DID YOU KNOW?

History of staffing continued... At the 1989 Republican National Convention George H.W. Bush, Sr. pledged, “Read my lips: no new taxes.” As President he opposed the creation of new taxes, but found it challenging to keep his promise as a recession began in 1990. The Democrat-controlled Congress proposed increases of existing taxes to reduce the national budget deficit, which resulted in the 1990 budget agreement that increased several existing taxes. In addition, the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War ended which led to a decrease in military spending and the Savings and Loan crisis peaked with nearly 33% of banks going under. 

As the recession continued, companies began looking for new ways to reduce costs. Supplemental labor usage grew as it offered savings in both benefits and wages. Flex staffing expanded beyond engineering roles, as organizations used staffing companies to fill secretarial and clerical positions. The hiring process began to shift away from a direct route with the end-user to procurement and human resources (HR) functions. Over time, HR began to apply terms like “Supplemental Labor” and “Human Capital Resources” to replace “job shoppers.” 

In the 1990’s, engineering professionals that saw high job demand and wages throughout many years of large military spending were suddenly out of work. Manufacturing was being moved to other countries. America needed new growth to bolster the economy. Along came data processing…  

Stay tuned next week