US temp jobs rose by 52,700 in February compared to January to a total of nearly 2.77 million as the recovery from Covid-19 continued, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. January’s temp job numbers were revised up by 13,300.
“The recent surge in temporary staffing is consistent with the beginning of an economic expansion and the favorable GDP projections for Q1 2021,” Tony Gregoire, research director at SIA, said.
The temp penetration rate — temp jobs as a percent of total employment — rose to 1.94% in February from 1.90% in January.
Still, temp jobs remained down nearly 6.0% year over year in February.
Looking at total nonfarm employment, the US added 379,000 jobs in February. It’s still down 6.2% from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.
The US unemployment rate fell to 6.2% in February from 6.3% in January.
The college-level unemployment rate fell to 3.8% in February from 4.0% in January.
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