Employers Stock Up on Temps

Businesses are hiring more and more temporary workers, suggesting that they might soon take the next step and hire permanent employees if they believe the economy will keep improving. Temp hiring has been on the rise for four months, whereas in the period after the last two recessions, in the early 1990s and in 2001, employers added temps for only two or three months before bringing on more permanent workers. Unemployment fell in 36 states in November, in part because of the growing ranks of temp workers, who are easier for cautious employers to shed if business goes bad.