October 2026 employment report: Key Takeaway’s Employers added 165,000 jobs in October, well above the average monthly gain of 48,000 over the prior 12 months. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.1%. Professional services led the way. Professional and business services added 70,000 jobs, health care added 42,000, and transportation and warehousing added 25,000. Manufacturing also posted a solid 19,000-job gain. Temporary help returned to positive territory. Temporary help s

After a challenging few years, the staffing industry turned the corner in 2026. The American Staffing Association reported year-over-year growth in staffing employment and revenue, marking an important milestone after a prolonged slowdown. The industry appears to have some momentum heading into 2027, and many staffing companies are anticipating a stronger year ahead. While challenges remain, there are reasons to be optimistic. The question is whether your business is position

Staffing World 2027 was a great event and incredibly beneficial for both attendees and exhibitors. The conversations, connections and opportunities were there. Attendance was a little off and for me it raises a question: Why did fewer people show up? Some of it may have to do with behavior change. Behavior change is the process of modifying habits, routines or actions over time (American Psychological Association). Once we establish a new routine, it can be surprisingly diffi

Key Takeaways The economy added just 29,000 jobs in September well below expectations. Healthcare continued to lead job creation with 17,000 new positions, while construction added 11,000 and manufacturing added 9,000. Wage growth slowed as hourly wages were up just 5 cents for the month and 3% annually. 7.1August JOLTS report shows a healthy demand for talent with 7.1mm open jobs, but employers remain sluggish in filling them. September’s jobs report points to a labor

Vendor management system (VMS) and managed service provider (MSP) programs can be a double-edged sword for staffing companies. The VMS is usually the software platform; the MSP is the company that runs the program on the client’s behalf. On one hand, they can provide access to large national and regional clients that may be difficult to reach on your own. They can create a steady flow of job orders and give smaller staffing companies an opportunity to compete with much larger

Let’s start with the big picture. If you want salespeople to sell, you need to give them a compensation plan that rewards selling. It sounds obvious, but too many staffing companies make commission plans complicated, difficult to understand and, sometimes, difficult to get paid. A good commission plan should accomplish three things: motivate the salesperson to bring in new business, reward profitable business, and encourage the salesperson to maintain the relationship after t

August 2026 Employment Situation – Key Takeaways The economy added 162,000 jobs in August, well above expectations. Manufacturing added 16,000 jobs, construction added 22,000, and leisure and hospitality had a particularly strong month, adding 62,000 jobs. For staffing, the most encouraging number may be temporary help. August marks the eighth consecutive month of growth. According to the JOLTS report, hiring fell sharply in July. The August report gives us a little more conf

Sitting at a desk for 8 hours doesn’t necessarily mean 8 hours of productivity. In staffing, we’ve all seen it. Someone can be online all day, answer a few emails, attend three meetings about meetings, and somehow still wonder where the day went. The better question isn’t “Were they busy?” It’s “What did they produce?” In staffing, productivity can be measured with proven metrics such as: • Time to fill • Submittals per recruiter • Interview-to-placement ratio (Fill Rate) • P

Key Takeaways Contraction and Deep Revisions: Nonfarm payrolls unexpectedly dropped by 23,000 in July, compounded by a combined downward revision of 103,000 jobs for May and June, indicating that mid-summer labor momentum stalled. Jobless Rate Paradox: The headline unemployment rate edged down to 4.1%, but this reflected a shrinking labor force participation rate (slipping to 61.4%) rather than genuine economic strength, masking underlying employment softness. Temporary help

Key Takeaways June 2026 BLS Jobs Report: The labor market continued to add jobs, but at a much slower pace than expected. Employers added just 57,000 jobs in June while the unemployment rate held relatively steady at 4.2%, as many people left the labor force. What Staffing Companies Should Watch: Healthcare, social assistance, and professional/business services continued to create jobs, while leisure and hospitality lost jobs. May 2026 JOLTS Report: Job openings remained e

