Weekly Report:
June 15–21, 2009
During the week of June
15–21, 2009, temporary and contract employment increased by 1.27%, pushing the ASA Staffing Index up one index point to 73. The index has been mostly flat during the first half of this year, as the demand for staffing employees has changed minimally from week to week since January. While demand for temporary and contract workers has been relatively steady this year, it is still significantly lower when compared with similar periods in 2008; the current index is 27 points below the same seven-day period reported for 2008.
Monthly Report:
June 2009
Demand for temporary and contract employees remained unchanged from May to June, reflecting continued stabilization over the past six months. The index has been at 72 each week from May 11 through June 14, except for the week of Memorial Day (May 25), when it rose to 73. The index, which measures weekly changes in staffing employment, has been virtually flat since January.
In an effort to improve the ASA Staffing Index as a current measure of staffing industry employment trends, beginning today, the weekly index number is now based on temporary employment data reported nine days after the close of the workweek. Previously, there has been a 16-day period from the close of a given workweek to when the index was reported. The shorter lag in reporting will make the index a more current, near real-time indicator of staffing employment.
Index weeks containing the 12th are compared monthly to match the reference periods used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly employment situation reports, which contain data on the temporary help industry. Because the same reference period is used in both the ASA Staffing Index and BLS monthly reports, the two data series can be easily compared. ASA data are not adjusted for seasonal factors and should be compared to nonseasonally adjusted BLS data.
Many industry analysts cite staffing industry employment as a coincident economic indicator and leading indicator of overall U.S. employment. New research released June 23 by ASA reinforces this with some added distinctions—staffing employment is a strong coincident economic indicator when the economy is emerging from a recession and is a three-month leading indicator of nonfarm employment when the economy is emerging from a recession. The relative flatness of the index since the beginning of the year signals stabilization in staffing employment, which is a prerequisite for economic recovery.
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ASA Staffing Index
The ASA Staffing Index estimates weekly changes in the number of people employed in temporary and contract work. ASA developed the index to provide a current measure of staffing industry employment trends.
The index helps answer the question, "How's business?" It allows staffing companies to evaluate their performance against a national metric on both a weekly and long-term basis.
The ASA Staffing Index also serves as a valuable resource for economists, journalists, analysts, researchers, and policy makers who are interested in current trends in staffing employment. Participants account for more than one-third of industry sales offices.
Two numbers are reported weekly. The first is the weekly percentage change in staffing employment. The second is the index itself, which shows staffing employment trends over time. Both numbers are normally posted on the ASA Web site on Tuesday mornings.
Survey Details
- Data are reported typically 16 days after the close of the work week.
- The methodology mirrors that of the quarterly ASA Staffing Employment and Sales Survey, based on a model developed by Standard and Poor's DRI in 1992.
- The baseline value for the ASA Staffing Index was set at 100 in June 2006. Data for the index are gathered by ASA corporate partner Inavero Institute for Service Research, a market research firm based in Portland, OR.
- Data are obtained through a secure Web-based questionnaire, accessed via a customized invitation e-mail sent to participants every Thursday night.
- Participants receive a weekly e-mail report on the survey results, which includes performance based on company size in four annual sales categories: less than $7.5 million, $7.5–$25 million, $25–$100 million, and more than $100 million.
- A monthly summary of the weekly results is available via e-mail to economists, journalists, analysts, researchers, policy makers, and other industry observers. Contact Reem El-Khatib at relkhatib@americanstaffing.net or 703-253-2047 for more information.
View a backgrounder on the index: Staffing, Jobs, and the Economy.
Participation Information
All U.S. staffing firms are invited to participate in the ASA Staffing Index survey. There are no fees for participation, and the survey takes only a couple of minutes each week to complete. Participants receive three e-mails per week: an invitation sent Thursday night to complete the survey by Monday evening, a Monday morning reminder, and a report on the weekly results (usually sent Tuesday morning).
Contact
Alexandra Karaer
Director of Research
703-253-2048
akaraer@americanstaffing.net
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