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BLS Report: Temp Staffing Strong

The latest job numbers released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that temporary help employment increased by 52,000 new jobs (2.7 percent), seasonally adjusted, from December to January, making it the strongest January in the 20 years BLS has been measuring temporary help. While overall U.S. nonfarm employment was relatively unchanged, temporary help services and retail trade were two economic sectors that managed to add a significant number of jobs during this monthly period.

“ASA members are reporting increases in demand for temporary and contract employees across virtually all sectors throughout the country,” said Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “Because staffing is a leading employment indicator, the continued uptick in temporary employment bodes well for overall job growth.”

BLS commissioner Keith Hall noted the steady employment gains that have occurred in temporary help since its most recent low point in September 2009. He also emphasized that staffing has added nearly 250,000 jobs over the past four months.

Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicate that temporary help services employment declined 7.2 percent December to January. Looking at data from the last 20 years, a decline in staffing employment of this magnitude is typical for this monthly period. The ASA Staffing Index, which is also not seasonally adjusted and therefore is comparable to the nonadjusted job numbers reported by BLS, also showed a decrease in staffing payrolls of 6 percent.

The ASA Staffing Index is reported nine days after each workweek, making it a virtual real-time measure of staffing employment trends. Index weeks containing the 12th are compared monthly to match the reference periods used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly employment situation reports, which contain data on the temporary help industry. Because the same reference period is used in both the ASA Staffing Index and BLS monthly reports, the two data series can be easily compared. Data for the index are gathered by ASA corporate partner Inavero Institute for Service Research, a market research firm based in Portland, OR.