Bearish Financial Times Article is Bullish for Staffing Industry Stocks

A recent article in the Financial Times by Claire Jones, Hugh Carnegy, and James Politi, "Hope for faster global growth dashed" reported on an anemic recovery from The Great Recession around the world. While bearish for many sectors, the Financial Times piece is actually bullish for the staffing industry. Concerned about the strength of the economic recovery, companies will most likely increase the demand for the products and services of staffing firms such as Paychex

, Robert Half International

, TrueBlue Inc

, and Labor SMART

. The $100 billion staffing industry has been of the best performing groups in the stock market. For 2013, Paychex, the largest firm, is up more than 40%. For the last year, the share price of Robert Half International has increased by over 40%. Since the first of the year, TrueBlue Inc has soared by over 55%. Labor SMART just reported record revenue growth...again! That trend should be expected to continue. The Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, mandates that businesses with over 50 workers must provide those who work more than 30 hours a week with a very expensive health insurance policy. That already has many companies backing off from hiring full-employees. Widespread dissatisfaction with ObamaCare also rocks any faith in political leadership, which furthers the loss of confidence in the future of the American economy. As a result, the demand for what the staffing industry provides will increase even more. No matter what the economy does, staffing industry stocks should do well. If economic growth soars, there will be a need for more help...fast! Staffing firms best-placed to provide the needed workers and the services such as those in the $29 billion demand labor segment like Labor SMART and TrueBlue should do especially well. While the economic future may not be bullish, it should be for publicly traded companies in the staffing industry.