Dropping Temps
Aug 27th, 2007 at 7:01 am by Susie
Add another item to the economic worry list: Employers are shedding temporary workers.
Temporary employment, long a buffer that gives companies flexibility, has fallen each of the past six months, and in July was down nearly 2% from the start of the year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. revenue at Manpower Inc., the world’s second-largest staffing firm after Adecco Group, dropped almost 9% in the second quarter, as demand fell.
Revenue in Kelly Services Inc.’s North American commercial segment — providing clerical and industrial workers — dropped 6% in the quarter.
This is a really bad sign. It’s not merely that temps aren’t getting jobs. It’s also that temp employment is a real indicator of the robustness of the general economy. People hire temps when their businesses are expanding, not contracting.