Freelance Nation: The Temp Job Market is Booming

The overall job market might be struggling to recover from the recession, but there’s one sector of the labor market that’s doing quite well: temporary, freelance and contract employment.  Since September of last year, total private-sector employment has increased by 593,000 jobs (data here), and temporary jobs have accounted for 404,200 (or 68.2%) of that increase (data here), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (see chart above).  In other words, more than two out of every three jobs added by private employers in the last year have been temporary, freelance or contract workers. 

A front page USA Today story explains how this recent trend towards increased reliance on temporary and freelance workers is helping companies cope with a fragile recovery and oscillating demand, while at the same time offering workers the advantages of more flexibility and independence:   

Across the nation, many companies are shifting to a more flexible workforce populated by temporary workers, contractors and freelancers, loosening the bond between businesses and employees. The firms, aiming to become more nimble and cut costs, want to boost or cut staffing to meet fluctuating demand or deploy workers with specialized skills for short-term projects.

The expanding use of contract workers, in fact, is partly fueled by some Americans who see more flexibility, and even security, in such setups. Many young workers who saw their parents lose jobs the past couple of years "are taking on a free-agent mentality," says Steve Armstrong, general manager of U.S. operations for staffing firm Kelly Services. "They're saying, 'It's not the model I want to find myself in.' " Contract or freelance work, he says, can bolster job security by severing workers' ties to the fortunes of one company.

Read more here at The Enterprise Blog.