A few weeks ago I was at a meeting and across the table I glimpsed a smile I thought I recognized. Sure enough—an old friend I had lost track of years ago. She was working in our office as a temp, and this is the first time our paths had crossed. We chatted for a bit and caught up on things, and then she was gone.

Photo credit: iStock

As temporary workers make up an increasingly larger share of our workforce (it’s not just the front desk anymore) and hold positions at companies for longer periods of time—sometimes for years, I got to wondering what it’s like to be a temp worker. Is it horrible and stressful because there are no benefits and no security? Or is it fun and fancy free with lots of variety and minimal commitment? So I decided to ask. Here is the perspective of one temp worker:

Liz: How long have you been a temp worker?

T.W.: I’ve been a temp worker for years.

Liz: How many temp jobs have you had?

T.W.: I’ve had 2 temp jobs and 5 other interviews for temp positions, but I have spent the majority of my time in one position.

Liz: Do you get benefits? Ever?

T.W.: The staffing company I work for didn’t offer benefits directly. They did recommend a short term coverage plan (180 days at a time, catastrophic coverage only) that I had to pay out-of-pocket.

Liz: What’s the best thing about temp work?

T.W.: The best thing about temping is having a job. Looking for jobs these days can be very depressing. There just isn’t a whole lot out there right now so it’s nice to earn some kind of income in the meantime.

Liz: What’s the worst?

T.W.: There are a lot of things that aren’t great about temping. Lack of benefits, lower pay, status in the company; but I think most temps would say the worst part is the uncertainty that the job brings. At anytime you could be let go. Most of the time the jobs have a defined time period so you are able to plan a little bit, but even then things can change and you can be gone pretty quickly.

Liz: Why did you start temping? Was it more desperation or inspiration?

T.W.: Definitely not inspiration. I was frustrated looking for work and didn’t think I had a lot of options. A friend of mine suggested I give temporary employment a shot, while I was still looking. The temp agency worked really fast for me so I stuck with it for a while. 

Liz: What would you like employers to know—from the temp point of view?

T.W.: Be very upfront with us about the expectations of us and the situation we are in. Don’t sugarcoat future employment status. If there is no chance of full-time employment in the future, make that clear. 

Liz: What about your co-workers in the office(s) where you temp: Any message for them?

T.W.: I think most temps are probably overqualified for the work they are doing. I think the reason someone temps may be a little misunderstood. It’s not like I aspired to be a temporary employee, it just kind of happened. All the other temps I’ve met are really smart and driven people. It’s understandable that there is a stigma to being a temp employee, but the reason I am temping is not because I’m unemployable, I just took a different route to get a foot in the door.

I’ve actually really enjoyed most of my time as a temp. I’ve experienced a lot of different types of work and work environments. I would say, despite the challenges, in a transitional or emergency situation, temporary employment is a great alternative to no employment at all.

The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has released the results of their most recent Job Vacancy Survey, and the hits just keep coming. In the fourth quarter 2009, there were 8.2 job seekers for each vacant job in Minnesota. This is up from 7.7 in the second quarter and 5.6 one year ago. According to DEED,

The fourth quarter 2009 labor market was the least favorable for job seekers during the history of the job vacancy series dating back to fourth quarter 2000.

Here’s what it looks like:

When DEED first started conducting this survey 10 years ago, there were actually more job vacancies than job seekers (nearly two jobs available for each unemployed person).

Other highlights of the report:

• 58% of the vacant jobs are in the seven-county Twin Cities Metro Area.
• 45% of vacant jobs are part time.
• 17% are temporary or seasonal.
• 56% require no education beyond a high school diploma or GED.
• The occupations with the most vacancies are sales, office and administrative support, and healthcare support.
• The median wage (half pay more, half pay less) is $10.86/hour. (Note: A full-time job at $10.86/hour would give you an annual income of $22,589.)

For more information, read the full report. You can also get detailed information for various regions.

We’ve just posted the January edition of State of the Economy. This is a monthly publication that pulls together key economic developments both locally and nationally. It also includes the most recent data available about referrals made by United Way 2-1-1.

