The problem with taking an elastic approach to the labor market is that very few professional services firms really know how to manage freelance labor over time.

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But once the services had to compete for labor in a free market, they expanded the benefits that Kristof now hails.

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Food services (38, 000) and construction (30, 000) also boosted the labor market.

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market's second-biggest gains, after health care, were in temporary help services, as employers who couldn't invest in full-time staffers turned to part-time labor instead.

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