09 Jun May Jobs Report and Trends

The jobs report for May 2015 was recently published.  U.S. employers added 280,000 jobs in May. The Labor Department said last Friday that the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.5 percent from 5.4 percent in April.  This was due to the fact that hundreds of thousands more people sought jobs in May, and not all found them.

A key trend is that the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 34.5 hours in May.  The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours.  This means that many individuals are seeking to work two jobs, leaving less available part-time jobs.

Another key factor is that the majority of the new jobs are temporary.

The American Staffing Association noted that, nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicated that temporary help employment increased 2.8% from April to May. Year-to-year, there were 6.4% more staffing employees in May than in the same month last year.

“Businesses continue to turn to staffing firms for flexible workforce solutions and access to talent,” said Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “That’s good news for job seekers looking to bridge to new employment opportunities.”

This is where Integrated Staffing can help you succeed. Our team of seasoned professionals works to match candidates to the best job, best fit, and best location. Temporary assignments to full-time permanent positions, we are here to assist you! Let us help YOU create YOUR personal or business success!