(Photo Courtesy of <a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/lokner/4164251472/>Michael Lokner via Flickr</a>.)

Staffing company Randstad released an interesting new look at the changing workforce last month. A few highlights:

  • 67 percent of companies currently use contingent (temporary, contract, part-time) workers in some way
  • 21 percent of companies plan to increase their percentage of contingent workers in the next year; 39 percent plan to increase full-time workers
  • 86 percent of contractors say their level of job satisfaction is good, very good or excellent; 73 percent of permanent workers said so

The takeaway, Randstad says, is that the recession-era trend of hiring temporary or contract workers isn’t going anywhere. Many companies plan to continue using a mix of permanent and contingent workers instead of going back to solely filling full-time, permanent positions.

Our career expert Brandon Smith explains this new attitude and what it means for us in this week’s Working on GPB Radio.