Payrolls remained stable or expanded across the districts during the period of early January through mid-February, and employment gains were noted in a broad range of sectors, according to the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report released Wednesday. Wage pressures remained moderate and were limited largely to workers in skilled occupations.

Service sector firms in the New York district reported increasingly widespread reports of wage hikes, and the Cleveland, Richmond, and Kansas City districts noted increased wage pressure due to the difficulty in attracting and retaining truck drivers. A staffing firm in the Chicago district reported some companies were also willing to raise rates for unskilled workers to reduce turnover, and the Atlanta district reported increasing entry-level wages.

Notable staffing-firm observations include:

• Staffing firms in Boston reported softened business activity in recent months due to inclement weather throughout the region. Most firms reported year-over-year revenue declines in the high single-digit to low double-digit range. Labor demand continues to be generally strong, with increases for a variety of positions in the healthcare, maintenance work, IT, legal and sales sectors. Boston staffing firms cited inadequate labor supply as their main challenge.
• Staffing contacts in the Philadelphia district report positive employment trends across a broad spectrum of economic sectors. Direct hires have picked up and the majority of hires are due to economic growth rather than replacement. Temp placements are stronger still when compared with last year, when winter storms closed businesses for several days at a time. Staffing firms remained very positive for growth prospects in 2015. Staffing contacts described tight margins and little change in wage pressures.
• In Cleveland, staffing firms report that job openings and placements in financial services, healthcare and manufacturing had risen slightly.
• In Chicago, a staffing firm reports demand was holding steady but that job placements were down because it had become increasing difficult to find workers to fill their customers’ orders. Contacts again reported strong demand for skilled workers, particularly for those in professional and technical occupations and skilled manufacturing and building trades.
• And in Dallas, most staffing firms said they had raised billing rates to offset higher costs associated with the Affordable Care Act. Demand for staffing services was flat to higher, and outlooks were positive, but much more cautious than the last report. Two firms said that strength in demand had shifted slightly away from Houston, which is more affected by energy activity, toward Dallas-Fort Worth, while a third noted a pullback in demand from the oil and gas sector.