Markup

Markup is the percentage a staffing agency adds on top of a worker's pay rate to arrive at the bill rate charged to the client.

If a worker's pay rate is a given hourly wage, a markup of, say, one-half would produce a bill rate of one-and-a-half times that wage. The markup is not pure profit — it has to cover the agency's payroll taxes, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, benefits, and overhead before anything is left as margin.

Markups vary widely by role, industry, skill level, and the services included. When comparing agency quotes, it helps to ask what the markup covers, not just the number itself.

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