Today the Department of Labor announced non-farm payrolls decreased by 85,000 jobs in December; the economy has now shed over 7 million jobs since Dec 2007.
Yet one bright spot in the report–an increase by 47,000 temporary help services jobs, and since reaching a low point in July, temporary help services employment has risen by 166,000.
Payrolls at temporary-help agencies often turn up before total employment because companies are not certain an increase in sales will be sustainable enough to warrant the expense, such as the cost of health-care benefits, associated with taking on permanent staff. By the same token, temp help starts to decline first as companies balk at getting rid of experienced workers at the first sign of a slowdown. Employment at temp agencies reached a trough in April 2003 in the aftermath of the 2001 recession, according to figures from the Labor Department. Total payrolls reached their lowest point four months later.
Solvate may only be responsible for a tiny percentage of temp job creation, but more importantly, our innovation is contributing to a more flexible economy, one that can contract and expand faster in reaction to evolving economic conditions.
When companies realize they can now contract top talent on demand, from Fullbright scholars writing grants to Columbia MBA’s doing market research, in addition to more pedestrian forms of administrative and back office work, they will alter their hiring practices forever, and in fact, temp help services may not just be a leading indicator of job recovery, but an engine of growth in the economy.
Mike Paolucci
CEO, Solvate
