American Staffing Association reports increase in temporary employment placement

Cari Shaffer sees the temporary staffing business as a barometer for other industries. And based on increasing placements, she's optimistic about the direction that the economy is headed.

I think we can expect economic continued growth in the Pikes Peak region, said Shaffer, owner of Add-Staff,

Those projections are in line with a report issued by the American Staffing Association this week that showed an 11.1 percent increase in temporary and contract worker placement per day during the first quarter of 2005 compared to last year. That total was more than half a point higher than the annual rate of 10.4 percent forecast by Staffing Industry Analysts Inc.

Building on last year's momentum, staffing employment set a new first quarter record, eclipsing the first quarter 2000 record by 6 percent, said Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and CEO. More than 1.7 million jobs will be created by the employment services sector through 2012, he said, which is more than double the number expected from the computer systems and software development sectors combined.