Honoring the efforts and contributions of the 3 million plus contract and temporary employees working on assignments to support nation’s economy every day, The National Staffing Employee Week kicked off from September 28 !

Just like the same time last year, when the staffing firms were enjoying the rising surge for temporary labor and an all-time high number of temporary jobs in total workforce, the trend is still on the rise and has continued for the industry this year also. The trends are anticipated to be on the same track in the near future as well.

The role of staffing solutions industry in U.S. economy has been tremendous and provides great job and career opportunities to around 14 million employees every year.

The Quarterly ASA Staffing Employment and Sales Survey revealed figures for the second quarter of 2015. As per the data released by ASA, U.S. staffing firms, on an average, employed around 3.24 million contract and temporary workers per week, with a 2.9% increase from the second quarter of 2014.

The upward trend in the industry started almost a decade ago during the Great Recession period when companies were looking to find ways to balance the growing uncertainties and workforce instability. Even post recession, the trend is still in practice. Moreover, the employers have become more strategic in their workforce planning. They are ensuring that they acquire the right mix of permanent as well as contingent (temporary or contract) employees to drive their business operations further and to maximize the productivity.

With the survey results, it is clearly stated that even with slowing job growth overall, staffing companies continue to provide more employment opportunities to the job seekers. Also, with the fact that the still there are around 6 million job openings in U.S., the trend will be on a high with more job seekers looking for temporary or contract or even permanent jobs.

The study also revealed that the total Temporary and Contract Staffing sales were $29.93 billion for the second quarter which is 3.7% higher than the previous year’s second quarter. Overall staffing employment raised 3.5% from the previous quarter whereas the contract and temporary staffing sales rose by 6.6%.

Though the second quarter witnessed a moderate growth but still it can be expected that the unemployment rate will gradually decline. Regardless of what will happen in the following quarters, it is apparent that the staffing industry is charting a new course. Serving to job seekers, businesses, and economy on the whole, the industry is bringing transformations and largely contributing to today’s slow-growing yet evolving economy.