Recovery woes: America's second-largest employer is a temp agency

[ElNono]

Behind Wal-Mart, the second-largest employer in America is Kelly Services, a temporary work provider.

Friday's disappointing jobs report showed that part-time jobs are at an all-time high, with 28 million Americans now working part-time. The report also showed another disturbing fact: There are now a record number of Americans with temporary jobs.

Approximately 2.7 million, in fact. And the trend has been growing.

Read More (http://washingtonexaminer.com/recovery-woes-americas-second-largest-employer-is-a-temp-agency/article/2532778)

[FuzzyLumpkins]

They really need to sever health care and payroll. Obamacare doesn't address that and if anything reinforces it and that is why it is going to fail.

No one wants to hire full time.

[Rogue]

Only 50% college graduates since 06 are being fully employed according to an official survey that I heard on John&Jeff show a couple years ago, including those who are employed full-time but employed at treadmill jobs like my nigga Jacob, while the other half are either unemployed or underemployed. Temp agency is like Obama's emergency package that helps him keep HIS job but doesn't help any single student find a real job.

[boutons_deux]

Temporary jobs becoming a permanent fixture in US

Hiring is exploding in the one corner of the U.S. economy where few want to be hired: Temporary work.

From Wal-Mart to General Motors to PepsiCo, companies are increasingly turning to temps and to a much larger universe of freelancers, contract workers and consultants. Combined, these workers number nearly 17 million people who have only tenuous ties to the companies that pay them — about 12 percent of everyone with a job.

Hiring is always healthy for an economy. Yet the rise in temp and contract work shows that many employers aren't willing to hire for the long run.

The number of temps has jumped more than 50 percent since the recession ended four years ago to nearly 2.7 million — the most on government records dating to 1990. In no other sector has hiring come close.

Driving the trend are lingering uncertainty about the economy and employers' desire for more flexibility in matching their payrolls to their revenue. Some employers have also sought to sidestep the new health care law's rule that they provide medical coverage for permanent workers. Last week, though, the Obama administration delayed that provision of the law for a year.

The use of temps has extended into sectors that seldom used them in the past — professional services, for example, which include lawyers, doctors and information technology specialists.

Temps typically receive low pay, few benefits and scant job security. That makes them less likely to spend freely, so temp jobs don't tend to boost the economy the way permanent jobs do. More temps and contract workers also help explain why pay has barely outpaced inflation since the recession ended.

Beyond economic uncertainty, Ethan Harris, global economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, thinks more lasting changes are taking root.

"There's been a generational shift toward a less committed relationship between the firm and the worker," Harris says.

An Associated Press survey of 37 economists in May found that three-quarters thought the increased use of temps and contract workers represented a long-standing trend.

Typical of that trend is Latrese Carr, who was hired by a Wal-Mart in Glenwood, Ill., two months ago on a 90-day contract. She works 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., helping unload trucks and restocking shelves. Her pay is $9.45 an hour. There's no health insurance or other benefits.

Carr, 20, didn't particularly want the overnight shift.

"I needed a job," she says.

The store managers have said some temps will be kept on permanently, Carr says, depending on their performance.

Carr isn't counting on it.

The trend toward contract workers was intensified by the depth of the recession and the tepid pace of the recovery. A heavy investment in long-term employment isn't a cost all companies want to bear anymore.
"There's much more appreciation of the importance of having flexibility in the workforce," says Barry Asin of Staffing Industry Analysts, a consulting firm.

Susan Houseman, an economist at the Upjohn Institute of Employment Research, says companies want to avoid having too many employees during a downturn, just as manufacturers want to avoid having too much inventory if demand slows.

"You have your just-in-time workforce," Houseman says. "You only pay them when you need them."

This marks a shift from what economists used to call "labor hoarding": Companies typically retained most of their staff throughout recessions, hoping to ride out the downturn.

"We clearly don't have that anymore," says Sylvia Allegretto, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

The result is that temps and contract workers have become fixtures at large companies. Business executives say they help their companies stay competitive. They also argue that temp work can provide valuable experience.

