U.S. jobs recovery months away -staffing execs

By Nick Zieminski - Analysis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Any U.S. job market recovery is at least several months away, staffing industry executives say, citing comments from customers, weak consumer spending and evidence in the December jobs report that employers are cutting hours and overtime.

The economy shed 524,000 jobs outside the farm sector last month, fewer than expected, and the unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent, the highest since January 1993. Job losses in October and November were bigger than initially estimated.

"When we look at where companies are, in the conversations they're having, we anticipate continued job losses for at least a couple quarters," said Jeff Joerres, chief executive of Manpower, one of the world's largest staffing and outplacement firms.

The North American chief of rival Adecco said a decline in overtime and total hours worked suggests more job losses ahead, since employers typically cut hours before they eliminate jobs.

"We have 150,000 clients in the U.S., and I can tell you one company after another is convinced this recession is not going away," Adecco's Tig Gilliam said. He predicts January and February payroll data will show cuts as deep as those seen in the quarter just ended.

"We're in an accelerating job-loss mode," he said.

Adecco is the third largest U.S. employer, behind Wal-Mart Stores and the postal service. Overall, U.S. staffing companies employ almost 3 million people a day and hire some 11 million temporary and contract workers a year, according to the American Staffing Association.

A further negative sign is that professional job categories are losing jobs, said Scot Melland, chief executive of Dice Holdings, which runs specialized job sites focused on areas like finance and technology.