The US lost 12,400 temporary jobs in January according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which also revised numbers for the previous two months, quelling hopes that temp employment was back on the rise. 

“What appeared to be the start of renewed growth for temporary help employment now looks to have been a flash in the pan,” SIA Economist Michael Schultz said. 

Revised data showed the US added 30,000 temp jobs in November 2024, up from a previously estimated increase of 6,200. However, the December number was amended to show a decline of 3,000 instead of a gain of 5,300 as previously estimated. 

Today’s numbers include annual benchmark and seasonal adjustment revisions by the BLS. 

The US economy is in an unusual position, Schultz added, noting that both business confidence and uncertainty are high. 

“Today’s decline in BLS temporary help employment suggests uncertainty is overwhelming optimism for now and adds to evidence that the recent advances were driven by consumers and businesses pre-buying ahead of anticipated tariff-driven price increases,” he said. “With trends across segments still negative year over year but improving sequentially over the last several months, we continue watching for a durable return to growth.” 

Optimism remains that temporary staffing may tick up later in the year.  

“Consistent with recent public staffing company reports, today’s jobs report suggests that temporary staffing remains near a cycle bottom, with the temp penetration rate at 1.59% in January,” said Timothy Landhuis, VP of research at SIA. “Nevertheless, as 2025 gets underway, we expect that near-term headwinds regarding government policy uncertainty will ease and broad economic growth and robust business confidence will support growth in temp staffing later in the year.” 

US temporary employment totaled approximately 2.53 million jobs in January, compared to the high point of nearly 3.2 million in March 2022. 

Overall, total US nonfarm payroll rose by 143,000 jobs in January 2025 for total employment of approximately 159.07 million, based on revised numbers. 

January’s penetration rate — temp jobs as a percent of total employment — was 1.59% from December’s revised reading of 1.60%. 

The US unemployment rate edged down to 4.0% in January from 4.1% in December. Separately, the college-level unemployment rate fell to 2.3% in January from 2.4% in December. 

Industries adding jobs in January included healthcare, retail trade and social assistance, according to the BLS: 

• Healthcare added 44,000 jobs in January, below its average gain of 57,000 jobs per month in 2024. 

• Retail trade gained 34,000 jobs. The industry has shown little net change in jobs during 2024. 

• Social assistance jobs rose by 22,000 in January, above the average per-month growth of 20,000 in 2024. 

On the flip side, jobs in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction fell by 8,000 in January. This category has also seen little change in the last year. 

The wildfires in Los Angeles as well as severe winter weather in other parts of the country had “no discernible effect” on employment in the month, Bloomberg reported, citing the BLS. Still, nearly 600,000 people didn’t work in January because of bad weather — the most in four years. Another 1.2 million people who usually work full-time could only find part-time work due to the weather. 

For more information on the jobs numbers, see SIA’s February 2025 US Jobs Report, released today.