search under 78.10. Companies offering both are classified under their main activity.

No. The licence is not a column of the export. In the agency contract the lender must state whether it holds the licence (§ 12 AÜG).

No. They belong to public administration and are not staffing providers within the meaning of this industry.

Confirm the selection, available fields, data date, quantity and individual commercial terms in writing. A published market statistic or example file is not a promise of coverage for your order.

11,376 businesses in Germany according to Destatis, business register, GENESIS table 52111-0010 (reference year 2024, table updated 21 September 2026). Division 78 employment activities: employment placement agencies (78.1), temporary employment agencies (78.2) and other human resources provision (78.3). This is a figure from official statistics, not the size of our dataset.

9,112 businesses in our database (as of 21 October 2026), 8,704 of them with a phone number (95.5%), 2,709 with an email address and 8,550 with a website. Regional filters reduce the number; we confirm the size of your selection before you order.

Format, sources, price and marketing law (§ 7 UWG): questions about all industries.

Staffing and recruitment agencies: Prepare a written enquiry