Decton Inc. News Release (07/08/13)

Decton Inc. and Allstar Staffing will merge their business operations, and Allstar will become an autonomous division of Decton. Allstar and Decton will service the same Southern California health care markets. Allstar and Decton are both family-owned and place candidates in temporary, temporary-to-hire, and direct hire positions.

Simply Strategy News Release (07/09/13)

Extra Help Inc., an Illinois-based employment, payroll, and work force services company, announced that it has joined forces with Heartsill Payroll Professionals, an independently owned payroll and benefits administration company located in Montgomery, AL. Heartsill will now be known as Extra Help, and will retain its current staff. The transaction was completed on July 1.

G. Palmer and Associates News Release (07/10/13)

Demand for temporary workers in the U.S. is expected to increase 6.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the third quarter, when compared with the same period in 2012, according to the Palmer Forecast. The forecast indicated a 5.9% increase in temporary help for the just-ended 2013 second quarter. Actual results came in slightly better than anticipated, at a 6.9% increase. Results, in part, reflected increasing uncertainty in the economy, where temporary help created approximately 13% of new jobs reported since the recovery began, while representing only about 2% of the total labor market.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (07/09/13)

On the last business day of May, 3.8 million jobs were open, little changed from April. There were 4.4 million hires in May, at a 3.3% hire rate. The number of hires was little changed over the last 12 months. There were 4.3 million total separations in May, at a 3.2% separation rate, little changed from April. Separations include quits, layoffs, discharges, and other separations.

The quit rate was 1.6% for total nonfarm and 1.8% for total private; the layoffs and discharge rate was 1.3%. Hires have totaled 51.9 million and separations have totaled 50.1 million over the 12 months ending in May, resulting in a net employment gain of 1.8 million.

Bloomberg Businessweek (07/09/13) Joshua Brustein

TaskRabbit, the online labor-sharing platform, experienced a round of layoffs this week. This demonstrates that, despite the popular hype around the sharing economy website, it has not been able to maintain a sustainable business, which could represent a blow to Airbnb and other sharing companies. Lack of demand is cited for the trouble, and TaskRabbit has struggled to grow beyond its early adopters. The company states it has decided to focus on its key business opportunities, including mobile, geographic expansion, business services, and marketplace operations. Its business services offering may compete with established temporary employment firms.