Last week, The Washington Post reported that more than a quarter of people who have found jobs since the recession have landed temporary positions. This finding was based on government data, although private estimates are typically a lot higher – in fact, Staffing Industry Analysts claims that 91% of total nonfarm job growth from June 2009 through June 2011 came from the temporary staffing industry.

Companies are not just hiring more temporary and project-based workers, they’re also having them stay in their posts longer. The American Staffing Association found that on average, contingent workers' assignments now last approximately 13.5 weeks – up from 12 weeks just a couple of years ago.

Around half of these workers end up in direct-hire positions at the client company, proving that more and more companies are seeing the cost saving benefits of temp-to-hire arrangements with seemingly good candidates. It’s no wonder, since a bad hire can cost between 150-300% of the worker’s salary each year they remain employed.

Companies with cost-cutting requirements often look to contingent staffing as a way of reducing operational costs. Staffing Industry Analysts found that companies save around 8% by utilizing temporary workers as opposed to hiring employees directly.

Of course, good news for contingent workers means more work for recruiters. In January, there were 6,300 job ads for recruiting professionals – that’s a 26% year-over-year increase compared to January 2011.

If you’re looking to lower the cost, risk and time spent employing the contingent workers, please shoot me an email (jstoppard@emergent.com) or visit emergent.com for more information.