Although I could have done a year-end retrospective in December like everyone else, I wanted to wait and see the last unemployment number first.  Unfortunately, the number –9.4% — wasn’t what anyone was hoping to see. Analysts and commentators everywhere, still eager for any small bit of good economic news, seemed to unilaterally pounce on the number as a sign that things are improving slowly. That’s probably true, but it’s not too hard to find analysts who remain pessimistic. And since the country started out 2010 with an unemployment rate of 9.8%, it’s hard not to be pessimistic myself.  No matter how you cut it, 9.4% still represent about 14 MILLION unemployed Americans.

But the time for looking ahead is in my next blog post. For now, I’ll note the five biggest staffing and employment trends and stories of 2010:

1. The unemployment rate hardly changes. See above.

2. Staffing companies are busier than ever. Staffing employment in December is 16% higher than in the same month last year, according to the ASA Staffing Index.  The same was true for most months of 2010. Lots of companies, it seems, are relying more than ever on temporary workers to fill their employment needs. Hopefully, this foreshadows improving numbers in the permanent labor force. At least one ASA analyst thinks it does.

But it could also mean that we’re at the beginning of a long-term transformation of employment in the U.S. Are employers skittish about hiring full-time employees because of the uncertain economy? Of course. But they are also unwilling to commit to endless hikes in health insurance costs, and it’s safe to say that healthcare spending won’t go down anytime soon.

3. No slowdown in the healthcare sector. It’s no secret that healthcare employment has risen along with healthcare spending. From my vantage point, however, most healthcare institutions still have a long way to go before they develop sound, long-term staffing solutions that improve efficiency and cut costs. I’ll comment on this more in my next post.

4. IT staffing continues to be strong. According to one report, IT hiring slowed down toward the end of 2010 because there weren’t enough qualified professionals to be found. The CIO’s of the world will have their hands full in 2011, to be sure. Does this mean that CIO’s should work more closely with their companies’ HR departments to develop better short-term and long-term staffing solutions? Of course.

5. The staffing and HR worlds are slowly becoming more automated and integrated. There is still a lot of resistance to the idea of automating a staffing solution, but the poor economy over the past few years has, I think, driven a lot of companies to look for cost-savings anywhere they can find them. More people, it seems, are also warming to the idea that automating a human capital supply chain not only saves money, but is actually better for employers and employees alike.

 Read about my outlook on the upcoming year in my January 19th blog post, "Staffing Solutions in 2011: Looking Ahead."

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