People: Optomi, ACA Talent Objective Paradigm, Pedersen & Partners and more

Optomi LLC added Ben Tucker to its leadership team as director of national operations. The IT staffing provider also recently promoted Laura Chevalier to senior VP of national accounts from VP of national accounts, and it promoted Amber Gerard to VP of corporate relations from director of corporate relations....

Automakers, suppliers struggle to find and keep talent (Crain’s Detroit Business)

Engineers are in high demand by auto suppliers and manufacturers, which are fighting harder than ever to fill positions to match advancing vehicle technology and manufacturing processes, reports Crain’s Detroit Business. The increasing stream of engineering openings underscores the need for the auto...

Allied Health and Advanced Practice Benchmarking Survey now open

Staffing Industry Analysts’ 2016 Allied Health and Advanced Practice Benchmarking Survey is now open. Participants will receive a report allowing them to benchmark their own company’s performance on metrics such as pay rate, bill rate and revenue growth for physical therapists, occupational therapists...

Resources Global Professionals names CFO and chief accounting officer

Resources Global Professionals, the operating subsidiary of Resources Connection Inc. (NASD: RECN), promoted Herb Mueller to CFO and John Bower to the newly created role of chief accounting officer, effective Aug. 29.

Mueller most recently served as managing director of Resource Global Professionals’...

More than one-third are always searching for next job

The rise of a new group who are always looking for the next job opportunity can make retention more challenging, according to according to a new report by ManpowerGroup Solutions.

The survey found more than one-third of employees, 37%, are always searching for their next job opportunity. Twenty-nine percent...

Skills gap: One-third believe their current skills will prevent promotion

Employees fear their companies are not doing enough to prepare them to thrive, according a study commissioned by Spherion Staffing. Employers worry that their teams’ skills development and training discontent will make already-challenging retention efforts even more difficult, .

Nearly one-third of...

US leading economic index rises in July, initial jobless claims fall

The Conference Board’s Leading Economic index for the US rose 0.4% in July to a level of 124.3 (2010 = 100) after rising 0.3% in June.

“The US [Leading Economic Index] picked up again in July, suggesting moderate economic growth should continue through the end of 2016,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, director...

Uber to launch self-driving fleet this month (Bloomberg)

Starting later this month, Uber will allow customers in downtown Pittsburgh to summon self-driving cars from their phones, bringing the first self-driving car-sharing service to market, Bloomberg reports. Uber’s Pittsburgh fleet will be supervised by humans in the driver’s seat for the time being...

Philly Fed shows cracks in employment picture (24/7 Wall St.)

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s August Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey shows employment indicators weakened considerably, 24/7 Wall St. reports. The employment index dropped 18 points to -20.0, the largest negative reading for the current year. Although 67% of the firms reported no...

SIA estimates ‘gig workforce’ at 29% of US workers

Contingent workers represented 29% of all US workers last year, or 44 million people, according to new research by Staffing Industry Analysts. And the contingent workers represented $792.4 billion in staffing buyer spend.

Staffing Industry Analysts’ definition of contingent workers includes more than...