The American Staffing Index for the week of May 12-18 rose 3.4 percent year-over-year. The index stands at 97. This is good news for staffers because the index measures how many are employed in the staffing industry. The index is reported every nine days. The index has been steadily rising toward 97 since the week ending February 23, when it was just above 91. Over the past four weeks, the index has risen 1.8 percent.
Some were concerned about the Affordable Care Act affecting the staffing industry due to the increased prices for hiring temporary workers. However, a new survey by Sageworks, a financial information company, may indicate hiring plans have not been greatly changed by the introduction of the ACA. According to the survey, 19 percent of respondents believe their hiring plans will not change because of the ACA. An additional 20 percent either didn't know or had no opinion. In total, 500 firms were surveyed across different industry sectors.
Currently, the ACA requires employers with over 50 full-time employees to provide health insurance to their workers by the year 2016. Companies with over 100 must comply by 2015, according to the article.
The survey by Sageworks also asked about what companies plan to do for their hiring. Over half (51 percent) plan to retain the same headcount as before. About 17 percent will increase the number of their employees, while 12 percent will let some employees go.
In 2013 when the survey was last performed, over 60 percent of respondents planned to maintain their current headcount, while only 13 percent planned to increase hiring.
One way to make a big impact on the jobsite without spending too much extra money on hiring new people is to use temporary workers hired through an employer of record. Such an employer handles the HR side of hiring for you, making the additional employees less expensive than permanent ones.
