Many staffing firms are beginning to specialize, according to Motley Fool. Some companies focus on accounting and finance jobs because those are scarce for their level of demand, according to the source. Other companies choose other niche markets, such as IT. Some companies specialize by only hiring top tier talent and then charging a higher…

About 21 percent of workers plan on changing jobs this year, according to a survey by Careerbuilder reported on in NJBiz. This figure is the highest it's been since the recession, and it's up from 2013 when the number was 17 percent.One reason for the trend the article cites is the recent improvement in the…

2013 was a great year for contract staffing, according to The Staffing Stream. In June of last year, contract staffing expanded to 2.7 million active contractors, the largest number since 2006.Some of the strongest industries included healthcare, which had grown to hold 31 percent of the contract workforce, and business professionals and support staff, which…

Temporary job numbers rose in January, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.The total number of temp jobs added to the economy was 8,100 in January and 228,700 year over year, which is an increase of 9 percent. According to the American Staffing Association, seasonal adjustment typically causes increased numbers for January…

Employee confidence has hit a five-month high, according to Randstad's U.S. Employee Confidence Index. It rose by 1.5 points in January to a reading of 56.7, which is the highest it's been in five months. The last time it was that high was in August of last year when it was 58.0.The index measures worker…

Companies are seeing the benefits in HR outsourcing services and payroll management, according to Real Business. The newspaper cites the increasing time sinks of payroll (between seven and 25 percent of working hours for small companies and more for larger ones).A related benefit Real Business suggests is the increase in productivity. Even a little bit…

The Whitehouse joined with several major staffing industry leaders to put together a best-practices list for recruiting and hiring the long-term unemployed.According to the Whitehouse and those who signed the list, they are "committed to inclusive hiring practices and pledge to remove barriers that may prevent qualified long-term unemployed job seekers from applying or being…

The affordable care act is presenting new challenges to HR workers, according to Work Force. It requires companies with more than 50 employees to provide affordable health care coverage or pay penalties. Many critics believe that this will encourage part-time work, but others see this as a new opportunity for a different way of doing…

In another example of the dangers of misclassification, a California judge ruled last month that the San Diego Union Tribune misclassified its carriers as independent contractors, and issued a judgment of nearly $10 million, according to Staffing Industry.The newspaper carriers filed a class action lawsuit against the Union Tribune in the beginning of 2009, claiming…

According to its latest financial press release, UPS used 30,000 more temporary workers than it expected in order to fill holiday orders. The influx of contract labor helped UPS to deliver millions of packages (31 million on December 23 alone), which it could not have done without the extra help. Many companies have found temporary…