One of the questions we get most often from recruiters looking to get into contract staffing is "What are the top industries for contract staffing?" That's why we analyze the contract placements that come through our back-office each year.

According to our 2012 placement statistics, the top seven sectors for contract staffing nationwide were:

• Healthcare - 29%
• Business Professionals and Support Staff - 25%
• Engineering and Manufacturing - 16%
• Information Technology - 11%
• Finance and Accounting - 10%
• HR/Legal/Recruiting - 7%
• Sales/Marketing -  2%

Healthcare has been a leading industry for contract staffing for years and is only getting stronger as the population continues to age. Healthcare contractors will likely be even more in demand when the Obamacare "individual mandate" begins requiring individuals to get healthcare coverage, which will send more consumers to an already overtaxed healthcare providers.

Last year, we increased our focus on helping recruiters make healthcare contract placements. We ran a number of Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Pharmacists, Pharmacy Techs, and Registered Nurses (RNs) through our back-office in 2012. That trend has continued into 2013.

We also expanded our Workers' Comp coverage in 2012 to allow more Engineering and Manufacturing placements in a wider range of environments. This was our third largest sector in 2012.

We saw the largest jump in the placement of Business Professionals and Support Staff area, which increased 9% over 2011. Business Professionals and Support Staff were placed in a variety of industries and business sectors.

Debbie Fledderjohann is the President of Top Echelon Contracting, Inc.