Economic Reports

Temp Work: One Route To a New Job

Many employers figure a known worker is better than an unknown one.

According to a survey of 150 personnel managers at the nation's largest companies, 90 percent of executives consider it valuable to hire administrative staff on a temporary basis as a means of evaluating them for full-time positions.

Executives said they used this method 23 percent of the time when hiring support staff, according to the survey for OfficeTeam in Menlo Park, Calif.

Asian-Indian Firms Play Role in US

Studies of businesses owned by Hispanic Americans or black Americans have become common. Now there is one of businesses owned by Asian-Indian Americans.

The top 100 Asian-Indian businesses in the United States piled up nearly $1.8 billion in revenues in 1995 and employed more than 12,800 full-time workers, according to Ventures International Inc., Rockville, Md., and India Abroad Publications Inc. in New York.

Job Options Expand For the Disabled

About 800,000 more people classified as severely disabled held jobs in 1994 than in 1991, according to data released by the President's Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities in Washington. The rise followed the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability.

Big Eight Dominate Home Insurance

Eight large insurance firms control 54 percent of the homeowners-policy market, up from 31 percent in 1965, finds Weiss Ratings, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Here are the firms and their market share:

1. State Farm Group 23.8%

2. Allstate Ins. Group 11.4

3. Farmers Ins. Group 5.8

4. USAA Group 3.6

5. Nationwide Group 3.4

6. Aetna Life & Casualty 2.0

7. Prudential Group 2.0

8. Chubb Group 1.9