Temporary labor is supporting U.S. economic growth rather than hampering it with low-wage jobs, according to a press release today by Staffing Industry Analysts. In fact, the largest segments of growth in temporary labor are professional, higher-paying roles.

Professional temporary employment is projected to represent 54 percent of temporary labor spending in the U.S. in 2014.

“While temporary labor is growing faster than the job market overall, temporary labor spending is largely driven by growth in the professional segments,” said Barry Asin, president of Staffing Industry Analysts. “We see strong demand growth in information technology, which we anticipate will grow by 8 percent in 2014, and healthcare staffing, and finance and accounting staffing are both predicted to grow by 6 percent in 2014."

Peak demand industries for professional temporary labor include:

• IT
• Locum tenens (Physicians)
• Engineering
• Clinical/scientific
• Marketing/creative
• Education staffing

Office/clerical staffing, which consists of many of the lower-wage jobs that people often picture when they think of temporary labor, reached its peak demand in 2000, according to Staffing Industry Analysts' research.