I had a few interviews this week and last regarding the latest unemployment numbers.  You’ve heard them by now, I’m sure — but just in case…

• Unemployment remains at 9.7%
• 15 million people are unemployed
• 162,000 jobs were added
• Health care and temporary help added jobs
• Construction remains steady
• Manufacturing is trending up

It all seems like pretty good news, but the media has tended to discount the job growth because many of those new jobs were temporary — 48,000 census workers and 40,000 added to temporary payrolls.  I may be biased, but I disagree that this tempers the positive numbers and I don’t think you can argue with my logic.  These jobs may be temporary, but the numbers are still positive:

• Workers earn money while on temporary assignments.
• While temporary help services place workers on temporary assignments, they often result in a permanent hire.  In fact, at Manpower over 40% of our associates are hired by the clients to whom we send them.
• Workers gain experience and valuable resume material.  The census jobs are definitely temporary with no hope of becoming permanent, but the workers’ work history will be enhanced.

And, temporary help is good for business.  Until business owners and HR departments are really sure the recovery has arrived, they are reluctant to make a permanent commitment.

So don’t discount the temporary jobs numbers.  They all add up to a much more positive outlook than we’ve been seeing!

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