This index of the number of people employed in temporary and contract work shows very healthy gains over the past year. Comparing the most recent week to the same week a year ago, staffing is up an impressive 27%. I believe this confirms my view that the economy continues to expand and employment is rising, albeit not by as much as people (and politicians) would like to see.
HT: Mark Perry, who manages to dig up all sorts of nice indicators like this.
Scott,
ReplyDeleteWe may be entering into an age of the 'permatemp'. That is what my daughter calls herself (to my chagrin). The benefits to organizations of declining to add a permanent worker when a temp can be had without the 'compliance' headaches seems to me to be compelling.
How are these 'temporary' workers accounted for by BLS? Are they counted in the private sector jobs estimates?
John: You make a good point about the disincentives that have been created to hiring; that could explain a good portion of the strong growth in temp hiring. As for your question, I believe that temp workers are included in the private sector job estimates.
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