Demand for staffing services generally expanded from July to mid-August, according to the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report released Wednesday. The Beige Book, a collection of observations from the 12 federal regional banks, provides a snapshot of current economic conditions.

Staffing services contacts from most districts reported increases in overall labor demand and hiring activity and a tightening labor market, with districts citing particular shortages of specialized software and IT workers, skilled trades workers and truck drivers.

Most districts also reported slight or modest growth in employment since the previous report.

Boston reported little or no hiring except via its staffing sector, while Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Dallas cited slight to modest increases in employment. Atlanta, Richmond and Chicago experienced moderate increases in employment, and San Francisco reported an increase in IT sector hiring.

The New York labor market reportedly gained further momentum and saw strong growth in hiring. The Richmond, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City and San Francisco districts reported labor shortages for certain skills or difficulty finding workers, especially for IT and other technical positions. Firms in the Atlanta district cited challenges retaining employees and filling vacancies.

Observations include:

Boston: Staffing contacts report robust growth in the New England region, with high-single-digit to low-double-digit year-over-year revenue growth. Labor demand has risen, particularly in the IT and healthcare sectors. Labor supply continues to be “very tight,” with staffing services contacts noting shortages of IT workers, software developers, skilled trades workers and network administrators. The rate of temporary-to-permanent job conversion remains strong. Firms have expanded their advertising presence on job boards and social media sites such as LinkedIn in order to better attract top candidates. Pay rates have grown by 3% to 20%, with the sharper increases reflecting a greater supply-demand gap. Most firms have maintained their profit margins by increasing bill rates in line with the rising pay rates. Looking forward, contacts are optimistic, expecting the positive growth trajectory to continue through the rest of the year. Some contacts express concerns about the Chinese economy, the strong dollar and stock market fluctuations.

Philadelphia: Staffing firms reported modest growth. Staffing firms reported some weakness in temporary positions but were positive overall, citing growing job orders for permanent positions driven by economic growth and company expansions, as well as replacement. Staffing firms described steady, upward movement in wages.

Cleveland: Staffing firms reported a pickup in the number of job openings in healthcare and manufacturing; however, the number of placements did not keep pace. Wage pressures were intensifying in the construction, retail and transportation sectors.

Richmond: A staffing agent in Virginia noted that almost all skill sets are in demand at this time. Shortages were cited for specialized IT workers, skilled trade subcontractors and blue collar workers. Demand for manufacturing workers also rose but at a slower pace since the last report. Temporary workers were being converted to permanent at a faster rate in recent weeks. Maryland and Virginia employers reported difficulty recruiting workers who could pass drug tests and background checks.

Chicago: A staffing firm reported declining revenues, which it attributed primarily to moves by its clients toward hiring more permanent workers and toward more outsourcing. A staffing firm reported accelerating wages, though much of the ramp-up appeared to be because of a shift in the occupation mix toward higher-skilled workers.

Dallas: A few staffing services contacts mentioned concern about health insurance costs rising next year. Demand for staffing services was flat since the last report. One contact noted that demand from chemical and logistics had replaced a lot of the lost demand from oil and gas and another said that the recent dip in oil prices has negatively impacted demand from industrial manufacturers.