Staffing Agencies In Ohio See Business Declines Amid COVID Outbreak

More than 135,000 workers in Ohio every week actually work for temporary staffing agencies. And though it isn’t clear yet how many of those workers have been affected by the economic downturn, staffing agencies here in Ohio say many of their employees aren’t working.

Staffing Agencies In Ohio See Business Declines Amid COVID Outbreak

At Barry Staff in Dayton, roughly half of their workers can’t report to their jobs because of the coronavirus.

“It's put a big burden on folks,” says Agency President, Doug Barry. “They’ve had to be laid off during this point in time or, you know, whatever job they were doing, whatever company they're at has had to slow down.”

He says before the COVID outbreak his firm couldn’t keep up with the demand for workers.

“It doesn't matter, really, what industry or what level, we had a huge worker shortage and COVID has taken care of that for us right now.”

At Crown Staffing Solutions in Columbus, many workers are out of jobs there, too. But Communications Director Christy Clark says Crown is encouraging workers to use this time to its potential.

“It's a great time to update resumés. It's a great time to learn new skills,” she says.  “I think if we take this time to do that, we're going to really come out of this. Most people will as the quarantine is lifted.”

She says staffing agencies tend to do well at the end of recessions, when a growing workforce is needed. Clark says Crown Staffing expects to be very busy again, once work restrictions are lifted.

Copyright 2020 WYSO. To see more, visit WYSO.