Demand for temporary workers is surging, especially in manufacturing, providing a sign that the Inland Northwests economy is improving, temporary-help agencies here say.


Demand for employees has grown strongly in several sectors since the second quarter of 2004 after several lean years, and the upward swing is expected to continue this year as the U.S. economy picks up more momentum, they say.


I am very optimistic, says Alethea McCann, owner of Spherion Staffing Services Inc., of Spokane. In Spokane, its not a, wham, look at all this of business. Its consistently improving, remarkably so. Its a big chain reaction.


Temporary-help executives believe, however, that increased employment in the manufacturing sector is one of the key signs of economic growth.


Strong demand for workers (in manufacturing) means companies are getting new orders, and the first thing they do is hire temporary workers to augment their staff, says Debbie Walker, Kelly Services Inc.s Spokane regional manager. If manufacturing companies feel confident, they will make those temporary workers permanent.


After manufacturing companies decide to ramp up their production, they typically add employees to market, sell, and distribute their products, those in the temp-help industry say.


Temp-help agencies began noticing increased demand for manufacturing workers last year.


Last summer, we felt companies were gearing up, McCann says. We expect lots of positions to become available this month. So far, the first quarter of this year has been a lot better than the first quarter of last year.


Despite the seemingly rosy outlook, some are more cautious when evaluating the health of the manufacturing industry and the economy here.


Manufacturing has come back, but it has shifted, says Tom Droz, owner of the Manpower Inc. personnel agency here. There is manufacturing work to do.


I am a bit guarded. The problem is uncertainty. We dont know what companies are going to do.


Heavy industrial work might not be gaining here, but requests for temporary workers for assembly and light-industrial jobs have rebounded nicely from the recent recession, says Julie Prafke, chairwoman, president, and CEO of Humanix Corp., of Spokane.


Humanixs January revenues were up 45 percent from the year-earlier month, Prafke says. The company places about 600 temporary workers a week.


The manufacturing sector is a significant part of our business, Prafke says. I think the increased demand is due to the strength of the general economy, and that companies are making capital improvements.


At Industrial Personnel Inc., a Coeur dAlene temporary-help agency that supplies manufacturing operations and construction companies with temporary workers, revenues were up 31 percent in 2004, says Clyde Montgomery, the companys vice president.


Manufacturers are spending money on improving their plants, and that helped us have a great year, says Montgomery. Those upgrades probably mean they will hire more workers for their plants.


Industrial Personnel estimates that it has been placing between 200 and 250 people in temporary jobs every week, and says thats up significantly from a year ago.


Its so hard to keep track of the workers we place because there is so much temp-to-hire going on out there, he says. Temp-to-hire refers to cases in which workers are hired as temps at first and then are made permanent employees. Most of my (temporary) employees get hired on with clients or find other full-time manufacturing jobs, Montgomery says. My biggest problem is turnover.


Temporary-help agencies continue to see an increase in what they call their direct-hire business, through which they refer job candidates to employers who want to fill positions on a permanent, rather than temporary, basis. Those jobs are typically executive-type positions, industry watchers say.


Were starting to get that to wake up, says Droz. For a couple of years, its been pretty dry, and when its down people dont hire anybody.