“Employment in temporary help services continued to trend up (+14,000) and has grown by 224,000 over the past year,” according to Erica L. Groshen, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, commenting on the monthly jobs report released today. Seasonally adjusted staffing employment was up 0.5% over April and 8.5% over May of last year. Since December, BLS has continued to measure temporary help job growth at about 9% year-to-year, the strongest sustained pace since August 2012.
Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicated that staffing employment increased by 63,700 in May (up 2.3% from April). On a year-to-year basis, there were 8.6% more staffing employees in May than in the same month last year.
“Even with the continued slow pace of economic recovery, demand for temporary and contract workers continues to increase across most sectors,” says Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “This is positive for job seekers looking for employment flexibility or a bridge to a permanent job.”
Total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 217,000 jobs in May, BLS reported. Monthly job gains averaged 197,000 in the prior 12 months. The May unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.3%.
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