For Crummy Jobs Report, 25K Were Just Temporary Workers

Remember, you aren’t supposed to read too much into the jobs report

June 2012: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available.” (LINK: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/07/06/employment-situation-june)

They’ve been saying the same thing for years, month after month. But, unlike most times, the hiring of temporary workers isn’t a sign that things are getting better, despite some early spin from USA Today

A bright spot appeared to peek through Friday’s disappointing jobs report: The number of temporary workers rose by 25,000, making up nearly a third of the total 80,000 payroll gains in June.

Hooray, we’re saved!!!!!!!….oh, wait

The hiring of temporary employees traditionally augurs the addition of permanent staff. As employers grow more confident about their own needs and the economy, they convert contingent workers to staffers after several months, or bring on other employees.

While that’s still the case, staffing firms and company executives say temporary employees are keeping that status longer, in part due to nervousness about the unsettled economy. Also, many businesses are using contractors and other temp workers on an ongoing basis to better meet fluctuating demand and enlist workers with specialized skills for short-term projects. Firms also can save on benefits costs.

They keep trying to spin this as good news, then contradicting themselves. Because they aren’t converting those workers. They are worried about Obama’s unsettled economy. And benefits (cough Obamacare cough).

Partly as a result, the addition of contingent workers the past two years hasn’t consistently led to stronger permanent job growth. The number of temp workers placed by staffing firms is up 20% since June 2010, while total payrolls are up just 2.3%.

Manpower CEO Jeff Joerres says about 30% of the temporary employees his staffing firm has placed this year have been converted to permanent vs. 45% last year. “They’re loath to hire because they’ve been burned too many times” in a halting recovery, he says.

Don’t read too much into one month’s jobs report that highlights consistently poor data for the last two years.

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One Response to “For Crummy Jobs Report, 25K Were Just Temporary Workers”

  1. Gumball_Brains says:

    I agree. It’s Pres Bush’s fault. I could read it between your lines.

    When Bush brought on only 150,000 jobs when the unemployment rate was 5.6% is SOOOOO much worse than adding 60,000 temporary jobs at 8.2% unemployment.

    (yes, that was sarcasm)

    What I would like to know is how the false unemployment U2 number of 8.2% did not rise when unemployment only increased by 20,000? and that 20K is a preliminary high number.

    Yes, most open, honest, transparent administration evah!

    How many of you really think the unemployment rate is actually near 20%. I mean, if you look at all the different racial and age groups, none are lower than 10%. Some are near 50%.

    And how many reports come out of businesses closing shop or laying off thousands of people. Best Buy just announced another 20K layoff. They too will be out of business soon.

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