Temps heating up job market

In five years, demand has increased almost 60 percent

James McKoy (sitting) discusses job openings for clients with Demont Daniel (left), branch manager at PrideStaff, and owner Robert Daniel.

The job description was brief but specific: A 6-foot-6-inch, 200-pound Italian man with thick, black hair, wearing a “Men In Black”-type suit. It was a temporary position for “an aspiring Las Vegas convention secret service agent,” and it was up for grabs. Demont Daniel had seen plenty of job requests as branch manager of temporary employment agency PrideStaff, but this one topped them all. It was humorous, he said, but Daniel had to reject it because it violated the firm’s equal opportunity employer standards. The company would not get the agent it wanted after all.

In a typical month, Daniel’s agency has to find as many as 400 workers for clients such as the MGM Grand.

The job market for temporary employment is growing locally and nationally. Over the past five years, demand for temporary workers increased across the country by almost 60 percent and is expected to rise another 13 percent by 2019, according to Business News Daily. In Las Vegas, the number of temporary jobs posted by staffing agencies increased about 5 percent from February 2013 to November 2014 and is rising again, according to CareerBuilder.

In a typical week, Manpower of Southern Nevada can receive requests for up to 800 employees for temporary or full-time work. Millenium Staffing Services gets requests for 600 to 900 workers per week, CEO Jennifer DeHaven said.

The increase could be employers’ response to years of uncertainty after the Great Recession. Rather than take a chance making permanent hires, companies look to temporary workers to counter fluctuations in the market.

“You can hire temporary staff for those peaks and valleys,” DeHaven said.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority hires temporary workers to help clean up after big conventions. The agency typically hosts about seven shows a year that require half a dozen temporary janitorial workers.

“For us, it’s a manpower issue,” LVCVA spokesman Jeremy Handel said. “It’s a matter of keeping the campus clean.”

Temporary employment also can save companies time and money. As of December, it cost private employers an average of $31.62 an hour for employee compensation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If workers are hired as temps, such benefits aren’t required.

Companies also are spared the headache of vetting applicants, as workers are listed on the staffing agency’s payroll.

“We do the background checks and interview the people, and we will match the skill sets with the firm,” Daniel said.

Companies also are freed from having to worry about severance and unemployment pay.

“A lot of companies want the flexibility of ending someone’s assignment if they’re not a good fit or if there is no longer a demand for the product or output,” DeHaven said. “They’re not having to bring on the cost of a full-time employee.”

Temporary hires are a particularly attractive option for startups because their future can be uncertain.

“When you’re in a startup, you need to get a lot of things done and you’re always understaffed,” said Hans Rawhouser, an assistant professor at UNLV’s Lee Business School. “Once you take on an employee, there’s a lot of legal obligations. Temporary employees help you make sure you have the right person before you hire them on.”

It’s not just companies that benefit from such hires. Temporary employees make an average of $25 an hour and typically hold positions for as long as five years depending on the field, DeHaven said. IT workers can make as much as $100 an hour, said Jeff Parker, vice president of Manpower of Southern Nevada.

When Ryan Ellison, 33, worked as a temp for LV Liquidators, his contract was extended from two days to two weeks. He made $500 in a week.

“You go in, you break your back, you do your job,” Ellison said. “Eventually, they will recognize you.”

Competition for workers can be fierce — a dramatic shift from the recession years, when national unemployment reached 9.8 percent and Las Vegas’ jobless rate skyrocketed to 14.7 percent. Then, workers were plentiful. Now, with the local unemployment rate less than 7 percent, there are significantly fewer applicants.

“It’s getting much more difficult to find qualified talent here in Las Vegas,” said Brian Wolf, branch manager of Manpower of Southern Nevada. “People are finding full-time work where there wasn’t full-time work in the past.”

Not all companies have adjusted to the shift. CareerBuilder found that from February 2013 to January, the number of Las Vegans seeking employment was fewer than half the number of jobs available.

“It’s hard to convince people to leave a job, especially if they’re in a full-time job,” Parker said. “When employers are going out to look for a potential employee, the employer needs to keep in mind that there are lots of companies hiring. I think that’s where the misconception is. It’s still a buyer’s market.”

With the competition comes the need for companies to be creative. Daniel said making a job description attractive through storytelling could mean the difference in landing a coveted employee.

“There are so many job postings out there, so you’re competing with that visibility,” Daniel said.

Finding temporary workers may require slicker marketing than in the past, but it still is a win-win for companies and workers.

“I think the talent is here in Las Vegas,” Wolf said. “Being a temporary employee, in a lot of circumstances, is a way for you to get your foot in the door or move your way up in a company.”

Business

Share