ManpowerGroup News Release (10/19/12)

ManpowerGroup today reported that earnings per diluted share for the three months ended Sept. 30 were 79 cents compared with 97 cents in the prior year period. Net earnings in the quarter were $63.1 million compared with $79.6 million a year earlier. U.S. revenues declined by 8%, 7% on a same day basis, from the same period in 2011. U.S. permanent recruitment fees were up 7% over the prior year.

Revenues from the U.S. totaled $760.8 million for the quarter, compared with $828.9 million reported for the same period in 2011. Operating profit for the U.S. stood at $24.5 million for the quarter, compared with $32.1 million for the same quarter in 2011. Revenues from the U.S. totaled $2.26 billion for the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared with $2.37 billion reported for the same period in 2011. Operating profit for the U.S. stood at $39.1 million for the nine-month period, compared with $68.0 million for the same period in 2011.

“We are entering a prolonged period of soft economic conditions,” says Jeff Joerres, ManpowerGroup chairman and chief executive officer. However, he noted that the secular changes that have been driving growth are still occurring. “Companies are relying on the agility model and using us as a large part of that.”

Robert Half International News Release (10/18/12)

Robert Half International Inc. reported net income of $57.7 million on revenues of $1.03 billion for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. The $1.03 billion in revenues is a reported 5% increase over last year. On a same-day constant currency basis, U.S. temporary and consultant staffing revenues were up 11.4% and permanent placement revenues were up 16.7%. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2011, net income was $107.3 million on revenues of $2.80 billion.

“For the ninth consecutive quarter, U.S. staffing revenues saw double-digit, year-over-year growth rates,” says Harold M. Messmer Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Robert Half. “In addition, global operating income grew by 31% with higher gross margins.”

Milwaukee Business Journal (10/18/12) Jeff Engel

Grafton, WI-based Seek Careers/Staffing Inc. has acquired Minnesota-based Brigham Group Staffing. Brigham has branches in Bloomington, MN, and Baldwin, WI. Jennifer Brigham, founder and chief executive officer of the Brigham Group, will serve as Seek’s vice president of marketing.

Seek now has 13 physical branches and three virtual offices in Wisconsin and one branch in Minnesota. Seek services include staffing candidates in administration, light industrial, and skilled trades.

Washington Post (10/19/12) Neil Irwin

Temporary employment is one of the better predictors of what the job market will do in the months ahead, and recent trends in the category point toward even slower job creation in the final months of the year than the sluggish hiring that has been evident through 2012 so far. Since 1990, the change in temporary employment over a three month period has a 77% correlation with overall job growth in the ensuing three months. Temporary help employment has flattened out in the last two months, even declining by 2,000 jobs in September. In the first six months of the year, by contrast, the sector added an average of 21,000 jobs a month. If the historical relationship holds up, the weak growth in the third quarter would predict that overall job growth in the final three months of 2012 will be only 72,000 jobs a month.