Staffing Industry

The industry built around employment agencies, organizations that match employers with job candidates through publicly funded employment services and, more commonly in developed economies, private commercial recruitment businesses. The first known private employment agency, Robinson, Gabbitas and Thring, was founded in 1873 to recruit schoolmasters for British institutions, and the industry now spans contract staffing, temporary placement, permanent hiring and executive search, often with fee refund provisions if a placed employee leaves a role early. Regulation varies by country, from the United Kingdom Employment Agencies Act of 1973 to Germany Employee Hiring Law of 1972, with the International Labour Organization Private Employment Agencies Convention of 1997 favoring oversight over prohibition of fee charging models.