DAYTON TOP 100

THE MIAMI VALLEY IS HUMMING, BUT NEEDS MORE SKILLED WORKERS

Doug Scholz is a home builder who too often has to tell people he can't build their homes.

Scholz's Vandalia-based company, Unibuilt Industries Inc., constructs about five modular homes per week, but they could build another two houses a week if they could find enough workers.

And the problem becomes more painful each day for Scholz, who says he could increase the company's annual revenue by 20 percent if he could find more workers.

`(Employers) have two choices in today's job market: They can hire from the unemployed, who are less skilled, or they can steal people from other employers,'' said Scholz, whose company generated $28.5 million in sales.

`It's very frustrating. Every day we have a certain amount of work and can't get it done because we can't find the people.'

Plenty of the Miami Valley's businesses share Unibuilt's misery.

Ohio's 4.2 percent unemployment rate means scores of companies are strapped for qualified workers. With a hot economy and a stagnant population, the outlook isn't likely to change. More than 60 percent of the 1999 Dayton Top 100 privately held companies, as compiled by Arthur Andersen, say they plan to add workers in the next 12 months.

Slightly more than half of the 1999 Dayton Top 100 companies report that a lack of qualified workers is one of the most significant challenges to the survival of their business.

``It is a problem. You used to be able to run an ad in the paper and get 100 applicants. You don't get that anymore,'' said Don Eadie, marketing manager for Dimco-Gray Co. in Centerville. ``We haven't had to turn down work (because of the lack of workers), but we are very cautious about how we grow here now.''

Many companies have resorted to more aggressive and costly recruiting: hiring head-hunting firms, using temporary workers, paying signing bonuses, increasing on-the-job training and offering current employees cash bonuses for referring job candidates.

``We can get workers, we just have to intensify the training . . . You got a better-qualified candidate six or seven years ago than you have today,'' said Philip Weeda, chief executive of Presto America's Favorite Food. Weeda said the company, a wholesale distributor of frozen and cold foods, spends more time teaching new employees basic skills.

Raj Soin, founder of MTC International, a holding company for several engineering, computing, manufacturing and management companies with more than 1,000 employees, said, ``We are trying anything we can to get good people.'' The company, for example, brought 45 computer programmers from India to work for MTC International companies, he said.

Larry Klaben, owner of Morris Home Furnishings, said if he had more staff, he'd probably have more sales. ``This is the first year we've had to go to this many methods to attract people and we probably have 10 to 15 positions open. That's about 10 percent of our work force,'' Klaben said. Morris takes part in job fairs, offers signing bonuses up to $3,000 and pays internal referral fees of $250 to attract workers. And Klaben couldn't resist saying: ``If I could give a plug to our industry, many people don't realize how fun the home furnishing industry is.''

Other companies don't have a problem finding workers, but keeping them is another story.

High turnover has always plagued the food and restaurant industry, but the tight job market has made it even more difficult for some companies to maintain a stable work force.

`It's been a struggle matching up the right people with the jobs we need filled,' said Eric Marcus, president of Western Ohio Pizza Inc., the nation's fourth-largest Domino's Pizza franchise.

Western Ohio employs about 800 people. But Marcus distributed nearly 2,500 W-2 tax-withholding forms last year. Just 400 of Marcus' employees worked the entire year, which means the other 400 jobs were filled by about 2,000 different workers.

`We have had a revolving door,' Marcus said. `I think the key today is to create an environment that people like working in. I believe we have done that in most of our stores, but it's still more of a challenge than ever to maintain a stable work force.'

A comprehensive study of employers in Dayton and eight Miami Valley counties released a year ago showed there were 48,700 jobs available. Nearly 1,800 area employers were polled in the study conducted by the University of Dayton and Wright State University to determine work force needs. The most plentiful jobs offered salaries between $12,000 and $23,000 annually. But, at the other end of the spectrum, more than 350 manufacturing jobs paying more than $40,000 a year were open, according to the study.

The situation isn't expected to change any time soon.

``Overall, the (local) labor market is very tight and should remain tight for the rest of the year. There's nothing on the horizon to suggest a recession,'' said Robert Premus, economics professor at Wright State University. ``For people looking for jobs, it remains favorable. For companies looking for employees, it's hard.''

Nationally, the unemployment picture is not that different from Ohio's.

`The slight increase in the unemployment rate (in March) is in line with similar increases in the unemployment rate nationally. Overall, Ohio continues to have a strong and growing labor market," said James Mermis, Ohio Bureau of Employment Services' interim administrator.

Some information-technology companies are getting involved in efforts to ``grow our own'' computer programmers and software engineers. The IT Alliance, a nonprofit group of universities and IT companies, has a work force development program to help generate more technical workers so growth of IT companies does not stagnate.

``The answers aren't immediate, but if you don't start now you're never going to fix it,'' said Chester Harris of the Gasper Corp., a member of the IT Alliance.

The IT Alliance is concerned that a scarcity of technical workers will hamper the potential growth of IT companies in the Miami Valley. It appears that is already happening.

A lack of computer programmers has slowed the pace of growth at UCR Computers, said Chief Executive David Yu. ``Sometimes we just get by until we can find the appropriate person.''

Richard Stock, senior research associate with the University of Dayton's Center for Business and Economic Research, said the Dayton area's economy is slowly evolving from a manufacturing-dominated one to service-sector jobs.

But not all service jobs are low-wage. Many of the Miami Valley's service jobs are in the IT area, where wages for computer techs are on the high end. Stock said tracking those IT jobs is difficult because many computer-tech jobs are hidden within manufacturing and other sectors.

Even jobs that require manual labor are offering salaries well above $30,000, with full health benefits to lure more workers.

`We need drywall finishers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters . . . and they are just so hard to find and keep,' said Unibuilt's Scholz. `After two years, our workers can make more than $35,000 with full benefits and a 401K plan, but that still doesn't seem to be enough. Low unemployment has us all scrambling.''

DAYTON TOP 100 1999
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