Businesses want more signs of recovery before hiring

More disposable income for consumers would help: “Currently, most people don’t have the financial means to implement our improvements, so they don’t have an audit conducted.”

Gamble’s desire to grow but hesitation to hire is shared by millions of other companies, shaping a labor market that is struggling for traction.

Metro Atlanta has shed 8.1 percent of its jobs since late 2007, or 201,000 positions. If the market is going to shift to growth, the signs ought to be visible first at staffing firms, which get calls from companies that need to meet customer demand right away.

For now, the region’s economy teeters in transition: Economic activity shows modest improvement, but many companies are just not convinced that it will last.

So instead of hiring, hopeful-but-cautious firms pick up temporary help to meet demand. If sales fade, they can quickly drop those workers, said Donna Carroll, Atlanta-based senior vice president for Adecco, which provides those workers.

“Companies are starting to use temps to put their toe in the water,” she said.

In most previous recessions, Atlanta suffered less and recovered quicker. Not this time.

While Adecco’s job placements elsewhere are up 10 to 15 percent, the improvement is only marginal in Atlanta, Carroll said.

“January was a time of big enthusiasm,” said Rosemarie Vermeersch, Atlanta-based assistant vice president at Randstad, a large temporary worker firm. “We were talking to our hiring managers who wanted just to turn the page. And then January was a bit of a slow start.”

Some hiring is happening. Companies want receptionists, administrative assistants, executive assistants, human relations specialists and call center workers. Still, Vermersch said,even optimistic companies “are managing the recovery one employee at a time.”

Meanwhile, the flow of unemployed job candidates continues, Vermeersch said. “Since the end of the last quarter it has been very steady. A high flow, but steady.”

Manpower, a Randstad rival, also has seen added demand, especially for call center staffing and “skilled trades like warehouse and forklift operators,” said Beth Herman, regional director in Atlanta. “They want temps because the need is immediate and now. They are not going to hire people full-time until they are convinced the work is here to stay.”

Most economists say recovery hinges largely on housing, but all indications are that real estate’s turn will be slow. National prices will likely decline about 5 percent more in the next year, said Cameron Findlay, chief economist of LendingTree, the Charlotte-based, online finance and mortgage company.

Atlanta’s home prices, which have fallen proportionally farther, might bottom out sooner, he said. “I see Atlanta prices increasing by 1 percent by the first quarter of next year. My concern is that unemployment numbers will remain relatively high until well into 2011.”

Improvement will be gradual, and recent trends are encouraging, said Edmund Hyland, a global investment specialist for JP Morgan Private Bank’s southeastern region.

“We are not looking for a huge jobs recovery, but the first step is to stop losing jobs,” he said. “One month doesn’t make a trend, but it bodes well.”

Among the positive signs: parent company JP Morgan Chase, which has swallowed the banking operations of Washington Mutual, is now hiring in Atlanta.

For Dallas Gamble’s consulting company, the reason to add workers could be in the pipeline from the federal stimulus package, which included spending for energy efficiency.

“Only a small percentage of that has been spent,” Gamble said. “I don’t know where it is, but it hasn’t reached us yet.”