Call centre industry thriving: call centre industry injects $8.5 million annually into economy.

The growth of the call centre industry in Thunder Bay will be continuing with the arrival of Minnesota-based Young America. This new economy industry is significantly adding to the creation of new jobs and the diversification of the local economy, says an economic development officer with the city.

Young America will be joining the three existing call centre companies in the city, which began to arrive in 1999. The call centres in operation presently - RMH, NFO CF Group and RMG - employ 1,350 people in Thunder Bay. Young America will be hiring up to 450 employees, making the industry one of the largest employment groups in the city's private sector.

Richard Pohler, economic development officer with Development Thunder Bay, says U.S.-based call centres are attracted to the area because of the labour pool and the currency exchange rate. He says that employees tend to be primarily younger people in the 25 to 35-year-old age group.

Pohler estimates that the industry has injected $8.5 million into the local economy, and notes that it provides total annual salaries of about $18 million. He says the average hourly wage starts at $8.00, however, some centres have averaged over $14.00 per hour with employee incentives.

"We are regularly getting inquiries from call centres who are interested in Thunder Bay," he says, "Over a recent two-day period I received four (inquiries)."

Pohler says that the city would like to achieve a balance when it comes to this new economy industry. He says the city would like to see some smaller, specialized call centres providing technical support or specialized service. Call centres of this nature would require higher skilled employees and higher pay. The city's municipally-owned telephone company recently received $800,000 from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. to beef up its infrastructure to support the call centre industry.

Young America is headquartered in Chanhaseen, Minn. and has been in the "customer fulfillment" business for' 30 years. The company provides inbound call centre services, and provides customer relationship management for Fortune 500 companies who want to outsource this function. The company was privately held until 1999 at which time it was recapitalizied and a majority of its stock was purchased by BT Capital Partners, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bankers Trust in New York. In June 1999 Bankers Trust was acquired by Deutsche Bank.

Clyde Swain Jr., vice-president of consumer affairs says the' two main drivers for Young America's decision to make Thunder Bay their second Canadian operation was the availability of real estate - 27,000 square feet on one level - and workforce availability that meets the company's profile for employees.

Swain says the industry has been experiencing an annual growth rate of 20 per cent, and over the last two years there has been a movement in the industry away from establishing call centres in off-shore locations such as India and the Philippines.