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News ReleaseMarch 5, 2010 Temporary Help Added 284,000 Jobs in Past 5 Months, Reports BLS: ASA Says Continued Increase Is a Good Indicator That Economy Is Recovering Temporary help experienced substantial job growth in February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In data released this morning, temporary help employment rose by 47,500 new jobs (2.4%), seasonally adjusted, from January to February. This degree of job growth in temporary help payrolls was particularly remarkable given the severe winter storms that adversely affected business conditions in many parts of the country in early February. “While businesses remain cautious about adding permanent workers, the continued increase in temporary employment is a good indicator that the economy is recovering,” says Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “However, this morning’s employment numbers underscore the fact that jobs creation must continue to be one of the country’s top priorities.” In his statement to Congress, BLS commissioner Keith Hall commented on the sizable job growth in temporary help over the past month and highlighted that the industry has added 284,000 new jobs over the past five months. In a year-to-year comparison, BLS seasonally adjusted data show that staffing employment in February was 3.9% higher than the level reported for the same period last year. February 2010 is the first month in almost three years in which the staffing industry has experienced job growth over the previous year. Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicate that temporary help services employment increased 1.8% from January to February. On a year-to-year basis, there were 4.8% more jobs in February compared with February 2009. The ASA Staffing Index, which is also not seasonally adjusted and therefore is comparable to the nonadjusted job numbers reported by BLS, showed an increase of 1% from January in staffing employment; year-to-year job growth in February was 10%. 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. ASA research shows that staffing employment is a coincident economic indicator and leading employment indicator, especially when the economy is emerging from a recession. For more information visit americanstaffing.net/newsroom.
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