"It opens more doors for people to enter the labor market," says Jeff Joerres, CEO of ManpowerGroup, a workplace staffing firm.

But Houseman's research has found that even when jobs are classified as "temp to permanent," only 27 percent of such assignments lead to permanent positions.

http://mobile.sfgate.com/sfchron/db_41697/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=CKyVSM8g&full=true#display

[boutons_deux]

How Does a Temporary Work Agency Make Money?

Temp agencies are a lucrative and growing business. According to Employment Spot, the temporary work industry is worth at least $43 billion. These agencies make their money by charging their clients for furnishing qualified employees for a limited period of time. In some cases, temp agencies may earn a commission if the employee and employer want to make their relationship full-time.

Fees

A temporary work agency makes money by assessing a fee for the use of the employee's work, according to collegegrad.com. The average rate to hire a temp worker ranges between 25 and 100 percent of the employee's salary. A temp agency may charge around 150 percent of the worker's salary if the client requires someone with specialized technical skills.

Finding Out the Fee Rate

Temporary staffing agencies and their business clients typically do not inform employees about how much the client actually pays the staffing agency for the employee's services, according to TechRepublic. In general, it is considered a violation of ethics to talk about temp agency fees; but if a worker develops a close relationship with a manager or whoever at the company deals with the staffing agency, that person might feel comfortable enough to divulge the fee.

Benefits

Businesses often contract with temp agencies despite the fees because they end up saving money. Ninety percent of Fortune Magazine 500 companies use temp agencies, according to inc.com. A temp worker does not get benefits such as health insurance or a 401(k) like a normal employee, which may amount to 40 percent of a person's salary. For short-term technical work, it's usually more convenient to hire a temp worker than to fill a full-time position.

Warning

Sometimes temp agencies make money by quoting the worker a lower wage than they are actually paid by the client, according to Tech Republic. In most cases the client pays the agency and the agency handles payroll, so the agency has significant leverage. The agency may even keep the pay rate a secret to get the worker to commit to the lowest possible salary.

Tip

Businesses using temporary workers from an employment agency should try to negotiate with the staffing firm because most will offer a discounted rate, according to Mie-Yun Lee of entrepreneur.com. Even if business clients fail to negotiate a discount on all workers, they can still try to talk down the fees on certain workers, especially unskilled ones.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/temporary-work-agency-make-money-1840.html

When I was temping years ago, I got $32/hour, the staffing agency charged the employer $60+. Dealing with the temp agency staff was as nasty as dealing with used car salesmen.

[Jacob1983]

Bush fucked this up and Obama continues on fucking it up.

[TDMVPDPOY]

not enough hours

and being underemployed...

any HR AGENCY is just fkn stealing for what they do and provide

[Capt Bringdown]

Crappy labor Market leads to rise in public perception of unions:

In late June, the Pew Research Center released the results of its biennial poll on unions and corporations, and reported that 51 percent of Americans had a favorable view of unions—up from just 41 percent in 2011, the last time Pew popped the question. Pew’s new number is almost identical to Gallup’s, which found that 52 percent of Americans approved of unions when it last asked that question in August of 2012. Gallup polls on union approval every year and has reported a 52 percent approval rating each of the past three years. Before then, union approval had hit an all-time low for Gallup surveys, with just 48 percent in 2009.

But the law is not on the side of unions, and the odds are steep against amending labor law so that it once again safeguards workers who seek to organize. Given that approval rating, and given that law, unions should be organizing workers for whom they may not be able to get a contract, but perhaps a living-wage ordinance.

Young Americans, working-class Americans need a champion. If labor allows them to affiliate—never mind whether there’s a union at their workplace, or whether they even have a workplace—it can do a better job of becoming the champion that America needs. -- more -->> (http://prospect.org/article/state-unions-0)

[boutons_deux]

Bush fucked this up and Obama continues on fucking it up.

that's about par for you