Wall Street Journal (08/16/13) Kathleen Madigan

A Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia third-quarter survey of 41 economists forecasts growth of 1.5% for the year, down sharply from 2% in May. The downward revision reflects both a refiguring of historical gross domestic product reported in July by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the economists’ expectations that the second half of the year will be less robust than they previously thought. The economists forecast GDP will grow 2.2% in the third quarter and 2.3% in the fourth quarter, down from 2.3% and 2.7%, respectively. Next year, the economists forecast GDP to grow 2.6%, down from 2.8% forecast in May.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expected to decline to 7.3% in the fourth quarter, virtually unchanged from 7.4% forecast in May. However, hiring is expected to improve for the rest of the year. Nonfarm payrolls are projected to average a monthly increase of 174,000 in the second half, up from 158,000 previously projected. Next year, the unemployment rate is forecast to be 7.1%, and job growth is expected to average 180,100 a month, little different from 180,400 previously projected.

USA Today (08/16/13) Laura Newberry

Most of the temporary jobs available nationwide are in the manufacturing industry, where employers say temporary employees allow them to better manage fluctuations in supply and demand. Judy Nagengast, chief executive of the Anderson, IN-based staffing firm Continental Inc., says temporary employment also allows employers to test workers before offering them permanent jobs.

Brian Burton, vice president of the Indiana Manufacturers Association, notes that a provision of the Affordable Care Act requiring companies with more than 50 full-time employees to offer health insurance by 2015 has “certainly had a stifling effect on permanent job creation.” Moreover, Michael Hicks, director of Ball State University’s Bureau of Research, says employers are hiring temporary workers because they can, because unemployed individuals desperate for work often will take any job available. Some experts are concerned that such a strategy will reduce quality and boost costs for manufacturers over the long term, destabilizing the industry.