Staffing has been around for a long time. The rumor is the idea began around 1600 in Britain, but American staffing hit its big boom during World War II when five million women left their homes to work.
More than 16 million Americans served in WWII leaving a massive gap in the workforce. At the beginning of the war America’s unemployment rate was around 25%, our country was still recovering from the Great Depression. Once the draft hit, unemployment dropped to 10% and factories began producing goods to support the war effort.
A multitude of businesses needed help fast and so the hidden secret of staffing agencies started to get around. Many of these agencies dated back before the war but were not used regularly until the 1940’s. Since then staffing has become a regularly used tool in the business world.
Fast-forward to today and these agencies are making an impact. According to the American Staffing Association, staffing provides about 16 million employees career and job opportunities each year. There are around 25,000 staffing firms in the United States. SmallBiz Staffing provided over 700 people jobs in 2021 and has been named Crossville’s preferred staffing agency.
Sources:
- https://www.nesc.com/staffing/
- https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/artifact/1590/impact-world-war-ii-us-economy-and-workforce
- https://americanstaffing.net/research/fact-sheets-analysis-staffing-industry-trends/staffing-industry-statistics/
- https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/us-wwii/a/american-women-and-world-war-ii