IES Blog

LEI shows positive growth

Posted on April 21st, 2014 Read time: 1 minutes

The Leading Economic Index (LEI) increased in March for the third consecutive month. It now stands at 100.9. The index was begun in 2004, so a score of 100 would indicate the economy is doing as well as in 2004.

"The LEI rose sharply again, the third consecutive monthly increase," said Ataman Ozyildirim, Economist at The Conference Board. "After a winter pause, the leading indicators are gaining momentum and economic growth is gaining traction. While the improvements were broad-based, labor market indicators and the interest rate spread largely drove the March increase, offsetting the negative contribution from building permits. And, for the first time in many months, the consumer outlook is much less negative."

The end result is companies may begin hiring more people. A great way to hire workers is through a staffing firm or an employer of record. This saves time and helps a company expand without wasting the HR department's schedule with filling out forms for the government.

According to Staffing Industry, one job that has changed significantly is that of the administrative assistant. Such a job used to consist primarily of answering phones, but now much of it involves presentation assembly and client communications. Companies are becoming bigger, but leaner, too, so the same job has many different responsibilities.

Companies seeking an excellent administrative assistant might do well to look for one through a temp-to-hire system, such as can be found by hiring temporary workers.

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