Washburn Rural's soccer team had a built-in excuse to make 2012 a rebuilding year. After all, Rural had lost 12 seniors off an 18-1-2 team that suffered its only loss in the state semifinals and finished third in Class 6A.

"It creates powerful pressures against companies hiring full-time workers — precisely the wrong approach after the worst economic slump since the Depression. There will be more bewildering regulations, more regulatory uncertainties, more unintended side effects and more disappointments. A costly and...

Temporary employment is one of the better predictors of what the job market will do in the months ahead. And recent trends point toward even slower job creation in the final months of the year than the sluggish hiring that has been evident throughout 2012.