TLDR: The surge in contract and “temp” jobs since the recession ended is likely to continue, according to a report released this week.
There’s no doubt that the employment situation in America has improved significantly since the Great Recession, but it hasn’t been the same labor market recovery for everybody. Indeed, the jobs rebound has varied based on industry, age, employment type, and other factors. For example, we’ve already explained how the vast majority of the cumulative job gains since the end of 2007 have been mainly for older Americans while people under the age of 55 have yet to return to anywhere near pre-recession levels. Now this week, a new report from CareerBuilder and Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. points out that a lot of the job gains have been in the “temp” arena as contract and temporary work surged since the recession ended. Specifically, 2.9 million workers had temporary jobs in 2013, a 28 percent jump from 2010. However, even though labor markets are generally starting to tighten, the report suggests that this trend in rising temp work could continue. The Wall Street Journal explains, “Roughly 10% of all new jobs created since the recession ended have been temp or contract jobs, according to various estimates. By many accounts, a record number of Americans now work in these positions, which offer pay and can lead to full-time positions, but often don’t promise long-term certainty. The biggest increase in temp jobs among major cities has been in Grand Rapids, Mich., according to the two companies, a trend they expect to continue. The number of temp workers in the western Michigan city has more than doubled since 2009 and they expect it to increase another 8% from 2013 to 2014. They also expect sizable increases in Indianapolis, Seattle, Orlando, and a number of other towns. CareerBuilder and EMSI expected 4% growth in the number of temp jobs among human resources specialists this year, and 3% growth in customer service representatives, construction laborers, administrative assistants, and registered nurses, among others…”
