The Temp Work Situation
I mentioned yesterday that the temp industry in New England is doing pretty good. Here’s what the Federal Reserve Board said in its latest Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District (a.k.a. the “beige book”) about the temp situation in the Boston district (New England):
Temporary Employment
Demand for temporary workers in the New England region grew at a solid rate in Q3 and early Q4, across a wide range of job types and geographic locations. The supply of available candidates is reportedly dwindling and is starting to affect business in some cases. Downward pressure on prices continues, but temp firms are holding the line or even gaining small increases in some cases. Most costs are under control, but medical, worker’s compensation, and state unemployment insurance expenses continue to rise. Respondents are largely positive in their outlook and expect demand growth to settle in at a “moderate but healthy” rate in 2005. They cite continuing increases in permanent and temporary-to-permanent job placements and the end of election-related uncertainty as reasons for optimism, but tightening labor supply, the war in Iraq, and high fuel prices as causes for concern.
[Emphasis mine]
The dwindling supply of suitable candidates is what I’ve been hearing from people who use temp workers. I’m actually a bit surprised, I thought there would be considerably more slack in the labor market that the temp industry could take advantage of. Maybe I should submit my resume to a temp place for investigative purposes and see what kind of job, if any, I could land? No, I’ll leave such underhanded tacticts to journalists. Anyway, I actually entered the job market here by way of a temp job, but that was a few years ago, just as the employment boom was gathering steam. After only three weeks I found a permanent, salaried position with good benefits. But that was then. I can’t imagine we’re anywhere near that today.
