Nine out of 10 US temporary or contract workers are “extraordinarily satisfied” with their current working experience, but they’re more satisfied with the clients they work with and their colleagues on the job than they are with the recruitment agencies that place them, according to a recent American Staffing Association survey.

Even so, those working as temps or contractors are significantly more satisfied than American workers in permanent jobs, in a comparison of satisfaction figures compiled by ASA and US online job board CareerBuilder.

Better yet for US recruitment agencies, 88% of temporary and contract workers surveyed by the ASA say they would refer friends or relatives to their staffing agency employer, said ASA research chief Steve Bercham. “That is phenomenal – congratulations!” Bercham told an audience of US recruiters at the association’s annual conference in Las Vegas this week.

Many more thousands of temps and contract workers responded to the survey than originally expected, Bercham said.

Read more about the results in the 29 November issue of Recruiter.