U.S. Temporary Employment in Decline for 1st Time in 3 Years

Temporary help payroll growth, as measured on a 12-month trend, has been weakening steadily over 2006, and finally crossed the line into the negative zone in November, falling 0.8% from the year earlier. This was the first recorded year-over-year decline in temporary help payrolls since June 2003. Part of the reason for this decline is the effect of Katrina on previous year’s numbers. November 2005 saw a large increase in temporary help usage in the weather-beaten Gulf Coast. Nonetheless, even taking this liberal perspective, it remains that temporary help payrolls are also up less than 1% above pre-Katrina levels, so volume growth is unquestionably weak at best. On a month-to-month basis, temporary help services rose 0.2% from October, adding 4,800 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

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