Companies say they're seeing more reasons to hire
When Chad Richardson was laid off from his position as a structural engineer in Harrisburg, Pa., last October, he expanded his job search as far south as Greenville. That’s where it ended.
Richardson said he feels “fortunate” to be a senior structural engineer at O’Neal, a Greenville-based design and consulting firm. “My wife and I call it ‘going where the food is,’” he said. “As long as the economy here in the Upstate is strong, as we see with the number of firms in the area, this is home.”
Rob Evans, recruiting manager for O’Neal’s offices here and in Raleigh and Atlanta, said engineers are seeing “more opportunities in the Upstate. It seems like things in general are healthier and the economy as a whole is stronger.”
South Carolina’s unemployment rate fell a tick to 9.6 percent in August, while Greenville County’s rate dropped from 7.9 percent to 7.6 percent, second-best in the state. Pickens’ rate of 8.5 percent was second-best in the 10-county Upstate.
Alec Friedhoff, a research analyst at the Brookings Institute, said the Greenville metropolitan area’s employment growth rate fell from the first through second quarters. As a result, the Greenville metro fell from 21 to 32 in Brookings’ quarterly performance report among the nation’s top 100 metros.
“Greenville is in this period of sort of leveling off of the recovery and actually starting a bit of a decline,” he told GreenvilleOnline.com. But Chrystal Metz, 50, of Greenville, feels the economy is looking up. Metz, who is trying to re-enter the job market by taking a manufacturing course at Greenville Tech, said, “I see hope. I see jobs.”
Brian Gallagher, marketing director at O’Neal, has a similar view. His firm has seen, in the past couple of months, “a number of new and existing clients invest in capital projects, maintenance programs, expansions and even some greenfield activity. We’ve been encouraged by that and that has driven us to expand our employment base.”
Other Upstate companies see a brighter future as well. For example, Michelin North America’s plan to hire 2,000 new employees across its manufacturing plants is “on target,” said Brian Remsburg, spokesman for the Greenville-based company.
Evans said O’Neal has about 250 employees now, and by the end of the year, “We expect to be pushing near 300.” “Historically speaking, we would see a little bit of a slowdown with our clients, with recruiting or with business in general as you get to the end of the year,” Evans said. “This year, that appears to be moving in the other direction. We’re actually ramping up and hiring.”
Just about every Monday morning, O’Neal has two or three new employees sitting in its lobby, ready to start their first day of work, Gallagher said. “That’s been pretty consistent throughout this year and probably will continue,” he said.
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