Month: July 2015

Staffing employment for the week of July 6 through July 12 rose to 94.34, according to the ASA Staffing Index. Temporary and contract staffing employment increased 1.27% from the prior week. Survey respondents attribute the increase to the upswing in hiring after the Independence Day holiday. Staffing employment was 2.99% lower than the same week last year. This week, containing the 12th, will be used in the July monthly employment situation report that will be issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on August 7th.

Source: ASA

Florida’s private employers laid off half as many workers in June as the year before — at a time when layoffs nationally increased.

Employers in Florida cut 636 jobs in June and 7,768 in the first half of the year, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Wednesday.

In South Florida, that included 150 layoffs by tobacco company Commonwealth-Altadis in Fort Lauderdale, due to the company being acquired.

In June 2014, Florida employers dropped 1,234 jobs. The mid-year mark was 14,001, Challenger said.

Economists have said that Florida’s recovery remains on track and that more workers are entering the job market, now that more jobs are available.
Nationally, job cuts increased by about 10 percent in June, as employers announced plans to reduce payrolls by 44,842 workers during the month.

And heavier-than-expected downsizing throughout the first half of 2015 pushed the U.S. mid-year total to its highest level since 2010, Challenger said.

Employers trimmed 287,672 jobs during the first half of the year.That was up 17 percent from 2014, when the six-month total was 246,034.

Source: Sun Sentinel

In June, employment continued to trend up in temporary help services (+20,000),” according to Erica L. Groshen, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, commenting on the jobs report released on July 2nd. Seasonally adjusted staffing employment was up 0.7% from May to June and 5.7% from June 2014. Year-to-year staffing job growth also averaged 5.9% over the past 12 months.

Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicated that temporary help employment increased 1.1% from May to June. Year-to-year, there were 5.6% more staffing employees in June than in the same month last year.

âAlthough the June jobs report was mostly positive, economic and employment indicators remain mixed and businesses continue to cautiously increase the size of their permanent and flexible workforces,” said Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “The decrease in the labor force participation rate and the lack of job creation in goods producing sectors suggests much of the economy is still struggling to shift out of first gear.”

Total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 jobs in June (seasonally adjusted), BLS reported. Incorporating revisions for April and May, the data showed that monthly job gains averaged 221,000 over the past three months, less than the average of 250,000 for the prior 12 months.

The unemployment rate declined to 5.3% in June—down 0.2 of a percentage point from May.

BLS also released preliminary May employment data for search and placement services, which increased 0.8% from April, seasonally adjusted. Search and placement jobs totaled 320,300 in May, 8.9% higher than in the same month last year.