Enlarge By Atlas Machine and Supply A welder applies the finishing touch to a large crusher roll from a cement plant. The roll was being remanufactured at the Atlas Machine and Supply facility in Louisville, KY., which has seen workers' overtime hours increase recently. About 15 million Americans are jobless. Many of the 139 million still working are, well, really working. Welder Dave Hoskins is averaging 10 to 20 hours a week in overtime this year and sometimes puts in seven 12-hour days in a row. The 37-year-old's arduous schedule often stresses his marriage, especially because he and his wife, Season, have 9-month-old triplets. But his family once again can indulge in steak dinners and even eat out once in a while after scrimping last year. U.S. JOBS OUTLOOK: How is the job market in your state? "We're getting a lot more comfortable," says Hoskins, who lives in Hardinsburg, Ky. "I'd rather be stressed and tired than broke." Millions of workers like Hoskins are piling on the overtime or resuming full-time duty after throttling back to part time during the economic downturn last year. With corporate profits up sharply this year, businesses are extending the hours of employees because they need the extra manpower to meet demand. The trend is a little-noticed bright spot in an otherwise lackluster job market and heralds an eventual surge in hiring, experts say. In May, employers added 41,000 private-sector jobs, far fewer than expected, and the jobless rate is stuck near 10%. At the same time, the average weekly hours of private employees rose for the third month in a row, to 34.2 from 34.1 in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's the highest since January 2009 and the longest streak of monthly gains since before the slump. Average hourly wages rose 7 cents to $22.57. Part time vs. full time Many employers are hesitant to hire because they're worried the recovery will derail, so they're increasing staffers' hours instead, according to interviews with companies and economists. "A lot of companies put people on part time" in the downturn, says Tig Gilliam, CEO of staffing firm Adecco North America. Now, many "are not going to hire again until all the part-time people are full time." Companies in various industries, including computers, accounting and engineering, have been converting part-time employees to full time, Gilliam says. Other businesses, including many manufacturers, are loading up full-time workers with overtime. The strategy keeps a lid on expenses. While employees typically earn a 50% premium for overtime, that's cheaper than paying health care and other benefits for new workers. As firms squeeze more from existing workers, productivity has soared. Yet that can't be sustained, because the productivity of overworked employees eventually wanes, says Joseph LaVorgna, Deutsche Bank's chief U.S. economist. What's more, he says, the workers spend much of their extra income, increasing sales across the economy and the need to hire still more employees. He predicts employers will add about 200,000 jobs a month the second half of the year. Hoskins, who works for Atlas Machine & Supply in Louisville, says his overtime allotment was slashed to just a few hours each week last year, cutting his annual pay to $52,000 from about $65,000. His family stopped eating out and replaced rib-eye steak dinners with hamburger. Now, the welder is largely back to his old schedule and pay, but has resumed only some of his old spending habits. The triplets increased expenses, and Season is working only part time. Atlas, which repairs and rebuilds factory equipment, slashed overtime last year as sales fell 25%, says President Rich Gimmel. This year, he says, with U.S. factory production up sharply, customers who postponed maintenance are demanding service immediately and are willing to pay a premium. Repair revenue is up 15%, and most of Atlas' 140 skilled workers are toiling about nine hours of overtime weekly, with some logging 20 to 30 hours. "We've had guys make more in overtime than in base salary," Gimmel says. He's mulled hiring more employees but worries that new health care legislation and a proposed climate change bill will raise his costs. "We don't want to tie up money in payroll if I have to divert it to other issues." He says he'll hire workers "if we believe the recovery is sustainable ... or if this keeps up for another six months or so. You can't keep working these folks this much overtime," because they'll get fatigued and less efficient. Overtime as a reward Employers are also using overtime to reward workers whose hours were cut last year. Quality Float Works of Schaumburg, Ill., laid off three employees in 2009 and put its remaining 18 on a four-day workweek. Now, sales are surging for the company, which makes metal balls that businesses use to signal when water levels get too high or low in tanks and troughs. Customers depleted their inventories in the slowdown and are panicked, says company President Sandra Westlund-Deenihan. She's giving workers up to nine hours of overtime weekly. Although she hired two staffers recently, she's holding off on further additions. Existing employees "went through the hard times, and I felt I owed it to them first," she says. Some workers are going straight from part time to overtime duty. Houston's W.M. Dewey & Son, which hauls pipes to oil and natural gas fields, saw its revenue fall 20% last year as energy companies shut down wells, says President Bob McDowell. The drop-off hurt truck driver Salvatore Vazquez, who worked just three or four hours a day as his weekly earnings fell from $1,100 in 2008 to the company minimum of $500. He borrowed several thousand dollars to pay for his three daughters' private schools, nixed vacations and stopped eating out. Now, with well-drilling on the rise, Vazquez, 43, works 12-hour days, and his paycheck has swelled to $750. He's paid off the loans, dines out weekly and plans a vacation later this year. "We feel more relaxed," he says. Some businesses are already moving past giving overtime and are hiring again. Porta-King, which makes prefabricated offices, laid off about half its 100 factory workers last year, then boosted overtime in the first quarter as sales rose. But in April, the Earth City, Mo., manufacturer stopped the overtime and hired 30 staffers. "I wasn't going to take a chance of burning people out," says CEO Steve Schulte. 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