Our concern as 2010 ended was that perhaps both rail and temporary staffing would pause/decline as we hit 2011 and that would precede a slowdown in the economy.
So far, that has not been the case. Rail traffic last weeks jumped to 653k cars and resumes it seasonal rebound from the Holiday dip.
January Staffing Jobs Up 12% From a Year Ago
Seasonally adjusted staffing industry employment showed little change in January, declining by 11,400 jobs (-0.5%) from December, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In a year-to-year comparison, staffing employment was 12.1% higher than January of last year. BLS noted that staffing firms have added an average of 25,000 new jobs per month over the past 12 months.“A seasonal decrease in January staffing employment is normal and should be expected,” says Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and chief executive officer. “Year-to-year growth remains strong, and indicators from ASA members point toward continued increases in flexible and, eventually, permanent hiring in 2011.”
Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicated that staffing employment ticked down from December to January by 11%, which was more than the historical sequential decrease of 7.5%. On a year-to-year basis, there were 12.2% more staffing employees in January compared with the same month in 2010. The ASA Staffing Index, which is also not seasonally adjusted and therefore is comparable to the nonadjusted employment figures reported by BLS, showed a 13% increase in staffing employment over January 2010.
As rail saw its typical decline in December, temp staffing is showing it in Jan. The key is YOY numbers are still ahead of 2010.