YOUNGSTOWN Businesses turn to temp workers

Interim workers are often the first hired when businesses look to add full-time employees.
YOUNGSTOWN -- With the current economic slowdown leaving many large corporations hesitant to add full-time workers, temporary employee placement services in the Youngstown area have been more than willing to fill the void.
Though the economic uncertainty has also affected some fields of interim work to a certain extent, these placement services have been successful in consistently locating positions for many of their clients.
"On one hand, [the slowdown] has hurt us because when companies start laying off [employees], the temps are often some of the first to go," said Mark Leone, branch manager of Kelly Services in Youngstown, "but on the other, our customers are afraid to make a mistake right now with full-time hirings, so they come to us."
Widespread use: Similar to other placement services in the area, Kelly Services attempts to find employment openings with businesses in fields ranging from clerical to manufacturing. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 3.7 million temps were employed nationwide in January.
"A lot of times, temp services are the first to notice a downsize," said Marilyn Hrusovsky, branch manager of Spherion placement service in Boardman. "[Businesses] are in a state of flux right now, trying to make the tough decision to hire employees. But when the market becomes good again, the temps will also be the first to notice that."
Once area businesses begin to gain confidence in the economy again, the temporary workers will often be the first hired until the company is sure it can support full-time employees, Hrusovsky said.
In the Youngstown area, the lack of temporary work in construction, light industry and assembly has been made up for, in numbers, by increases in clerical and customer services positions, she said.
"We're seeing a lot more clerical workers coming to us and looking for temporary work due to there being so much office downsizing in our area," Hrusovsky said. "We're seeing many midlevel and entry-level employees coming to us and looking for what they can get."
In the past month, there has been almost a doubling of people calling Snelling Personal Services on Market Street interested in placement, said Kim Angelo, a personal manager with the service.
Snelling's range of coverage extends from clerical and automotive to pharmaceutical and information technology and includes hundreds of applicants, Angelo said.
Downsizing: "We're seeing more of our people going to smaller businesses," Angelo said. "We have professionals that were making $40,000 or $50,000 a year that are now looking for anything that they can get. But the [economic] slowdown hasn't really hurt our placement rate at all."
Angelo said that while Snelling has seen a decrease in temporary industrial positions available, it has seen an increase in office work and in the medical field.
Though the temp market almost always stays strong, Leone said that the number of people coming to Kelly Service has increased significantly.
"Nearly every type of business uses temporary workers at some time," Leone said. "Over 90 percent of businesses use them, but the number of employees interested in temporary positions is much higher than just a year ago. Last year we actually had more openings than temps. That's not the case anymore."