How do you tell a seasonal spike from an upward trend? Local staffing agency executives aren't sure, but they are hoping recent hiring activity spells the beginning of a gradual recovery.
"Since July, the number of additional temporary workers has increased at a steady pace on a national basis," said Bill Stoller, CEO of Express Employment Professionals, an agency with 600 offices worldwide, including one in Vancouver.
According to the American Staffing Association, the number of temp workers is 20.3 percent higher now compared to January 2009.
Local Express Employment Professionals franchise owner Eric Schubert has experienced similar growth. For the last seven weeks, Schubert placed an average of 20 additional people on the payroll each week – up from an average of six a week earlier this year. Firm-wide, compared with August figures, this year's September and October numbers represent the largest percentage increase in the last ten years, according to Stoller.
The staffing industry, said Stoller, is closely tied to the U.S. gross national product, which rose 3.5 percent in the third quarter. "If the GNP goes up, our business goes up," he said. "If the GNP goes down, we go down as well."
Ken Madden, vice president of Madden Industrial Craftsmen, Inc., isn't sure the temporary hiring surge represents more than the normal seasonal fluctuation common in the staffing industry, which he described as starting off slowly in January and February, picking up in the spring and peaking in September and October.
However, Madden did identify a trend that may signal an economic recovery – a more positive attitude among clients about hiring new personnel. "Clients are telling us, ‘We're really busy right now,'" said Madden. "We haven't heard that for a long time."
Who's Hiring?
Certain sectors are hiring more than others. Construction, said Madden, is still very flat. But firms like MICI and Express are beginning to see more manufacturing activity in recent months. Healthcare, professional services such as accounting and HR, and technical services such as IT and call centers, are other centers of activity, according to Madden and Schubert.
Even seemingly unrelated happenings in the business world can mean increased business for staffing agencies. For example, open enrollment for companies' healthcare coverage typically occurs at this time of year, leading to the need for additional support staff, according to Jennie Taylor, Vancouver branch manager for locally-owned and operated Northwest Staffing Resources.
Teresa Cole, branch manager for Adecco's Vancouver location, said she has also seen some hiring activity in the banking industry – a fact she attributed to an increase in collections and foreclosures.
The high unemployment rate in the area – 12.7 percent in Clark County and 12.8 percent in Cowlitz – also means increased business for staffers.
"Companies see the benefit of reaching out to staffing services because there's such an influx of workers and there's a larger pool to screen," Cole said. "Hiring managers are inundated with unqualified candidates."
Taylor agreed, saying it was not unusual to have 400-plus responses to a job posting over a single weekend, while Schubert stated that they were currently doing 1.5 to 2 times the normal number of interviews to find the right fit.
A major challenge for staffing agencies is keeping up with technology shifts. Madden pointed out that when he first started out, pulp-and-paper was huge. Silicon and semiconductors were the next technology wave. Now, said Madden, green building, LEED certification and wind and solar energy are the new hot commodities. As proof of this, two local renewable energy projects at Christensen Shipyard and NCS Power Inc., fueled by $3 million in federal stimulus funding, are predicted to create at least 580 new manufacturing jobs in Clark County in the near future.
"It takes a while for staffing companies to adjust to these changes," Madden said.
Hope for the Future
The staffing industry, said Stoller, is a leading indicator for non-agricultural employment. He hopes that the current upswing in staffing requests means that in three to six months' time, full-time jobs will come back strongly.
PSG Global Solutions, which provides recruiting services to staffing companies, recently surveyed 150 hiring agencies across the U.S. Although 53 percent of surveyed companies said that business is still "difficult" or "very difficult," 76 percent expect business to be "average" or better by January 2010. And employers have already announced plans to hire more employees than they did in all of 2008, according to an article in Staffing Week magazine.
Taylor and Madden shared the general optimism. "2010 will be better than 2009 – but it won't be a huge increase. It will be more of a steady incline," Taylor said, with Madden adding, "I feel strongly that the American economy wants to – always does – bounce back."
