Wall Street Journal Online (06/15/12) Sue Shellenbarger

Staffing companies have become a primary route for workers looking for professional or managerial employment on a flexible or part-time schedule. For the past several years, demand for college-educated professional and managerial temporary employees has outpaced the demand for pink- or blue-collar temporary workers. Many staffing companies—including Atlanta-based Flexible Executives—specialize in the placement of high-skilled workers, who can earn pay ranging from $20 to $200 per hour depending on the job.

Debby Johnson, a certified public accountant, has been working part-time assignments through a staffing firm since 2008, which allows her the flexibility to tend to family needs. According to Steve Berchem, chief operating officer of the American Staffing Association, 80% of staffing employees work full-time hours on assignments averaging 13 weeks. This flexibility allows for high-skilled workers to take on several assignments in a short amount of time.

Wall Street Journal Online (06/15/12) Josh Mitchell

Employers cut jobs in May in four states expected to play a key role in this year’s presidential election, and added them at a slow pace in five others. Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, and Iowa lost jobs in May, according to data released on June 15 by the U.S. Department of Labor. Employment grew tepidly in Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Ohio was the only one of the 10 states expected to be most tightly contested in November to register substantial job gains.

The jobless rate, meanwhile, rose two-tenths of a percentage point in Colorado and Michigan, to 8.1% and 8.5%, respectively. The rate remained above the 8.2% national average in three others, Florida, Michigan, and Nevada. Nevada, still reeling from the housing bust, had an unemployment rate of 11.6% in May, the highest of any state in the nation.

Associated Press (06/15/12) Alicia Caldwell; Jim Kuhnhenn

President Barack Obama eased enforcement of immigration laws Friday, offering a chance for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to stay in the country and work. The policy change will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants.

Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the U.S. before they turned 16 and are younger than 30; have been in the country for at least five continuous years; have no criminal history; and graduated from a U.S. high school or passed the General Educational Development tests or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed. The policy is effective immediately.