Staffing Up 0.7%, According to Delayed Report

Seasonally adjusted employment data released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that staffing firms added 20,200 new jobs from August to September (up 0.7%). In a year-to-year comparison, temporary help employment for the month was 9.0% higher than in September 2012. The BLS jobs report comes about two weeks later than originally scheduled due to the recent partial federal government shutdown.

Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicated that the staffing industry added 64,200 jobs (up 2.3%) from August to September of this year. On a year-to-year basis, there were 9.0% more staffing employees in September than in the same month last year.

“It continues to be a very tight job market for unemployed Americans,” says Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “A good strategy for many job seekers would be to engage a local staffing and recruiting firm to get a real-time snapshot of who is hiring in their area and the skill sets that are in highest demand.”

Overall U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 148,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.2%. Over the past 12 months, employment growth has averaged 185,000 jobs per month.

Sectors adding jobs to the economy included construction (+20,000), wholesale trade (+16,000), transportation and warehousing (+23,000), and professional and business services (+32,000). Employment in most other major industries showed little change over the month.

BLS also provides both seasonal and nonseasonal employment estimates for search and placement firms, however these reports lag by one month. Tuesday, BLS reported that seasonal search and placement employment in August was down 0.7% from July, totaling 289,200 jobs for the month. In a year-to-year comparison, August employment was up 4.9% from the same month in 2012.

Nonseasonally adjusted search and placement employment was up 0.2% from July to August, totaling 294,200 jobs. In a year-over-year comparison, nonseasonally adjusted employment for this staffing segment was up 4.9%.

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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.