The ASA Staffing Index as an Indicator
Many experts agree—and ASA research confirms—that staffing industry employment serves as a coincident economic indicator and a leading indicator of total U.S. nonfarm employment. The ASA Staffing Index bears watching as a near real-time measure of weekly trends in staffing industry employment and current economic conditions, as well as of future overall employment trends.
ASA releases a monthly report on the index that offers a preview of the nonseasonally adjusted temporary help employment numbers reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly employment situation report (generally issued the first Friday of the month). The ASA Staffing Index monthly report, released more than a week before the BLS employment situation report, compares weeks containing the 12th of each month, making it comparable to the reference period used by BLS. |
Staffing Index Methodology
The ASA Staffing Index was developed to provide a current measure of temporary and contract employment trends. The survey methodology mirrors that of the quarterly ASA Staffing Employment and Sales Survey, which is based on a model developed by Standard & Poor's DRI in 1992. To preserve the confidentiality of individual company responses, an independent research firm collects and tabulates the data and reports only aggregate results to ASA.
Two numbers are reported weekly. The first is the weekly percentage change in staffing employment. The second is the index itself, which shows staffing employment trends over time. Both numbers are posted on the home page of the ASA Web site. Thirteen-week and 52-week graphs plotting the numbers, and a table of historical data, also are available on the ASA Web site. The weekly numbers are generally posted Tuesday mornings, except after most federal holidays when the data are released Wednesday. (See the weekly report holiday schedule.)
Weekly survey participants include a stratified panel of small, medium, and large staffing companies that together provide services in virtually all sectors of the industry.Participants account for about one-third of total staffing industry sales and establishments.
Percentage changes in employment are derived by weighting the survey responses according to company size in four annual sales categories: less than $7.5 million, $7.5 million–$25 million, $25 million–$100 million, and more than $100 million.
The index is calculated by applying the weekly percentage change in employment to a reference value set at 100 for the week of June 12, 2006. The index reflects the percentage change in employment since that week—so when the index reaches 200, that would mean that staffing employment had doubled. The index does not estimate total industry employment; the quarterly ASA Staffing Employment and Sales Survey provides that data.
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