American Staffing Association (01/04/13) Alexandra Karaer

Seasonally adjusted employment data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that staffing employment showed no change from November to December. In a year-to-year comparison, temporary help employment for the month was 6.4% higher than in December 2011. Over the previous 12 months, the temporary help industry has added an average of 12,800 jobs per month to the economy.

“BLS estimates that staffing firms created more than 150,000 new jobs in 2012 as businesses continued to strategically embrace flexible work force solutions to increase productivity and competiveness,” says Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “Although temporary and contract employment represents just under 2% of total employment, staffing firms accounted for 8% of all of new jobs created in 2012.”

Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicated that staffing industry employment declined by 33,500 from November to December (down 1.3%, versus an average 1.0% drop since 1990). On a year-to-year basis, there were 4.6% more staffing employees in December than in the same month in 2011.

Dow Jones Newswires (01/03/13) Michael Wursthorn

New York-based private equity firm MidOcean Partners has purchased Pittsburgh-based information technology recruiting and staffing firm System One. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

On Assignment Inc. News Release (01/03/13)

On Assignment Inc. announced Thursday that it has rebranded its travel nursing division under the name OA Nurse Travel.

“The On Assignment name carries with it a great history and we didn’t want to lose that, but we did want to simplify the Nurse Travel brand for our clients and nurses,” says Katie Hoffman-Abby, president, OA Nurse Travel.

USA Today (01/02/13) Paul Davidson

State governments overall are starting 2013 in their best financial shape in several years, which could help cushion the blow to the economy from any tax hikes and spending cuts made by the federal government this year. Local governments still face stiff budget challenges, but their overall condition appears less dire. After eliminating 653,000 jobs from 2008 through 2011, state and local governments kept payrolls roughly stable in 2012, and Moody’s expects them to add 220,000 jobs in 2013.