Staffing employment eases slightly in March
Staffing employment eased for a seventh straight week in the week of Mar. 13-19, with the ASA Staffing Index decreasing by 0.2% to hold at a rounded value of 98. A few staffing companies mentioned school breaks or seasonal business fluctuations as barriers preventing further growth. Staffing jobs were 6.6% below the same week last year.
New starts in the eleventh week of the year increased by 2.8% from the prior week. More than half of staffing companies (53%) reported gains in new assignments week to week.
The ASA Staffing Index four-week moving average nudged down from the prior week to a rounded value of 98.5, and temporary and contract staffing employment for the four weeks ending Mar. 19 was 6.6% lower than the same period in 2022.
“Staffing employment has held fairly steady over the last several weeks, trailing 2022 yet remaining above the eleventh week of any year prior,” said Tim Hulley, ASA assistant director of research.
This week will be used in the March monthly employment situation report scheduled to be issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on April 7.
The ASA Staffing Index is reported nine days after each workweek, making it a near real-time measure of staffing employment trends. ASA Staffing Starts are the number of temporary and contract employees placed in new assignments during the reporting week. ASA research shows that staffing employment has historically been a coincident economic indicator.
