October 4, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Just over half of temporary workers are female

In 1998, 53 percent of temporary help supply workers were female. In the entire nonfarm economy, women workers accounted for 48 percent of all employees.

[Chart data—TXT]

The proportions of workers who were female in help supply services and in the nonfarm economy were much farther apart in 1982. At that time, female employees represented 62 percent of workers in help supply, compared to 44 percent of workers in the nonfarm economy.

Another demographic characteristic of interest regarding temporary workers is age. At least half of these workers are under age 35, with only a small percentage over the age of 45.

The data on employment in help supply and the nonfarm economy are a product of the BLS Current Employment Statistics program. Find out more in Report on the American Workforce 1999 (PDF 1,037K).