Is Contract Staffing Leading a Change in Employment?

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

Most people in recruitment expect that when the economy recovers from a recession, there will be a spike in the use of contractors.  But is contract staffing’s current growth just a knee-jerk reaction to the recession, or is it something more?

Well, a recent Washington Post article suggests that it could actually be “a fundamental change in the way Americans work,” one that both companies and workers are driving.  Companies plan to increase their use of contractors by 26% in the next two years, according to Staffing Industry Analysts.

Meanwhile, more workers are considering themselves “free agents,” jumping from project to project.  While many may have turned to contracting out of necessity when they couldn’t find traditional, full-time jobs, many now prefer it because they feel like they have more control.

The article echoes what we have been hearing from recruiters and what Top Echelon Contracting has been experiencing as a business.  Last year, we saw a 22% increase in the number of commercial contractors placed through our back-office.  We have written extensively on employers’ shift toward contractors and why workers want to be contractors in our quarterly newsletter, Contracting Corner.

Only time will tell, but it certainly does seem that the traditional workforce is changing.  If you are only taking direct-hire job orders, you may want to keep an eye on this issue and how it may affect your business.

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