Posted on Wed, Nov. 11, 2009

In what may be a sign of good news to come, local temp agencies report slight increases in demand for their workers.

Temp workers traditionally are the first rehired when companies need more labor but aren't confident enough about the future to hire regular employees.

On a national level, the rebound has been more robust. The demand for temp workers is up 23 percent since the beginning of the year, reports the American Staffing Association.

The hiring of temp workers has tended to lead that of full-time workers by three to six months, said Richard Wahlquist, the association's president and CEO.

But, he cautioned, every recovery is different.

"What we learned is that past data hasn't been a very good predictor in terms of a recession's shape and depth and duration," he said.

Temp agencies are seeing their clients restock inventories that had fallen to unrealistically low levels in the winter and spring, said Shirley Martin-Smith, owner of the Wichita-area franchise of Adecco.

"Inventory is depleted," she said. "They have to have a certain level just to take care of their customers."

But while their clients may be seeing more business, they want to stay flexible on their labor costs, in case demand falls flat in 2010.

"Until they see things get a little steadier, they're doing everything they can to keep from hiring on permanently," said John Weber, district manager of Manpower.

Greg Meadows, owner of Advanced Personnel, said his business is up 8 to 10 percent.

But the owner of one local company that uses Meadows' employees said the government assistance aimed at helping laid-off workers is hindering him from hiring his temp workers full time.

Marc Langlois, president and owner of Advanced Welding Technologies, 2020 W. Second St., supplies the military aircraft industry.

He has 20 full-time and seven temporary workers. He said he wants to convert the temps to full-time, although his business remains precarious — he had to lay off six workers this week.

He said that if he took the temps on full-time and then had to lay them off, he'd have to pay 65 percent of their COBRA health care cost.

Reach Dan Voorhis at 316-268-6577 or dvoorhis@wichitaeagle.com.