ASA Staffing Index Monthly Report, January 2016

Staffing employment for the week of Jan. 11–17 was 93.78, according to the ASA Staffing Index. Temporary and contract staffing employment increased 1.16% from the prior week and was 2.50% lower than the same week last year. This week, containing the 12th, will be used in the January monthly employment situation report that will be issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Feb. 5.

In 2015, the ASA Staffing Index had 19 consecutive record high weeks out of the first 20 weeks of the year. While the index growth slowed in the second quarter, values remained relatively strong in the third quarter, and rose to 103.29 in week 50—the highest value for the year.

Note: The ASA Staffing Index utilizes the most commonly accepted ISO standard version ISO-8601 to determine week numbers. Based on this standard, the week of Dec. 28, 2015 to Jan. 3, 2016 was week 53 of 2015, which only occurs every five to six years. As a result, year-to-year changes in the index are calculated based on similar dates in the prior year rather than the same week number.

The ASA Staffing Index is reported nine days after each workweek, making it a near real-time measure of staffing employment trends. ASA research shows that staffing employment is a coincident economic indicator.

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About the American Staffing Association

The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry. ASA and its state affiliates advance the interests of the industry across all sectors through advocacy, research, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. For more information about ASA, visit americanstaffing.net.