Good News for Staffing Firms!

The Bureau of Labor released its employment numbers today and got mixed reviews. Talk about SPIN...Wow! This report was spun all over the place by bloggers and media outlets. Unemployment was unchanged at 9.6%. 77,000 U.S. Census workers who were hired on a temporary basis rolled off in August and September, and those numbers were reflected in the loss of 159,000 government jobs. But private sector jobs grew - at 64,000 jobs added.

I read a variety of different blogs that spun those numbers to promote whatever agenda they were pushing. For those of us in the staffing industry, the 77,000 temporary Census workers were just like any other solid temp project – it lasted for a while and it was good while it lasted and then they rolled off. So what now? Here’s what now…NEXT!

It was good while it lasted and now it’s gone. Time to go do some other deals. Wouldn’t it be nice of elected officials and bureaucrats could view it like we in the staffing industry would? Instead they complain about it and blame everybody – when they could be out there focusing on doing more to assist small business owners – who are ultimately the group most likely to “create jobs” anyway!

The good news for staffing firms was that nearly 28,000 temporary workers were added in September – reflecting the steady growth of temporary workers over the last year. We know that this is a good sign for the staffing industry; and even though the growth in temporary employment is slow and steady when we’d like it to be much faster, we can still breathe a sign of relief that the economy is still steadily increasing. Direct hire placement numbers will surely increase as well. Sooner than later hopefully!

Now, who knows what we can export to China and India? It can’t be anything manufactured because we can’t compete there. It has to be a service, an education, or a concept we can export that they want. They are chomping at the bit to buy American ideas and concepts. How do we package that and sell it? Whoever knows the answer to that question could become rich and famous very quickly…and what’s more…help us jump-start our economy!

Perrin Peacock

ppeacock@openreq.com

http://www.openreq.com

http://www.recruiter-talk.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/perrinpeacock