American Staffing Association News

This blog post discusses the latest employment figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a focus on the temporary help services category.

More hiring of temporary staff is beginning, which may signify signs of economic recovery for South Florida.

The economy created jobs at the fastest pace in three years last month, while unemployment stayed at 9.7%, latest signs of a lukewarm recovery from the deepest recession since the 1930s. Temporary jobs increased 40,000 last month and are up 313,000 since September, which is good news because a rise in temporary work usually signals a recovery in the labor market.

Even with this spike, the unemployment rate remains unchanged at 9.7%. One analyst cites consistent growth in temporary employment as an "encouraging" sign for the future of permanent hiring.

The U.S. added 162,000 jobs in March, the most in three years. Private-sector temporary jobs, a leading gauge of hiring, have leapt by 313,000 since September and are up about 9% from a year ago.

Résumé fraud is not new. But some experts, including staffing professionals, say technology and the recession are exacerbating it.

With the use of temporary employees and other contingent workers on the rise, more companies are adopting software to control labor costs and better manage this segment of their work forces.

A career expert discusses the significance of the staffing industry, and recommends temporary work as a good way to connect with companies and supplement a search for a permanent position. Advice is offered to job seekers about working with staffing firms.

After more than two years in which more than eight million jobs were lost, the country's nonfarm payrolls surged in March. Temporary help services had some of the largest gains for the private sector. Since September 2009, temporary help services have added 313,000 jobs, including 40,000 last month.

Whether playing a pickup game of hockey or leading a staffing firm during a recession, Bob Boudreau, chief executive officer of Winter, Wyman Cos., can take a hit.

Advice is offered to companies about how to find the best candidate for the job. One tip: use staffing services.

March is only the third month of gains since the recession began, according to reports from the Labor Department. One staffing executive said that while employers aren't considering the economic hard times over, they do acknowledge that the things are moving in the right direction.

The official U.S. unemployment rate in March remained unchanged at 9.7% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some 40,000 temporary health service workers were hired in March.

Both the surge in temporary workers and the increase in overtime hours are early indicators of a broader recovery in the labor market, and signal future increases in job creation.

With the addition of more than 40,000 new jobs in March, the staffing industry has marked six consecutive months of job growth—the first such string since 2005—according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A U.S. staffing firm is teaching its consultants to communicate with dolphins at Marine World in Florida in order to recruit trainers that the marine mammals are more fully engaged with.

Recruitment International has seen a leaked copy of an European Union White Paper that is exploring the idea of levying a tax on temporary workers.

A segment during this broadcast focused on growth in temporary employment and freelance work.

A columnist, who once was a temporary employee and is a fan of staffing firms, asks readers for feedback about their experiences with staffing companies.

Some staffing firms are seeing a boom in business, likely foreshadowing economic improvements.