NEWS RELEASE                                                          EXHIBIT 99

For Immediate Release                     Contact:     William W. Sherertz
                                                       President and
                                                       Chief Executive Officer

                                          Telephone:   (503) 220-0988


                         BARRETT BUSINESS SERVICES, INC.
                          ANNOUNCES PENDING MERGER WITH
                       WESTERN INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT, INC.
                 AND ACQUISITION OF BOLT STAFFING SERVICE, INC.


         PORTLAND,  OREGON,  April 15, 1998 - Barrett  Business  Services,  Inc.
(Nasdaq trading symbol: "BBSI") announced today that it has reached an agreement
in  principle  to acquire  Western  Industrial  Management,  Inc.  pursuant to a
stock-for-stock  merger.  The transaction  will be accounted for as a pooling of
interests.

         The transaction is valued at  approximately  $11.1 million and provides
that Barrett will issue approximately 975,000 shares of common stock in exchange
for all the stock of Western.  The  acquisition  is expected to close on June 1,
1998.

         Western,  a privately-held  staffing services company  headquartered in
San Bernadino,  California,  operates six branch offices in Southern California.
Western's revenues for the year ended December 31, 1997 were approximately $24.5
million.

         William W. Sherertz,  Barrett's  President and Chief Executive Officer,
commented that, "We are very pleased with this opportunity, which is expected to
be accretive to earnings  subsequent to the closing.  Western's  very strong and
capable management team has built an excellent  company.  The culture of our two
companies is very similar and their  management team will continue with Barrett.
Keith Rentschler,  Western's President,  will become an Area Vice President with
Barrett  and  will  provide  managerial   oversight  over  our  entire  Southern
California zone."

         Barrett also announced that it acquired certain assets of BOLT Staffing
Service, Inc. effective April 13, 1998 for $675,000 in cash.

         BOLT Staffing Service, Inc., located in Pocatello,  Idaho, had revenues
for the year ended December 31, 1997 of approximately $2.4 million.

         Barrett Business Services, Inc., is a human resource management company
with  offices in  Washington,  Oregon,  Idaho,  California,  Arizona,  Michigan,
Maryland and Delaware. For 1997, Barrett reported revenues of $281.0 million and
net income of $3.8 million.