American Staffing Association (12/06/13) Steve Berchem
Seasonally adjusted employment data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that temporary help employment added 16,400 new jobs in November (up 0.6% from October). BLS also revised September and October estimates up by 16,000 and 21,800, respectively, boosting growth from relatively flat to being on par with recent trends.
In a year-to-year comparison, staffing firms employed 8.6% more temporary workers in November than in the same month a year ago, according to BLS.
Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicated that the staffing industry added 13,100 jobs in November (up 0.5% from October). On a year-to-year basis, there were 7.9% more staffing employees in November than in the same month last year.
Total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 203,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate declined from 7.3% to 7.0%. Monthly job gains have averaged 193,000 over the past three months, BLS says. Employment increased in transportation and warehousing (31,000), health care (19,000), and manufacturing (27,000).