A lesson from a repairman that every hiring manager should understand. A few years ago, I had a stove break down and needed it repaired quickly. Like many people, I'm a DIY guy. My first instinct is usually to grab a toolbox, watch a few videos, and figure it out. But this time, I called a repairman. He showed up, looked at the problem, spent about 15 minutes making the repair, and the stove was working again. As I was pulling out the credit card, I jokingly said, "That seeme

Low skilled staffing agencies should favor states with higher taxable wage bases and lower SUTA rates because turnover, not wage ceilings, is what drives unemployment tax costs. Most staffing owners instinctively prefer a lower wage base because it sounds cheaper on paper. But in the low skilled staffing world, many employees never stay long enough to hit the cap anyway. Warehouse workers, general laborers, and entry level industrial employees often cycle in and out before ea

• Nonfarm payrolls increased by 172,000 in May, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, showing continued labor market resilience despite economic uncertainty. • Temporary help employment rose for the fourth consecutive month, a potentially important leading indicator that businesses may be slowly rebuilding hiring pipelines after a cautious start to 2026. • The latest JOLTS report showed job openings jumped to 7.62 million in April while layoffs remained historicall

One of my favorite lines from music comes from The Beatles' song Hey Jude: "Take a sad song and make it better." That's great advice not only for life, but for business as well. Baseball teaches us a lot about life. If you walk up to the plate convinced you're going to strike out, you've already put yourself at a disadvantage. The best hitters step into the batter's box believing they can make solid contact. Mindset matters. Recently, my mom went through a serious health scar

Key Takeaway's Total nonfarm payrolls rose by 115,000, beating expectations, with strongest gains in health care, transportation and warehousing, and retail trade. Federal government employment continued contracting, down another 9,000 jobs in April and nearly 350,000 below its October 2024 peak. Hires: Increased to 5.6 million, led by gains in transportation, warehousing, and professional services. The April 2026 Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistic

Skilled trade jobs are experiencing a real resurgence across the United States. Electricians, welders, HVAC technicians, and plumbers are in high demand again. To speak plainly: this ain’t just growth, there’s an actual shortage. For years, the dominant narrative pushed four-year college degrees as the primary path to success. At the same time, vocational training and apprenticeships declined. The result is a widening skills gap. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statist

Key Highlights: Healthcare, construction, and rebound-sensitive industries driving gains The JOLTS report shows that hiring, layoffs, quits continue to normalize Wage growth was probably a little stronger than expected The latest read from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a labor market that delivered job growth. Nonfarm payrolls rose by roughly 178k, the strongest gain in over a year, while unemployment edged down to 4.3%, partially due to 369,000 leaving the workforce.

Maintaining price integrity in a staffing agency isn’t about being the cheapest - it’s about being honest and aligned with the value you actually deliver. Let’s start with a simple truth: mark-ups matter. In staffing, your bill rate is built on top of the pay rate, taxes, insurance, and overhead. Once those hard costs are covered, even a small increase in bill rate flows almost entirely to the bottom line. Even a 10 cent per hour increase flows right to profit. That’s why dis

Hiring weakened, with notable declines in healthcare (partly strike-related), information, and government According to the BLS, the labor market lost jobs and ADP reported a net gain . Is this a one-month blip or a sign of a trend. The labor market seems to be in a “low hire, low fire” mode where companies aren’t aggressively hiring, but they’re also not broadly laying people off. Payrolls: −92,000 (a surprise contraction) Unemployment rate: 4.4% (slightly up from 4.3%)

I used to think being productive meant juggling five things at once: multiple tabs open, phone buzzing, Slack notifications popping, spreadsheet on one screen, LinkedIn on the other. It felt productive. But neuroscience says something different: the brain can’t actually focus on two cognitive tasks at the same time. What we call multitasking is really task switching : rapidly jumping back and forth between activities. And every switch comes with a cost. According to research