In what may be a long-awaited reversal of months of slow erosion in staffing industry employment, data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed marked improvement in several numbers for temporary help services: employment increased in October, and estimates for previous months were revised up.

Staffing industry employment increased by more than 20,000 jobs from September to October, seasonally adjusted, according to BLS. That was the biggest month-to-month increase—by a wide margin—since December 2005. Moreover, BLS revised its August and September estimates upward. The agency routinely revises its preliminary estimates, but this was the first time all year that the revisions increased the job count in the staffing industry. Of the previous 19 months, 15 had been revised down. BLS still estimates temporary help employment fell by some 19,000 jobs in September, but the revised loss was less than originally estimated, and October job growth more than offset September's decline. The net growth with the two months combined, plus a slight increase in temporary help jobs in August, along with the upward revisions of recent months, suggest staffing's sluggishness may be coming to an end.

Staffing employment has slowly eroded over the last two years, according to BLS. October's seasonally adjusted job count for temporary help services was about 79,000—or 3%—lower than the industry's most recent peak in December 2005, and 1.6% less than October of last year. The industry has never experienced so long a period of sluggishness. Previous declines have featured precipitous drops immediately preceding a recession. The current pattern looks nothing like a recession.

Historically, staffing industry employment tends to peak in October. Actual employment in temporary help services (not seasonally adjusted), as reported by BLS last week, reached its highest level since October of last year, but it was still 1.9% lower than last October. The ASA Staffing Index, which is not seasonally adjusted, reached a new high of 109 in October.

As for total nonfarm employment, BLS reported an increase of 166,000 jobs last month. That was more than double the 80,000 consensus estimate of economists, according to the Wall Street Journal, and the biggest increase in five months. "Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and leisure and hospitality," BLS reported. BLS also reported that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.7% last month.