Fall 2007 issue of Horizons

FEATURE ARTICLE

Temporary and Contract Employees Work in All Occupations

Staffing at All-Time High Did you know that there were more temporary or contract workers employed in the third quarter of 2006 than at any other time in U.S. history? That is more than 3 million average daily workers. This information is from a quarterly survey of the American Staffing Association, the primary professional group for the staffing industry. As a member of this organization, we have access to statistical information, industry trends and national conventions. Temporary workers are not only used as a stopgap measure tocover leaves for illness, pregnancyor extended vacation. More companies are using temporaries as a “try out” for a permanent position. This approach, “temp to permanent” as it is called in the industry, is popular not only with administrative positions, but also is gaining popularity with higher-level positions such as accounting manager or controller. Of our most recent placements, approximately 40 percent were “temp to permanent” situations. Asanattendeeof the recentAmericanStaffingConvention, I was able to learn more about the most current industry trends and expectations. Total employment is expected to increase from 145.6 million in 2004 to 164.5 million in 2014, or by 13 percent. The 18.9 million jobs that will be added by 2014 will not be evenly distributed across major industrial and occupational groups. Changes in consumer demand, technology and many other factors will contribute to the continually changing employment structure in the U.S. economy.

Percentage of Employees In Each Sector February 2001

21.0% Professional-Managerial

20.4% Office-Clerical

6.4% Technical

7.8% Health Care

9.3% Information Technology

35.1% Industrial

Figure 8: U.S. Business Turn Staffing Firms to Fill Work Force Gaps, Augment Their Own Staff, and Find Employees.

Percentage of Businesses With 25+ Employees That Cite as a Main Reason

Fill in for absent employees or temporary vacancies

80%

Provide extra support during busy times or seasons

72%

Staff special short-term projects

68%

Help find good permanent employees

59%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Source: American Staffing Associiation, Staffing Customer Survey

9 u winter 2007 issue