Temp staff surge points to economic growth

Joe Garza and Du-Tex Inc. are the perfect fit for now — forever, he hopes.

The warehouse assistant is two months into his temporary job with the company dealing with a surge in orders for specialized hoses and valves for the oil and gas industry because of Eagle Ford production.

Du-Tex will need 15 more workers like Garza in the next few months, company vice president Mike Ray said.

More workers like Garza are in the workforce than during the past two years, which is a sign the Corpus Christi area's economy is emerging from the recession.

Dips and rises in temporary employment precede economic decline and recovery, respectively, by at least three months, according to analysis of data between 1972 and 2008 by the American Staffing Association.

Texas Workforce Commission figures for the Corpus Christi area follow those trends. Average quarterly temporary employment ranged between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs between 2005 and mid-2008.

The average count tanked between the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, when the region shed about 900 temp jobs as the recession choked the national economy. At the same time, the region's unemployment rate climbed from 4.8 percent in October 2008 to 6.3 percent by March 2009, figures show.

"During this recovery period, a lot of businesses are watching the economy and they're watching the market," said Jim Lee, a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi economist. "So during this transitional period they would tend to hire more temporary staffing."

When times got tough, temporary employees were the first to go, said Sharon Kollaja, with Sterling Personnel Inc.

Corpus Christi's temp job market got even drier through 2009. Kollaja said her business at one point was down 60 percent.

State figures show the region's temp staffing sector hit bottom in the summer of 2009, with an average count of 1,880 jobs, with numbers climbing through the end of 2010 — the latest statistics available.

This spring has shown marked improvement, Kollaja said.

"Our numbers are exceeding 2008 which was a great year," Kollaja said.

All of the sectors Kollaja deals with are booming: clerical, professional and light industrial work, the latter helped by the Eagle Ford Shale boom, she said.

Other trends are emerging. Employers are going for longer temp employee contracts for projects that had been delayed by the economic downturn, Kollaja said.

Hourly rates are increasing for workers with certain skills, she said.

Average weekly wages for area temporary workers also rose during 2010, ending the year at $433, which was an increase of $97, regional figures show.

That is a sign employers gradually are becoming more confident.

"It takes some time for businesses to really take the risk of hiring a person permanently," Lee said.

Lee said data show the Corpus Christi area is out of the recession.

The regional economy has been growing during the past six months despite signs the national economy may be sputtering.

The temp staffing boom has created business opportunities. Pam and Paton Rigsby recently reopened the Corpus Christi branch of Snelling Staffing Services, which closed 18 months ago because of the low demand for temp workers and internal changes under different management, Pam Rigsby said.

Du-Tex has incorporated temporary staffing into its operations for several years, beginning with a need for workers during the mid-decade spike in the oil industry pre-Eagle Ford, Ray said.

He estimates 85 percent of Du-Tex's staff of 35 people entered the company through its temp-to-hire arrangement with Sterling Personnel, which screens, tests skills and does background checks on potential employees and also reduces Du-Tex's liability, Ray said.

"If we went out and spent the time to hire staff members, it would have cost us $4,000 to $8,000 per employee," Ray said.