U.S. staffing companies employed an average of 3.19 million temporary and contract workers per week in 2017, easing slightly from 2016, according to data released in March by the American Staffing Association. This is the third-highest number of staffing employees since 2006, just before the Great Recession.
During all of 2017, staffing companies hired a total of 15.49 million temporary and contract employees. The average length of employment with a staffing company was 10.7 weeks in 2017, slightly shorter than the tenure of 11.5 weeks in 2016.
In the fourth quarter of 2017, average weekly staffing employment totaled 3.34 million—3.7 percent higher than in the third quarter, which is the largest quarter-to-quarter increase since 2014. On a year-to-year basis, the average weekly number of temporary and contract staffing jobs in the fourth quarter of 2017 was unchanged.
“During the past year, the staffing industry helped more than 15 million American workers find jobs and advance their professional careers,” says Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and chief executive officer. “But demand for qualified talent continues to outpace supply. Looking ahead, a top priority and focus must be on training, retraining and upskilling the current and future American workforce.”
Annual temporary and contract staffing sales in 2017 totaled $133.87 billion, up 4.2 percent over 2016. Fourth quarter sales grew to $34.93 billion, 3.6 percent more than in the third quarter of 2017 and 4.6 percent more than in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Current Issue - April 2024