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A New Year Brings a New Benefit From ASA

Welcome to the debut issue of Staffing Today—a new daily e-newsletter that delivers fresh business, legal, and economic news for busy staffing and recruiting professionals.

Staffing Today is now your one-stop resource for staffing industry information, replacing ASA’s weekly e-newsletters. Be sure to add asa@infoinc.com to your e-mail safe list. Or click through to this Whitelist page—also available at the bottom of this issue and all future issues—to ensure you receive Staffing Today every morning of every business day.

Enjoy your first issue—and share your thoughts on what you like and what you’d like to see. Send your feedback to asa@americanstaffing.net.

Happy New Year!

Richard Wahlquist

ASA President and Chief Executive Officer

Temporary Work Often the Gateway to Full-Time Employment

Florida Today (FL) (01/01/12) Peterson, Patrick

According to the American Staffing Association, 74% of job seekers look for full-time employment by first working as temporary employees. Also, 72% of temporary employees surveyed by ASA corporate partner CareerBuilder.com said they found permanent jobs with the employer with which they initially performed temporary work.

“What we have seen is that those positions lead to full-time roles,” says Bill Peppler, managing partner at Kavaliro Staffing Services in central Florida. Surveys show that temporary positions lead to a full-time job nearly three-fourths of the time. “The first people they go to are the people who have worked for them in the past,” Peppler adds.

Cloud Computing Will Buoy Firms

Investor’s Business Daily (01/03/12)

U.S. chief financial officers polled by professional services firm Tatum see part-time hiring as a trend that will help companies in 2012. Temporary hiring is described by financial executives as a way to retain flexibility while pursuing growth, a sign that temporary employment might become the new norm.

Hiring Survey Bullish on Industry

Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel (01/01/2012) Schmid, John

In a recent survey by the QPS Employment Group—a staffing and recruiting firm based in Brookfield, Wis.—41% of companies polled plan to add hires in the first quarter of 2012, up from 39% in the final quarter of 2011. The survey presents a January-March outlook of the state’s major industries. “In comparison to the fourth quarter of 2011, employers are slightly more optimistic when it comes to business conditions and hiring trends,” QPS says in its analysis of its data.

The survey is considered a bellwether because it offers a measure of industrial sentiment in an industrial region, and because the firm specializes in industrial and manufacturing trades. Nearly all of the 184 employers that it surveyed are from Wisconsin manufacturers, with a few from Illinois.

Weekly Indicators: 2011 Ends With a Bang

Seeking Alpha (01/01/12) Stewart, Hale

The ASA Staffing Index rose by one to 93 last week, though it will likely decline in the next couple of weeks due entirely to seasonality. The index is now equal to last year’s levels, after stagnating earlier this year.

Other recent indicators for the job market have been positive as well, including the Daily Treasury Statement showing that withholding for the first 19 days of December stood at $144.2 billion vs. $143.7 billion a year ago. For the last 20 reporting days, $151.8 billion was collected vs. $147.0 billion a year ago, a gain of 3.3%. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, meanwhile, reported that the four-week average of jobless claims declined to 375,000, the lowest level in more than three years. Seasonality is still significant, but even if the numbers are slightly overcompensating for seasonal factors, the author notes the trend remains very good.

Adecco Snaps Up Japanese Staffing Firm VSN

Reuters (01/03/12)

Adecco announced on Jan. 3 that it will buy Japan-based VSN Inc. for an enterprise value of 90 million euros ($116.8 million) to double its exposure to professional staffing services in the world’s second-largest staffing market. Adecco, which competes with Manpower Inc. and Dutch group Randstad Holding NV, has seen its general staffing business continue to outpace its more lucrative professional staffing business in recent quarters, which has weighed on margins. “The deal makes sense from a strategic point of view and will add some 11% to 12% to Adecco Japan revenues, but less than 1% to group sales,” Vontobel analyst Michael Foeth said in a note. VSN Inc. is focused on the engineering sector.

Members Only: Free ASAPro Webinars and Archived Courses

ASA members have a new and exciting benefit for 2012: Free ASAPro Webinars and more than 150 free archived courses for their entire staff. ASAPro Webinars qualify for continuing education hours toward ASA certification renewal.

For additional information about this new ASA member benefit, membership, or any of the ASAPro Webinars, contact ASA at 703-253-2020 or <a href=”mailto:asa@americanstaffing.net

“>asa@americanstaffing.net

New Online: Membership Matters Web Site

ASA has launched a Web site called Membership Matters to provide fast access to a host of membership benefits. The site delivers content in these main areas: professional development, legal and legislative issues, benchmarking data, marketing resources, and ways to engage with ASA.

