U.S. News & World Report (02/28/12) Heidi Shierholz

Heidi Shierholz, economist at the Economic Policy Institute, says the economic recovery has boosted growth in the temporary help services industry, but she says temporary jobs account for fewer jobs now than before the recession. The industry has added more than 650,000 jobs since the recession ended in mid-2009, but it eliminated more than 900,000 jobs from mid-2006 to mid-2009.

Employment in temporary help agencies began to decrease in the fall of 2006, more than a year before overall employment began to decline. However, the industry began to see growth in September 2009, several months before the overall labor market began adding jobs. Temporary help services jobs accounted for 1.9% of all jobs in 2006, falling to 1.3% by the summer of 2009. The figure currently stands at 1.8%, which is lower than its prerecession level.

MarketWatch (03/04/12) Jeffry Bartash

The U.S. likely added 208,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate stayed put at 8.3%, predict economists surveyed by MarketWatch ahead of the March 9 jobs report. However, economists believe businesses are not hiring at a rapid pace and that fewer firings are fueling payroll growth. Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services, says to lower the U.S. employment rate to prerecession levels, 250,000 to 300,000 jobs per month must be created, and he does not think that is possible. Meanwhile, Neil Dutta, economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says flat consumer spending, among other things, means a faster pace of hiring cannot be sustained. Other economists believe the economy may have gotten a boost from the unseasonably warm winter, and such growth will not continue into spring.

Reuters (03/02/12) Jason Lange

Hiring at small U.S. companies rose in February as the number of companies laying off employees declined to its lowest level since 2007. However, companies scaled back plans to hire employees, according to a poll by the National Federation of Independent Business. NFIB reported on March 2 that companies in its survey added an average 0.04 jobs in February. The reading was flat in January. Overall, 9% of companies added jobs in February.

Wall Street Journal (03/05/12) Jon Hilsenrath

U.S. Federal Reserve officials will consider the perplexing economic outlook when they meet next week, but they are not expected to take any new action to boost economic growth. In his January news conference, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke appeared to favor a new bond-buying program to help drive down long-term interest rates even more, but he also indicated that more purchases would hinge on the nation’s economic performance. The odds of more bond buying would become more remote if growth or inflation pick up.