A few highlights from our most recent issue:

• Both local and national unemployment rates remained steady in January at 10% (U.S.) and 7.4% (MN) respectively.
• Lender-mediated home sales averaged $124,000 in the Twin Cities in 2009 compared to $204,000 for traditional home sales.
• The Twin Cities’ housing inventory is down 22% from a year ago.
• Teenagers are experiencing the highest unemployment rates nationally (27%) while women and Asians are experiencing some of the lowest rates (8%).
• Weekly wages declined 1.6% in 2009 when inflation is factored in.
• TCF is ending its “Totally Free Checking” program. More than 1,000,000 accounts that were previously free will be charged a monthly maintenance fee beginning early this year.
• Target Corp. is opening fewer than 10 new stores this year, but is renovating 340 stores already in operation.
• UnitedHealth Group reported fourth quarter profits up 30% and profits for the year up 28%.
• United Way 2-1-1 made nearly 175,000 referrals for basic needs in 2009. More than one-third of these were for either emergency food or emergency shelter.

For more news on the local and national economy, read the full report (including graphics!) here. 

What is the state of your economy? What one issue has had the most impact on you, your family, or your work in the past year? What do you think the State of the Economy will be next year at this time? Let me know, and I’ll post selections of the answers I receive.

The new unemployment numbers took a lot of people, including me, by surprise: Unemployment rose from 9.8% in September to 10.2% in October. It isn’t the increase that surprised me—all the economists have been saying the unemployment rate is going to continue its climb, even though the recession itself is likely over. Rather, it was the size of the increase. I had just finished my October State of the Economy the previous week, which included unemployment projections of 10% by December and a peak of 10.2% in February.

So I wonder if it’s peaking early, or if it’s going to peak a lot higher than has been forecast. Some of the more pessimistic economists (okay, one economist in this Wall Street Journal survey) are predicting 11% in June. Ten percent don’t think the unemployment rate will peak until the second half of 2010. Or later.

Unemployment has increased for virtually all demographic groups, but not all demographic groups are equally affected. Wondering who’s getting hit the hardest? Young people for sure. People of color more than whites. Men more than women. Want to know where you fit in the mix? Check out this interactive graphic developed by the New York Times—you can get unemployment rates by race, sex, age, and educational level—or any variation thereof. (I spent an embarrassing amount of time playing with the numbers: It’s grim and fascinating at the same time.)

There are also broader measures of unemployment (I’ve talked about this before). So if you include discouraged workers the unemployment rate goes up to 10.7%. And if you add in marginally attached and involuntary part-time workers, it goes up to 17.5%. That’s getting uncomfortably close to 1 in 5 workers.

Hunker down. The bumpy ride isn’t over yet….

Some economists are heralding the end of the recession, but I’m not taking out my party hat yet. 

Nationally, the unemployment rate stands at 9.4%, but if you add in discouraged workers and involuntary part-time workers, it’s 16.3%—a slight improvement from the 16.5% we saw in June, but still abysmal. And economists are still predicting high unemployment—averaging about 9.8%—throughout 2010.

While the Minnesota unemployment rate dropped to 8.1% in July, we’ve got our own bad news to deal with. The recent job vacancy survey conducted by DEED found that there are now 7.7 unemployed workers for each job vacancy in the state. (This is up from 5.6 unemployed workers per job vacancy six months ago, and if you go back far enough—see left side of graphic below—you can see that in the early part of this decade there were actually more jobs than there were job seekers!)

But the story gets worse (I think I will have to put something fun and silly at the end of this post, to balance out all this bleakness): Six months ago, the median wage (half pay more, half pay less) for open jobs was $11/hour. That has fallen to $10/hour. Yikes! That means that half the people that get jobs in Minnesota will make less than $21,000 a year if they work full time. But the chances are good that they won’t, because 41% of the jobs available are part time.

On a Lighter Note

Did you know there is a part of the brain called Area 37? I had no idea. I learned this in Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. (Read my other entry about Proust and the Squid.)

It’s for object recognition.

Area 37. Doesn’t that sound like something you’d find in The X Files or House of Leaves?

Kind of creepy.