A typical staffing agency markup adds 25% to 40% to a contractor's pay rate, and direct hire recruiter fees run 15% to 30% of first-year salary. For a US accountant at the median salary of $83,680, that means paying roughly $16,000 to $33,000 in the first year on top of wages just to access the hire (BLS, 2026).
Few finance leaders see these numbers broken out. Agencies quote a bill rate or a single fee percentage, and the components stay inside the invoice. The 23 statistics below pull together published markup ranges, public staffing firms' own filings, fee schedules and guarantee terms, so you can price a hire before you sign a contract.
Key Takeaways
A staffing agency markup is the percentage an agency adds to the worker's hourly pay to set the bill rate you pay. It is the core cost of any contract or temporary hire.
Upwork's 2026 guide to agency pricing puts the usual contract or temporary markup at about 25% to 40% on top of the hourly pay rate (Upwork, 2026). On a $40-an-hour accountant, that adds $10 to $16 to every hour billed.
The same guide notes that markups can climb to 75% for specialized positions, citing staffing finance firm Advance Partners (Upwork, 2026). Accounting roles that require niche ERP or technical accounting experience often fall into this band.
A 2026 review of staffing buyer guides found published ranges from 15% at the low end to 100% at the high end, depending on role, risk and contract length (The Resource, 2026). The width of that range is the clearest sign that markups are negotiated, not fixed.
By role category, administrative and clerical placements, which include many AP, AR and bookkeeping assignments, typically carry a 35% to 50% markup. IT and technical roles run 30% to 50% (The Resource, 2026).
Professional services placements average a markup of roughly 52%, with a typical range from the mid-40s to the mid-60s (The Resource, 2025). Senior accountants and analysts placed on contract usually sit in this tier.
Employer FICA (7.65%), federal unemployment tax (0.6%) and state unemployment tax (2% to 5%) together make up roughly 10% to 13% of the markup (The Resource, 2026). Everything above that line is agency overhead and margin.
Workers' compensation insurance varies with job risk, from about 0.5% of pay for office roles to more than 15% for high-risk work (The Resource, 2026). Finance roles sit at the low end, so a high markup on an accounting contractor cannot be explained by insurance.
After taxes, insurance and general and administrative costs of about 18.7% of the bill rate, staffing agencies typically keep a net profit margin of 3% to 8% (The Resource, 2026). Most of the markup funds the agency's sales and recruiting machine.
Publicly traded staffing firms report their gross margins, which show what the markup looks like at scale. These figures come straight from company filings and earnings releases, and our Robert Half alternatives guide covers what they mean for buyers.
Robert Half reported a 39.0% gross margin on $2.99 billion of contract talent revenue for full-year 2025, and 39.2% in the fourth quarter (Robert Half, 2026). Gross margin is the share of each billed dollar left after paying the worker and their direct costs.
By MAVI's calculation, a 39.0% gross margin means the bill rate sits about 64% above the worker's direct cost (0.39 ÷ 0.61). That direct cost already includes payroll taxes, so the effective premium on top of wages is even higher.
Kforce reported a 28.3% flex gross margin in its finance and accounting segment in the fourth quarter of 2025, and a 37.2% gross margin for the segment overall (Kforce, 2026). Segment revenue was $25.7 million for the quarter.
Finance and accounting generated about $2.2 billion of Robert Half's $5.38 billion in 2025 revenue, roughly 41% of the total (Robert Half, 2026). Accounting talent is the largest single line in one of the biggest US staffing businesses.
Permanent placement revenue, which is almost entirely fee income, reached $439.5 million in 2025 (Robert Half, 2026). That income comes only from employers, with no cost to the candidate.
Direct hire agency fees are a one-time charge when a candidate accepts a permanent role. Robert Half's own filing describes its fees as a percentage of the new employee's annual compensation (Robert Half 10-K, 2026).
Across published fee guides, the standard direct hire charge ranges from 15% to 30% of first-year salary (The Resource, 2026). Retained executive searches run on separate terms.
Recruiter fees scale with seniority: entry-level roles run 15% to 18%, mid-level roles 20% to 22%, and senior or specialist roles 25% to 30% (The Resource, 2026). Controllers and senior accountants usually fall in the top band.
