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.

O'Fallon fire district has H-O-P-E

Maybe the old saying should be changed to "the fourth time's the charm."

Since 2005, voters had rejected three previous requests by the O'Fallon Fire Protection District for additional funding. But the April 5 election was a different story, as voters authorized $10.9 million in general obligation bonds that will be used to buy new equipment, update Station 1 in O'Fallon and perhaps build a new fire station near St. Paul.

"I really offer a big thanks to the residents and customers for supporting us," Chief Mike Ballmann said. "We put together a straightforward capital improvement plan and it was the one thing that helped seal it more than any one thing."

A $14.2 million bond issue failed in 2010, but this time the revamped Proposition H-O-P-E garnered 62.5 percent, exceeding the four-sevenths' majority (57.1 percent) needed for passage. The vote was 5,818 to 3,480.

"I went home and told my wife this is what it must feel like to win the lottery," Ballmann said. "The one thing about firefighters is they take a tremendous amount of pride in their apparatus. We'll be upgrading to more modern equipment. They really enjoy working on projects like that."

District spokesman Scott Avery said officials had decided to reduce this year's proposal by scale back the district's building plans, even though the number of residents served by the district has increased by 34,000 since 1999.

Passage of the bond issue means property owners in the district will see their tax bills increase by an estimated 7 cents per $100 assessed valuation. The owner of a $200,000 home, for example, would pay an additional $26 per year in property taxes; the owner of a $300,000 home would pay an additional $39 per year.

Ballmann said it's a matter of time before the district builds a new station north of Interstate 70, but renovating Station 1 has become the higher priority.

"Our office space is split in two; a large part of the administration side is on the other side of the station," Ballmann said. "The sewer system is 50 years old and it's starting to fail. We want to remodel the station to make it more workable."

Ballmann said the bond issue will allow the district to retire debts on a ladder truck and lease/purchase agreements for stations 4 and 5.

The bond money will go for mostly larger capital improvements: equipment, Hurst tools, fire stations, trucks, hydraulic tools and turnout gear. The purchase of a new pumper truck could cost the district as much as $500,000. But that does come with a hose.