Temporary Hiring Trends

Back at the start of 2009, I predicted that temporary hiring was going to increase despite the poor economy, because companies would still have short-term hiring needs and/or they would want to hire temporary staff before committing to hiring permanent employees.

According to economist Barry Ritholz, I was right, and then some. Indeed, in 2009 and for much of 2010, the pace of hiring temporary and contract workers has skyrocketed compared to the rate of hiring for permanent employees. In July, however, the hiring of temporary workers has started to decline, which may be a bad sign (as we didn't have enough other issues to worry about right now).

It will be interesting to see what the activity for August is, but of course we won't have that information until next month. My guess is another decline, but I would be more than happy to be wrong.