FACTORING BLOG

Staffing Stats

Insights on trends, market dynamics, and industry innovations

Average Hourly Earnings

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ May 15th summary, average hourly earnings for all employees increased 0.5 percent from April 2023 to April 2024. This is certainly a flattening of hourly earnings as the prior 12 months, average hourly earnings had increased by 4.4 percent.

Statista indicates through April 2024 the average hourly earnings for all employees in the United States stood at $34.75. This average includes all industries, skills, and employee levels.

Contract Staffing Employment

According to the American Staffing Association contract staffing employment for the four weeks ending May 5th, was down 9.4% year over year with a staffing index of 89.

“Further normalization in post-pandemic labor supply and demand has enabled staffing employment to reach a steady equilibrium, as evidenced by the ASA Staffing Index holding firm around a value of 90 for 10 consecutive weeks. However, there is still plenty of room for growth in 2024; tailwinds such as interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and further moderation in inflation have the potential to shake-up the labor market,” said Noah Yosif, chief economist at ASA.

Temporary Help Penetration Rate

In April 2024 temporary help penetration rate was 1.73% of total nonfarm employment and this is down from 2.04% a year ago.

GDP Projection

Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 1.6% in Q1 of 2024 and Wall Street Journal economists surveyed in May projected GDP in 2Q 2024 will increase 0.6%.

Employee Quits Rate

Bureau of Labor Statistics data through March 2024 shows that the employee quits rate continues to shrink. The quits rate was 2.1% which is the lowest level since August 2020.

The chart and link below contains data through February 2024 and it includes details by State.

Quits rates were above 3.0 percent in 6 states in February 2024 : The Economics Daily: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)

Job Openings

According to BLS, the number of job openings on the last day of March 2024, was 8.5 million down from 9.6 million a year ago. Job openings increased in state and local government education.
Job openings decreased in construction, finance, and insurance.

The chart and link below contains data through February 2024 and it includes details by State.

State job openings rates, seasonally adjusted (bls.gov)