Published February 4, 2008
TEMPORARY STAFFING FIRMS
For the past few years, the annual American
Staffing Association convention has focused on recruiting and retaining talent.
With staffing companies enjoying steady growth, their main concern was finding
enough qualified workers to fill all the orders for contract and contingent
workers.
The 2008 convention, however, reflects a shift in the market, as a slumping
economy cuts into demand for temporary and contract help. Convention-goers in
October will still hear a lot about recruiting talent, but they will also see
more than the usual number of workshops focusing on sales and marketing, and how
to land and retain staffing contracts.
"As unemployment edged up a little bit, the bench of talent has grown a little
deeper, so companies are shifting focus to sales and market differentiation,"
says Richard Wahlquist, president and CEO of the American Staffing Association.
"Clearly, in a slowing economy, part of the strategy is growing market share."
So far, the overall staffing industry has avoided the serious setbacks affecting
the national economy. Sales by staffing companies in the U.S. reached an
all-time high of $73.5 billion in 2007, a 1.6 percent increase over 2006,
according to ASA statistics. But the number of workers employed by staffing
companies remained flat, at about 2.96 million workers per day. Wahlquist says
the ASA expects 2008 to be another flat year for staffing.
Barry Asin, chief analyst with Staffing Industry Analysts, also projects little
or no growth for staffing, although he cautions that the worsening national
economic picture in the first quarter of 2008 may result in slower hiring of
temporary and contract workers later in the year. He also noted that different
sectors within the staffing industry are seeing differing results.
"It is like a tale of two cities," Asin says. "We see significantly slower
growth and more of a decline in the commercial side of things. But the
professional side is doing a little better." The biggest losses are coming in
office and industrial temporary work, while demand for contract engineers,
health care workers and technology specialists remains fairly strong.
With a little luck, the ups and down could balance out for the industry in 2008.
"It won’t be the sort of year where people will be singing hallelujah, but they
should have a decent year," Asin says.
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