Here's an interesting article I got from the National Association of Temporary and Staffing Services.
TEMPORARY HELP REACHES
RECORD LEVELS IN STRONG ECONOMY
(Alexandria, VA) -- Temporary help services reached unprecedented levels in 1997. Receipts grew 15.4 percent to $50.3 billion; employment expressed as average daily
employment (ADE) rose 9.7 percent to 2,535,220; and payroll expanded by 19 percent to $37.4 billion in 1997 from the previous year.
"The temporary help and staffing services industry provides workers with significant employment opportunities," said Richard A. Wahlquist, NATSS executive vice
president, "and American businesses with the flexibility they need to compete in a worldwide economy. This has had an overall positive impact on the economy by helping
companies better manage their staffing costs and operate more efficiently in a changing marketplace."
Growth in the temporary help and staffing services industry in 1997 is attributable to several factors.
Tight Labor Market: When business activity increases, there is greater demand for employees, both full-time and temporary, eventually leading to worker and
skills shortages. This was the situation in 1997 and it is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. In this environment, companies face increased challenges in
bringing on enough workers with the right skills. In response to this challenge, an increasing number of businesses have turned to staffing firms that have the
expertise in recruiting, screening and training workers, thus enabling the business to meet their customers' growing demands.
In addition to helping satisfy businesses' demand for supplemental help to augment their regular work force and to meet temporary skill shortages and labor
shortfalls, staffing firms are also helping businesses fill permanent positions through a wide range of "temporary-to-full-time" arrangements.
Changing Worker Attitudes: Rapid changes in the economy are changing the way workers view employment. They increasingly believe that traditional
long-term job security with a single company is less certain and that employment security lies in having the right skills and knowing where to get those skills. Staffing
firms provide an excellent option that meets these worker needs.
People choose to work for staffing firms for a variety of reasons: 1) greater independence and a more secure career path, 2) the challenge of varied assignments 3) the
opportunity to expand skills, 4) the availability of flexible work schedules, 5) a way to supplement income, and 6) exposure to different job options before
committing to a permanent position.
Expansion of staffing services beyond traditional temporary help: Another key growth factor is that staffing firms provide a far broader range of
services than in the past. While continuing to build on traditional temporary help to meet fluctuating demand and providing expertise in labor and employment law
compliance, staffing services are adding a new dimension -- that of providing complete service solutions.
Businesses are turning to staffing services for a wide range of professional, managerial, and technical workers to perform highly skilled work on a project or ongoing
basis. For example, a business seeking to modify its computer systems to be "year 2000 compliant," can retain a staffing firm with expertise in information
technology to analyze the problem, assign the right employees to the project, and be accountable for its successful completion.
Also growing rapidly are "managed services" ("outsourcing") arrangements in which a business contracts with the staffing firm not just to supplement its own work
force but to take full operational responsibility for a specific function, such as operating a data processing center, mail room, or other discrete function.
-end of release-
note: An extensive discussion of the 1997 performance of temporary help services will be published in the Spring 1998 issue of NATSS's Contemporary Times magazine. |
