Survey: Temp Employment to Grow Faster Than All Jobs Through 2025
4 Nov, 2019
Forty-two percent of people picking up temporary work take on at least two gigs per week and new research shows they will have even more opportunities to choose from. Temporary Help Services is the largest category of gig employment and serves as a bellwether for broader growth trends. A study by TrueBlue and Emsi projects that Temporary Help Services employment will grow to more than 3.2 million jobs by 2025, an increase of nearly 254,000 jobs (8.5 percent) from 2019. This compares to 6 percent growth for all U.S. jobs from 2019 to 2025.
The study is based on Emsi’s data, which is aggregated from state and federal employment sources. The analysis focuses on Temporary Help Services workers who are employed by companies as well as self-employed.
Key Findings:
•Temporary employment has been growing steadily for the last several years as the U.S. recovered from the last recession. Nearly 480,000 jobs were added from 2012 to 2019 with companies seeking more flexibility in how they staff and workers seeking greater control over when and where they work.
•While temporary employment is relatively balanced among age groups, the majority (57 percent) of people working temporary assignments, or gigs, are ages 35 and older; 18 percent are ages 55 and older. The number one reason why people say they want to take on gig work is to earn extra income followed by the desire to get their foot in the door with a company.2
o24 and younger – 16 percent
o25 to 34 – 27 percent
o35 to 44 – 21 percent
o45 to 54 – 18 percent
o55 and older – 18 percent
•Los Angeles, CA (adding 13,466 jobs), Dallas, TX (+13,435 jobs), Chicago, IL (+12,944 jobs), Grand Rapids, MI (+8,997 jobs) and New York, NY (+8,718 jobs) are the top five metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) projected to add the largest number of temporary jobs from 2019 to 2025.
•Supply chain-related jobs continue to dominate the list of fastest-growing temporary occupations from production to transportation and customer service.
“How companies and people look at work is different today, likely inspired by the memories of a casualty-ridden recession and the emergence of new technologies that make it easy to connect in real time for on-demand employment needs,” said Patrick Beharelle, CEO of TrueBlue. “Gig employment will continue to grow in popularity as more companies choose to reduce fixed labor costs to stay nimble and workers gravitate toward flexible work experiences that fit their lifestyles.”
“The labor market continues to be tight, and businesses are using many avenues to find the talent to keep their competitive edge,” said Rob Sentz, Emsi’s chief innovation officer. “This analysis indicates that gigs and other forms of temporary employment are a viable way for people to enter the labor market and for companies to quickly locate talent.”
The fastest-growing temporary occupations from 2019 to 2025 include:
Occupation
Temporary Employment
2019
Temporary Employment
2025
Temporary Employment
Growth
2019 to 2025
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
544.450
598,077
53,627
10%
Helpers – Production Workers
96,191
120,900
24,709
26%
Packers and Packagers, Hand
124,098
136,565
12,467
10%
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
57,429
62,958
5,529
10%
Human Resources Specialists
54,746
60,156
5,410
10%
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers
47,951
52,613
4,662
10%
Office Clerks, General
118,404
123,016
4,612
4%
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
46,843
51,356
4,513
10%
Registered Nurses
45,155
49,637
4,482
10%
Construction Laborers
44,767
49,120
4,353
10%
Substitute Teachers
40,318
44,375
4,056
10%
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
40,813
44,807
3,994
10%
Customer Service Representatives
91,746
95,475
3,729
4%
Software Developers, Applications
20,902
24,150
3,248
16%
1 and 2TrueBlue’s October 2019 survey of more than 4,000 U.S. gig workers.
Industry
Survey: Temp Employment to Grow Faster Than All Jobs Through 2025
4 Nov, 2019
Occupation
Temporary Employment
2019
Temporary Employment
2025
Temporary Employment
Growth
2019 to 2025
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
544.450
598,077
53,627
10%
Helpers – Production Workers
96,191
120,900
24,709
26%
Packers and Packagers, Hand
124,098
136,565
12,467
10%
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
57,429
62,958
5,529
10%
Human Resources Specialists
54,746
60,156
5,410
10%
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers
47,951
52,613
4,662
10%
Office Clerks, General
118,404
123,016
4,612
4%
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
46,843
51,356
4,513
10%
Registered Nurses
45,155
49,637
4,482
10%
Construction Laborers
44,767
49,120
4,353
10%
Substitute Teachers
40,318
44,375
4,056
10%
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
40,813
44,807
3,994
10%
Customer Service Representatives
91,746
95,475
3,729
4%
Software Developers, Applications
20,902
24,150
3,248
16%
1 and 2TrueBlue’s October 2019 survey of more than 4,000 U.S. gig workers.