American Staffing Association News

For those interested in re-entering the work force, temporary employment is a great way to way to learn about an organization, make connections, enhance your résumé, and build your experience.

With the increase of unemployment (12.6% in January), many professionals who have lost their jobs in this area, have turned to temporary assignment positions.

Just a few months ago, the first data that showed growing demand for temporary workers prompted optimism that at least some of those temp jobs would convert into permanent placements. That's how it's happened in previous recessions. We're not so sure anymore.

One staffing firm owner said some of his industrial staffing clients are planning to start hiring more temporary workers in the next two months or so.

For the fifth month in a row, temporary jobs have increased, despite an overall decline in employment, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Many companies across the country are welcoming more short-term work and more job seekers are earning their paychecks through temp agencies. Now, the trend is reaching the Ozarks.

Although total unemployment in the US is still at record levels, there appears to be one area of employment that is turning around—temporary help staffing. ASA is cited.

A little ingenuity on the part of a temporary or contract worker can assure an interesting and satisfying career. Many skill sets are transferable within various industries. A flexible work life allows for exploration and expanding horizons.

Some economists are betting that March is the month that hiring turns around. Temporary hiring is one cause for this optimism.

In quirk of recession, staffing firms are staying busy as a tenuous lifeline for white-collar jobless.

As the economy improved late last year, cautious employers hired temporary workers to beef up their staff. Now, staffing firms are beginning to see their clients convert temporary workers to permanent positions, a sign of a possible job recovery.

Temporary staffing firms in Danville say they're busier than ever.

Three Dell employees filed a petition for benefits just eight days after the company said it was closing the plant as part of a strategy of sending more desktop-production work to offshore plants and third-party vendors. The petition was approved, and under it, temporary and contract employees, from several staffing firms, who worked at the plant are also eligible.

A gauge that monitors the state's economic health showed continued improvement in January. Employment services payrolls, which include temporary employment firms—considered a bellwether in a recovering economy because businesses hire temporary workers before committing to adding workers—rose to their highest levels since February 2009.

The county's jobless rate increased from 9.4% in December to 11% in January, according to figures released Wednesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. One staffing executive said that businesses throughout the region have cut back on hiring: "It's slow everywhere."

New unemployment numbers show nearly one in every five living on the Central Coast are without a job. According to a local staffing firm, however, temporary positions are on the rise.

The recession has prompted many employers to take on temporary staff where they would have once hired permanent workers. This is prevalent at senior level, where executives may be drafted in to turn around the fortunes of an ailing company.

A record proportion of Japan's college students will be graduating this month without a job offer, a government survey showed. This is not the first time employers have shut young workers out. The collapse of the asset bubble in the early 1990s and fallout from the technology burst in 2000 created what people in Japan call a hiring “ice age” that forced the students who couldn't secure work to hop between temporary jobs. The proportion of nonregular workers more than doubled between 1985 and 2008.

New England Democrats are trying to build bipartisan support in Congress to change a federal law that slashes the benefits of workers who take low-paying part-time or temporary jobs while collecting unemployment.

Tips are offered to entrepreneurs interested in opening temporary and contract staffing companies in the New Orleans area.