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Winebrenner Transfer Inc. secretary Angel Zurvalec, right, chats Friday with company driver Jim Morris at the trucking company's Conococheague location. Zurvalec started with the firm last year as a temporary employee, but later was given full-time status. (By Kevin G. Gilbert/Staff Photographer / September 15, 2012) |
Washington County’s slow recovery from the recession is making employers cautious about whether to hire more workers, according to local job training and employment specialists.
As a result, many of the businesses that are seeing some spurts in sales are asking current employees to work longer hours or are turning to so-called temp firms to supply workers who might or might not still be needed in a few months, said Peter P. Thomas, executive director of the Western Maryland Consortium.
“More companies are offering current employees overtime and using temporary employees,” said Thomas, whose agency has helped the unemployed for decades. “The recovery has been spotty. Temporary (employment) firms are very busy.
“So there’s lots of temporary jobs and that is because companies are still uncertain and they don’t want to make the commitment that you have to make when you hire an employee with benefits.”
For the thousands of area residents still looking for work, this is good news and bad news.
The good is that there is more work.
The bad news is that so many of the new jobs are temporary.
And with Washington County’s unemployment rate at 8.5 percent in July — compared to 3.9 percent in December 2007 when the nation’s recession officially began — finding a full-time permanent job offer is that much harder, unless you have the special skills still in demand.
“From what I’ve read, hiring temporary workers has been the norm throughout the country,” Thomas said. “Employers can get away with that when the unemployment rate is high, whereas when the unemployment rate is low, workers are not as willing to consider temporary jobs.”
Nonetheless, even in this economy, there is a path the jobless can follow to try to turn bad news into good, according to Thomas and local employment specialists.
“When we hire individuals as (temporary) contract employees, we often tell them that a certain percentage of people that are placed at any company will eventually be hired by the client as permanent employees,” said Lisa Coblentz, co-owner and vice president of the Manpower Inc. franchise offices in Hagerstown, Frederick, Md., Martinsburg, W.Va., and Winchester, Va.
“The good news is that the workers themselves can influence what happens,” Coblentz said. “It becomes a responsibility on them as to how they perform.”
Success stories
Angel Zurvalec, 51, and Josh Dietz, 29, are proof there is reason for such hope.
In March 2011, when Zurvalec’s job as a secretary at a construction company ended suddenly, “it was very frightening,” she said.
“I had rent to pay and utilities and all of my bills. And the wait between monies that you can collect on unemployment is probably three or four weeks — turned out, it wouldn’t even cover my rent. And the loss of health insurance. My out-of-pocket cost (on medicine) was $500 a month, so you’re faced with a lot of scary choices.”
Zurvalec said her fiance helped.
“Had I not been engaged, I would have been forced to go back to my parents at 51,” she said.
With more than 20 years as a project assistant doing invoices and payroll for contractors, Zurvalec said she immediately began looking every day for a new job. But, she said, her age and experience hurt her chances.
As a result, many of the businesses that are seeing some spurts in sales are asking current employees to work longer hours or are turning to so-called temp firms to supply workers who might or might not still be needed in a few months, said Peter P. Thomas, executive director of the Western Maryland Consortium.
“More companies are offering current employees overtime and using temporary employees,” said Thomas, whose agency has helped the unemployed for decades. “The recovery has been spotty. Temporary (employment) firms are very busy.
“So there’s lots of temporary jobs and that is because companies are still uncertain and they don’t want to make the commitment that you have to make when you hire an employee with benefits.”
For the thousands of area residents still looking for work, this is good news and bad news.
The good is that there is more work.
The bad news is that so many of the new jobs are temporary.
And with Washington County’s unemployment rate at 8.5 percent in July — compared to 3.9 percent in December 2007 when the nation’s recession officially began — finding a full-time permanent job offer is that much harder, unless you have the special skills still in demand.
“From what I’ve read, hiring temporary workers has been the norm throughout the country,” Thomas said. “Employers can get away with that when the unemployment rate is high, whereas when the unemployment rate is low, workers are not as willing to consider temporary jobs.”
Nonetheless, even in this economy, there is a path the jobless can follow to try to turn bad news into good, according to Thomas and local employment specialists.
“When we hire individuals as (temporary) contract employees, we often tell them that a certain percentage of people that are placed at any company will eventually be hired by the client as permanent employees,” said Lisa Coblentz, co-owner and vice president of the Manpower Inc. franchise offices in Hagerstown, Frederick, Md., Martinsburg, W.Va., and Winchester, Va.
“The good news is that the workers themselves can influence what happens,” Coblentz said. “It becomes a responsibility on them as to how they perform.”
Success stories
Angel Zurvalec, 51, and Josh Dietz, 29, are proof there is reason for such hope.
In March 2011, when Zurvalec’s job as a secretary at a construction company ended suddenly, “it was very frightening,” she said.
“I had rent to pay and utilities and all of my bills. And the wait between monies that you can collect on unemployment is probably three or four weeks — turned out, it wouldn’t even cover my rent. And the loss of health insurance. My out-of-pocket cost (on medicine) was $500 a month, so you’re faced with a lot of scary choices.”
Zurvalec said her fiance helped.
“Had I not been engaged, I would have been forced to go back to my parents at 51,” she said.
With more than 20 years as a project assistant doing invoices and payroll for contractors, Zurvalec said she immediately began looking every day for a new job. But, she said, her age and experience hurt her chances.
