The American Staffing Association, in conjunction with the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (Ciett), the staffing industry’s international trade association, released today a new global report that quantifies how staffing firms provide a bridge to social and economic progress around the world.
The report, “Adapting to Change,” draws from strategic research developed by Ciett with the Boston Consulting Group. It shows that staffing firms better enable governments, businesses, and workers to adapt to change in today’s rapidly evolving global economy. The BCG research found that staffing firms improve the efficiency of labor markets, create jobs, increase work force participation, and deliver valuable employment.
“This report recognizes the vital role of staffing firms to people, companies, and the global economy,” says Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and chief executive officer. “The report demonstrates that staffing firms create jobs that would not otherwise exist: three-quarters of staffing clients do not consider hiring permanent workers as an alternative to the work of temporary or contract employees. In fact staffing firms reduce structural unemployment by creating more work opportunities for more people, as well as frictional unemployment by ensuring a better and faster match between supply and demand of work.”
In the U.S. and around the world, labor markets are facing unprecedented challenges, the Ciett report notes. Globalization, demographic and structural shifts, and the unpredictability and increasing complexity of economies have led to a volatile new environment in which labor markets are in perpetual motion, constantly creating and destroying jobs. Governments, businesses, and individuals are struggling to tackle the issues arising from this environment, including high levels of unemployment, a persistent mismatch between available skills and the ones businesses require, low occupational mobility, and low levels of labor market participation, particularly among younger people.
ASA and Ciett will use conclusions from the report as the basis of a global plan to promote and advance the interests of the staffing industry throughout the world.
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The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing industry. ASA and its affiliated chapters advance the interests of staffing and recruiting firms of all sizes and across all sectors through legal and legislative advocacy, public relations, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. ASA members provide the full range of employment and work force services and solutions, including temporary and contract staffing, recruiting and permanent placement, outplacement and outsourcing, training, and human resource consulting.