01 Jan Staffing Employment Steady in Third Quarter

New Data From Quarterly ASA Staffing Employment and Sales Survey

U.S. staffing companies employed an average of 3.2 million temporary and contract workers per week in the third quarter of 2018, according to data released today by the American Staffing Association—remaining above three million for four and a half years.

Staffing employment edged up 0.1% in the third quarter of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017.

“In a growing economy and ever-tightening labor market, businesses are placing an even greater premium on staffing companies’ ability to source qualified flexible and permanent talent,” said Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and chief executive officer. “Because job seekers have more options today than at any time in the past decade, employers really need to sharpen their focus on employee engagement in order to attract and retain top talent.”

Temporary and contract staffing sales totaled $35.1 billion in the third quarter of 2018, 4.2% higher than in the same quarter of 2017.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, staffing employment was up 0.7% from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2018; temporary and contract staffing sales increased 1.5% from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2018.

To learn more about the quarterly ASA Staffing Employment and Sales Survey, visit americanstaffing.net/quarterly-survey. You can also follow ASA research on Twitter.

Source: American Staffing Association