Region's employers optimistic about more hiring

Dan Kendra has two job openings at Precision Solutions Inc., a Quakertown company that calibrates scales.

Two jobs isn't particularly impressive - except in context. Kendra hasn't hired a new person at his 17-employee company in five years and, he said, next year might be the best sales year his company has ever had.

Kendra's hiring outlook matched the mood Friday at the MidAtlantic Employers' Association's annual business trend forecast meeting - upbeat, despite last month's news from the U.S. Labor Department that, in November, the region was among the poorest performers in job growth in the nation.

"Last year, we were seeing signs of strength, but it was partial strength," Kevin P. Robins, chief executive of the association, told the couple of dozen employers who finished a breakfast of baked oatmeal and coffee as they listened at the association's King of Prussia offices.

"People were feeling good, but not feeling good too far out," Robins said. "What we're seeing today is that optimism is continuing and it's becoming stronger."

Now, Robins said, employers worry that as they expand payrolls, they will have to compete for a shrinking labor supply.

That means, economist Joel Naroff told the group, that they are going to have to pay higher wages.

"There's a disconnect between the business community and what they want out of the economy, and the business community in terms of what they want to pay their workers," he said.

During the recession, Naroff said, employers developed a psychology of paying employees the minimum, and recession-scarred employees developed the psychology of being too scared about losing their jobs to take a chance on a new job.

To overcome that fear, employers need to extend job offers that prospective employees can't refuse, Naroff said.

The session dovetailed with the release of the annual National Business Trends Survey prepared by the Employer Associations of America, a group of 33 regional associations, including the MidAtlantic Employers' Association, that help 35,000 midsize companies with human resources issues.

Nationally and in the Northeastern United States, business owners say that business is good and they plan to hire.

Robins said the survey shows employers in the region are optimistic, with 57 percent planning to increase staffing and 36 percent planning to maintain the status quo by filling open positions.

The survey also said that four out of five employers in the Northeastern U.S. plan to increase wages and 15 percent plan to pay a lump sum award at hiring.

The hiring news matches what employers at the breakfast said they've been experiencing.

Tyler Ridgeway provides recruiting services to clients of Kreischer Miller P.C., an accounting and consulting firm in Horsham.

He said that firms are finally beginning to hire middle and upper-middle management, replacing the layer that was axed during the recession.

"I'm telling my clients, they have to pay more to get A-list people," he said.

Michael G. Beck, president and chief executive of DVL Group Inc., in Bristol, said he is sweetening the pot to attract and retain employees at the distributor of heating, air-conditioning, and ventilation systems for businesses and data centers.

Worried about finding workers, his company beefed up in 2014, adding 15 employees to bring the workforce to 120. Four more came on in January.

"Thumbs up," said Beck, describing his business. "I'm sitting looking at a perfect storm," but in a good way.

"We have a hot construction market," he said, and there's a demand for DVL's energy efficient products and services.

"It's a competitive environment," Beck added, "and you have to pay a competitive wage to get people."

He said he told his finance people Friday to make sure to budget wage increases for 2015.