A second benchmark from Upwork places the common direct hire fee at about 18% to 25% of annual compensation, paid once on hire (Upwork, 2026).
The median US accountant and auditor earned $83,680 in May 2025 (BLS, 2026). By MAVI's calculation, recruiter fees of 20% to 25% on that salary come to $16,736 to $20,920 for a single hire, before benefits or onboarding.
Most agencies offer a guarantee period of 30 to 90 days, during which they replace a hire who leaves at no extra cost (Upwork, 2026). After that window, a departure means paying the full fee again.
A January 2026 Robert Half fee schedule offers a 90-day pro rata refund when the invoice is paid within 15 days, and a 30-day window otherwise (Second Talent, 2026). Payment timing quietly decides how much protection you get.
One published Robert Half Technology contract charges 25% of annual starting salary to convert a contractor in the first 240 hours, then 20%, 15% and 10% in later bands, with no fee after 961 hours (Second Talent, 2026). Converting early can cost as much as a full direct hire fee.
The American Staffing Association reported $113.5 billion in temporary and contract staffing sales for 2025, down 8.5% from 2024, with about 2 million temporary and contract workers employed in an average week of the fourth quarter (ASA, 2026).
The same ASA data puts annual turnover among staffing workers at 376% in 2025, down from 416% in 2024 (ASA, 2026). For a finance team, high turnover means re-training a new contractor on your close every few months.
Staffing Industry Analysts projects the US staffing market will grow 2.4% to $183.1 billion in 2026, followed by 2.2% growth in 2027 (SIA, 2026).
Most of the cost in a staffing agreement sits in terms that rarely come up on the first call. Ask for the bill rate and the pay rate as two separate numbers, because the gap between them is the staffing agency markup you are actually paying. A firm that will only quote a blended bill rate makes it impossible to compare offers.
Then ask how the guarantee works in practice. Find out whether it is a refund or only a replacement, how many days it lasts, and whether late payment cancels it. Ask for the conversion schedule in writing as well, since hiring a contractor in month two can trigger a fee close to a full direct hire charge.
Finally, ask who the person will work for day to day and how long they are expected to stay. With staffing industry turnover at 376% a year, continuity is worth pricing in. For close, reconciliation and reporting work, a contractor who rotates out after one quarter costs the team another round of training, access setup and review time.
Comparing two offers on these terms takes about an hour and often reveals a difference of several thousand dollars in year one.
MAVI removes both cost layers. Companies get a dedicated, top-2% vetted finance professional for a single monthly fee, with no placement fee, no hourly markup and a 14-day risk-free trial. Matches typically start in as fast as 5 days, and companies see savings of 50%+ compared with equivalent US hiring.
For a side-by-side view of the fee models, see MAVI vs Recruiters.
Most contract staffing markups fall between 25% and 40% of the worker's pay rate, and specialized or hard-to-fill roles can reach 75% (Upwork, 2026). Professional services roles average about 52%. Only 10% to 13% of the markup covers mandatory employer taxes, so most of it pays for agency overhead and profit.
Direct hire fees usually run 15% to 30% of first-year salary, with mid-level roles at 20% to 22% and senior roles at 25% to 30%. On the US median accountant salary of $83,680, a 20% to 25% fee comes to roughly $16,736 to $20,920 per hire.
The markup covers employer payroll taxes (FICA at 7.65%, federal unemployment at 0.6% and state unemployment at 2% to 5%), workers' compensation insurance, recruiting and administrative costs, and the agency's profit. Net profit margins for staffing agencies typically land between 3% and 8%.
A conversion fee is what an agency charges when you hire a contractor permanently. Many contracts scale the fee down with hours worked. One published Robert Half schedule starts at 25% of annual starting salary for the first 240 hours and drops to zero after 961 hours.
Finance teams can avoid these one-time charges by hiring through models that charge one flat monthly fee for a dedicated professional instead of a percentage of salary. MAVI works this way, with no placement fee, no hourly markup and a 14-day risk-free trial before any commitment.
