Temporary help services employment increased by 0.32% in April with the addition of 9,300 jobs, according to seasonally adjusted data released last Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Year-on-year, temporary employment was up 2.3%, with an average monthly gain of 5,400 jobs over the past 12 months. The temporary penetration rate edged up one basis point to 2.03%. With positive revisions to February and March, temporary help employment gains were 15.5k higher than reported earlier.

"The stabilization this month in temporary help services employment is quite encouraging," said Barry Asin, President of Staffing Industry Analysts. "After a particularly weak start to the year, the upward revisions to previous data along with April's resiliency suggest that fears of an impending downturn in temporary staffing demand have been overstated. Among sectors, April saw surprisingly strong performance in the financial services sector, which had its best growth in almost a year, and ongoing gains in areas like professional services and healthcare."

The more stable temp situation this month was amidst a shortfall in nonfarm employment where only 160,000 jobs were added, well short of the consensus projection of 200,000.

Construction, a driver for growth in recent months, exhibited a significant slowdown, decelerating from +41k jobs in March to just +1k for April in its slowest month since June 2015. Retail trade also suffered this month, while mining prolonged its losses. Professional services (+55.7k) and healthcare (+38.2k) continued to be among the sectors faring well.

Unemployment ticked down two basis points this month to 4.98%, due primarily to the labor force participation rate decreasing 20 basis points, to 62.8%.