Rising interest rates and costs of material will likely spell an end to the record-setting boom in Maryland construction, including residential construction, in 2006. With 30-year fixed rate mortgages at roughly 6.4%, as compared with roughly 5.75% this time last year, and increases in material exceeding overall inflation numbers, that also means that jobs in […]

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reinstated previously relaxed I-9 work authorization requirements for survivors of Hurricane Katrina, making it necessary for those employing Katrina survivors to procure authorization. The DHS had relaxed I-9 documentation requirements in response to the large number of displaced individuals who could not produce documentation due to […]

A recent trial in Pennsylvania has highlighted just one of the legal issues surrounding the hiring and employment of temporary workers. A staffing agency’s customer recently failed to make pension fund contributions for nearly 1,500 temporary employees and was taken to court by the pension fund’s lawyers. The attorneys for the fund argued that the […]

Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) announced recently that the U.S. Senate will bring an immigration bill to the Senate floor early next year. The bill will focus on border security issues, employment-related immigration laws and drafting of a new guest worker plan. Debate over the handling of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the […]

American staffing companies added over 11,000 jobs in October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and temporary employment increased 5.1% over October, 2004. Overall, Kathleen P. Utgoff, BLS commissioner, noted that “Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed in October (56,000).” That number was well off the 125,000 predicted by economists.
October’s average hourly earnings […]

Previously set at 65,000 per year, and derided as being too low by the business community, the H-1B visa cap has been increased by 30,000 by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The cap increase will be in effect for the next 5 years. The H-1B program allows employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers to temporary […]

A study regarding the qualifications of temporary nurses and quality of care amongst institutions utilizing temporary nurses has shown positive results. The study, conducted by the University of Pennsylvania under a grant from the American Staffing Association, shows early indications that the qualifications of temporary nurses meet or exceed those of full-time permanent nurses. The […]