Business
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Business editor: Chris Cashman • ccashman@shawmedia.com
THE MARKETS
Friday, August 9, 2013 Northwest Herald
“It’s not just a temporary job ... a lot of them then get eventually hired.” 27.65
Tom Greeno, co-owner of Express Employment Professionals
15498.32
15.12 3669.12
6.57 1697.48
OIL
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35.92 45.06 46.02 50.39 461.01 60.34 35.29 61.71 73.16 72.22 40.2 44.94 63.8 10.2 36.91 31.35 91.78 38.54 16.98 36.01 892.66 33.94 187.93 54.83 51.02 56.21 18.76 98.04 32.89 13.61 57.13 11.06 84.68 15.76 24.95 41.92 96.00 13.86 7.93 71.22 34.81 77.25 49.89 43.09 40.95
-0.01 +0.49 +0.28 +0.22 -3.97 +0.84 -0.30 +0.82 +1.52 +0.34 +0.05 -0.24 +0.46 -0.82 +0.62 +0.51 +0.44 -0.33 +0.21 +0.53 +2.01 +0.11 -0.63 -0.47 +0.06 +1.01 +0.44 -0.29 +0.83 +0.29 +0.65 +0.06 -0.08 -0.02 +0.29 +0.14 +0.49 +0.09 +0.17 -0.46 +0.75 -0.12 +0.20 +0.29 -0.17
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Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Terri Greeno, left, co-owner of Express Employment Professionals in Crystal Lake, leads a staff meeting in the Crystal Lake office.
Express yourself CL staffing agency celebrates its 10th year Express Employment Professionals
By CHRIS CASHMAN ccashman@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Dominick Zera, 24, of Wauconda, recently walked out of Express Employment Professionals in Crystal Lake with a job in his pocket. It was a temporary job for a week or two, but he hoped it would become full-time. “I’m going to show them what I’m made of,” he said. Inside the office at 829 Virginia Road, front office coordinator Kendra Goldsand was busy answering phones. “We have two opportunities for you,” she said on the phone to a temporary employee. “One that starts today for 12 hours. ... It’s a guaranteed paycheck.” Over the past 10 years, Express Employment Professionals in Crystal Lake has filled “tens of thousands” of positions, said co-owner Terri Greeno of Algoquin. Opportunities like the one Zera was pursuing “allows them to leverage their efforts because we work with hundreds of companies in McHenry County,” she said. “When a person comes in to interview with us, they may be a candidate for any number of companies,” she said. “We can talk to
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
them about what they’re looking for and discuss their opportunities, and then they can decide what they want to pursue.” “It’s not just a temporary job,” added co-owner Tom Greeno. “We expect the people to do a great job,
and a lot of them then get eventually hired.” Getting a job through Express Employment involves much more than handing in a résumé. “We follow a certain process. We do what we say we do,” Terri Greeno said. “When
people come in, they go through an interview. We find out their continuity, their work history, covering any gaps. We ask them what they can, will and want to do, their availability, their mobility. We check their references and skills test them. Sometimes drug tests and background tests,” she said. Express Employment Professionals provides temporary help and direct-hire employees in a variety of fields, including administrative, commercial, data processing, technical, sales and marketing.
See EXPRESS, page E2
U.S. average rate on 30-year loan at 4.40 pct. WASHINGTON – Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages barely changed this week, giving prospective homebuyers time to lock in relatively low rates. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average on the 30-year loan edged up to 4.40 percent from 4.39 percent last week. The rate is a full percentage point higher than in early May, when rates neared record lows. But rates remain low by historical standards. The average on the 15-year fixed loan was unchanged at 3.43 percent. Mortgage rates spiked in June after Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated the Federal Reserve could slow its bond purchases later this year. The bond purchases have kept long-term interest rates low, encouraging more borrowing and spending. Despite the recent rate increases, mortgages remain a bargain for those who can qualify. Low rates have boosted home sales and prices, contributing to a housing recovery that has helped drive economic growth this year. Greater demand, along with a tight supply of homes for sale, has pushed up home prices. It also has led to more home construction, which has created more jobs.
JCP shares up on report of new CEO search
What: The Crystal Lake Express Employment Professionals franchise began operation in 2003 and serves the McHenry County area with temporary help and direct-hire employees in a variety of fields, including administrative, commercial, data processing, technical, sales, marketing and more Where: 829 Virginia Road, Suite D, Crystal Lake Information: Call 815-788-8556 or visit www.expressproscrystallake.com
Tom Greeno, co-owner of Express Employment Professionals in Crystal Lake, talks with staff during a meeting last week.
8BUSINESS ROUNDUP
NEW YORK – J.C. Penney shares jumped 6 percent on Thursday on a media report that the retailer is starting a new CEO search to replace Mike Ullman. Ullman, who had been J.C. Penney’s CEO from 2004 to 2011, retook the reins in April after Penney CEO Ron Johnson was ousted after 17 months on the job after a radical makeover of the chain failed to boost results. CNBC reported that the company is seeking a new CEO and that activist investor Bill Ackman sent a letter to J.C. Penney’s board saying the process should be sped up. Former J.C. Penney CEO Allen Questrom, who ran the company from 2000 to 2004, said in an on-air interview on CNBC he would consider coming aboard as chairman under the right circumstances, if he agreed on the choice of CEO and as long as the board wasn’t hostile. Ackman’s Pershing Square had no immediate comment. Questrom and representatives for J.C. Penney could not immediately be reached.
– From wire reports
Measure of jobless claims falls to 6-year low By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON – A measure of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits over the past month has fallen to its lowest level in almost six years, signaling fewer layoffs. The Labor Department said Thursday that the average number of people who applied for benefits over the past four weeks dropped 6,250 to 335,500. That’s the lowest level since November 2007, the month before the Great Recession began. The four-week average smooths week to week fluctuations. Weekly applications for unemployment aid increased by 5,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 333,000. But that’s up only slightly from the previous week’s 5½-year low. The decrease in the four-week average points to an encouraging trend for the job market. Applications, which are a proxy for layoffs, have fallen more than 10 percent since the start of the year. That’s helped drive net job gains this year,
which show the number of people hired minus the number who lose or quit their jobs. Economists were hopeful that the drop in layoffs could lead to some strengthening in the job market. Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, called the decline in the four-week moving average “very good news indeed.” But Bricklin Dwyer, an economist at BNP Paribas, cautioned that the unemployment claims figures so far have signaled only modest healing in the labor market. “In terms of job growth, we have seen a disconnect between the level of hiring and firing,” Dwyer said. Employers added 162,000 jobs last month, the fewest since March. And most of the job growth came in lower-paying industries or part-time work. Since January, the economy has added an average of 192,000 jobs a month, a solid number of net jobs. It doesn’t take many hires to create a high net gain when employers are letting go of so few workers. But while employers are no longer cutting jobs, many remain reluctant to
AP file photo
Americorps volunteer John Harris III, who is helping to coordinate a jobs fair program, fills out some documents for job seekers in Washington. hire in the face of tax increases, federal spending cuts and slower global growth. Layoffs have averaged 1.5 million a month this year through June, even fewer than the 1.77 million averaged in the pre-recession
year of 2006. But total hiring in June actually declined 289,000 to 4.2 million, the latest data available. That’s down from a year earlier and the biggest one-month drop in hiring since June 2010.