Current Labor Indicators
- Total Unemployment: 7.3%
- College Educated Unemployment: 3.8%
- Total Job Loss/Gain: +204,000
- Temporary Penetration Rate: 2.00%
The November Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed the government shutdown in October had little effect on the employment situation, with 204,000 jobs added last month. Job gains continued in the professional and technical services sector with 21,000 jobs added this month. This sector has grown by 213,000 jobs in just the past 12 months. The headline unemployment rate also remained steady at 7.3 percent and the college-educated unemployment rate still remains below four percent.
Additionally, the temporary penetration rate (the number of temporary workers as a percentage of the total workforce) continues to rise to record levels, today at 2.00 percent. This figure is at a cycle high and is within three basis points of the 2.03 percent all-time record temp penetration rate established in April 2000.
However, with prolonged uncertainty in today’s economic environment Kforce has continued to watch the shift to a flexible workforce. In fact, a recent report from the American Staffing Association shows growing evidence of this shift in the way businesses are turning to the staffing industry for talent and workforce solutions. The report highlights how staffing firms have added close to a million new jobs in the U.S. in just four years, outpacing virtually every sector and industry. The data would support that we are in the midst of a secular shift where more employers today choose to utilize temporary workers in order to meet their project-based demands, as well as to mitigate the multitude of regulatory and economic uncertainties present in today’s business environment.
Employers Increasingly Turning to Temporary Staffing
In September 2013, staffing firms accounted for 20,000 of the 148,000 jobs created.
Source: WSJ
Click here to download the PDF version of the Blackman Report.