Temporary and contract workers are being hired at increasing rates across the U.S. as more businesses seek the assistance of payroll outsourcing services.
Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told the Des Moines Register that after a recession, temporary jobs tend to increase first, because they provide businesses the opportunity to "test the waters of recovery." The growing number of contract workers finding job placements is a good sign that the economic recovery is taking hold.
A job forecast released by CareerBuilder shows that one-third of hiring managers plan to hire temporary or contract workers to boost their smaller staffs in 2011. Furthermore, 39 percent of employers expect to transition some contract workers into full-time, permanent employees. The departments that managers were most interested in locating contract workers to supplement were sales, information technology, customer service, engineering and technology.
Karen Miller, executive vice president of Manpower of Central Iowa, told the source that she suspects many companies are developing long-term staffing strategies that include tapping into contingent labor resources because it gives them more flexibility to meet their production needs.