The new Membership Matters site also provides an easy way to renew your ASA membership. Need a brief tutorial? Contact any member of the ASA membership department at 703-253-2020.

A Gathering Storm Over ‘Right to Work’ in Indiana

New York Times (01/03/12) Greenhouse, Steven

Republican leaders in the Indiana House and Senate say their first priority for 2012 will be to push through a right-to-work law. With the state legislature in firm control of Republicans, and Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels in support of the measure, Indiana is expected to join 22 other states in prohibiting union contracts at private sector workplaces from requiring employees to pay any dues or other fees to the union.

Should Indiana enacts such a law, it will give new momentum to those who have previously pushed such legislation in Maine, Michigan, Missouri, and other states. Corporations view such laws as an important sign that a state has policies friendly to business. Labor leaders say that allowing workers to opt out of paying any money to the union that represents them weakens unions’ finances, bargaining clout, and political power.

South Carolina Immigration Law in Effect While Parts of it On Hold

WCBD.com (SC) (01/02/12)

South Carolina’s new immigration law is now in effect, even though a federal judge put parts of the law on hold in December. Among the portions now in effect is a requirement for businesses to use E-Verify, an online program that allows employers to input information from required I-9 hiring forms and find out a new employee’s legal work status. South Carolina government jobs, including positions at public universities, have been screened with E-Verify since 2009, as have private jobs at companies with more than 100 employees.

With the new law, that requirement extends to all businesses. Employers that are not registered to use E-Verify will have a grace period until July. After that, businesses that violate the law will get a year probation and have their license revoked for repeat violations.

OFCCP’s “Game-Changing Section” 503 Disability Regulations – Seyfarth Shaw (Jan. 5, Webinar)

Seyfarth Shaw (12/09/11)

On Dec. 8, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs published for public comment a proposed revision to the regulations that implement Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The proposed regulations would dramatically expand federal contractors’ compliance requirements regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action for applicants and employees with disabilities under Section 503. The proposed regulations demonstrate the OFCCP’s intent to hold contractors to much higher standards for increasing employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities and add a myriad of recordkeeping and self-assessment obligations so that OFCCP may more easily audit contractor compliance to detect deficiencies.

Seyfarth Shaw will conduct a Webinar Jan. 5 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time to discuss the proposed changes, their possible impact on organizations, and what needs to be done now. Speakers include Valerie Hoffman, partner / chair, OFCCP & Affirmative Action Practice Group; and Christine Hendrickson, senior counsel, OFCCP & Affirmative Action Practice Group. There is no cost to attend this program. If there are any questions, please contact events@seyfarth.com.

Releasing 15th Annual Industry Outlook; Maybe It Is Different This Time

BMO Capital Markets (01/03/12)

BMO Capital Markets predicts another good year for U.S staffing, with potential upside surprises. The firm’s latest industry outlook reports that U.S. temporary staffing grew at 10%, toward the low end of expectations in 2011, as U.S. economic growth slowed midyear. If the current uncertain economic environment continues, strong usage of temporary help should continue.

BMO Capital Markets projects temporary staffing revenues will increase at a 6%-8% rate in 2012, with annual growth accelerating to 7%-9% in 2013. Information technology staffing should be among the best performing sectors in 2012, with a 12% increase projected for 2012. BMO Capital Markets believes “much of this growth has been driven by a preference for employers to use contractors and temporary staff rather than add to the full-time hiring ranks for a segment of the work force typically viewed as ‘back office.'”

Companies Fighting for IT Talent

Network World (01/03/12) Bednarz, Ann

As companies try to balance the technical challenges and opportunities on the information technology front, they are also dealing with a shortage of skilled professionals. IT pros with application development, virtualization, or cloud computing skills are in short supply, as are those with business analytics expertise.

The number of available IT jobs in the U.S. is up about 12% compared to a year ago, and demand for tech professionals is expected to get even stronger in 2012, according to Dice.com. When the jobs site surveyed 1,200 IT hiring managers and recruiters, 65% said they are planning to add tech professionals in the first half of 2012. Among those planning to hire, 27% said they plan to expand headcount by more than 20%.

Tech professionals with in-demand skills and relevant experience are not having trouble finding jobs, notes Jack Cullen, president of IT staffing and recruiting firm Modis. “If candidates have strong skills, robust backgrounds, and they communicate well, they’re getting snapped up fast,” he says. In fact, many hiring managers haven’t adjusted to the new pace. “They’re still slow to react, still very deliberate in the hiring cycle,” Cullen says. “They’re really looking for that quality hire.”