Las Vegas Sun

November 22, 2009

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UNEMPLOYMENT:

Numbers tell the story: 900 jobs, 76,400 unemployed

By Brian Eckhouse (contact)

Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008 | 2 a.m.

A line of 100 people snaked around the public jobs office in Las Vegas before it opened at 8 a.m. on Monday. It happened again Tuesday. Wednesday, too.

“This is my second home,” says Kelly Temple, 54, who estimates she spends two hours a day there. She was laid off seven months ago from a lumber company, where she was a sales coordinator.

About 2,300 people flooded the JobConnect building on Maryland Parkway south of Desert Inn Road the week of Nov. 17. Another 1,700 visited the North Las Vegas location and 755 went to the Henderson office.

Ron Fletcher, who oversees the local offices for the state, hasn’t seen lines this long since he headed the North Las Vegas bureau in 1994. “Our situation is worsening,” says the chief of field direction and management for the Nevada Employment, Training and Rehabilitation Department.

The last week of November, there were about 900 openings listed at the three area JobConnect offices. About 76,400 people in Southern Nevada are jobless.

“In an orientation, we were told, if anybody offers you a job to take it,” says Thomas Blaquelourde, 52, who hopes for a clerical position in a law office.

David Miller, 34, knows the struggle — and mounting competition — for a precious job more than most. He’s been looking for a mechanic’s or machinist’s job for a year, after he returned from a long Army National Guard tour in Iraq.

Being a veteran is beneficial — JobConnect, a service he’s been using for the past month, places a premium on military service — but he doesn’t own the tools needed for many of these jobs, so he’s been on the outside looking in.

His bank account is emptying as he pays support for two children, rent that he can no longer afford and monthly bills on his $12,000 in credit card debt.

Anna Caputo, an employment counselor at the Las Vegas JobConnect, pores over job listings with Miller. Republic Services, the garbage hauler, needs a mechanic, but Miller doesn’t have tools for that job, either. There’s a $25-an-hour position as a driver, but he doesn’t have a commercial driver’s license.

One job seems like a decent fit, as a door fabricator in Henderson. The next listing pays well and has full benefits — with the possibility of overtime — but he’s already ruled it out. It requires experience on a lathe, which he doesn’t have.

Fletcher learns of Miller’s struggle and asks a Veterans counselor to provide him with further individual assistance.

Among others seeking help at JobConnect offices last week:

• Pilar Grey, 41, who four months ago was let go after four years as a patient receptionist at a medical imaging company. She’s visited JobConnect offices every week since, and has applied for 25 jobs. She contacted area hospitals on her own and is hopeful she’ll be able to get an interview at the U.S. Census Bureau for an office clerk job.

• Lenda Robbins, 64, who screened passengers at McCarran International Airport until her retirement 18 months ago. She needs to return to work after the value of her investments portfolio dropped 30 percent. She frets that her age will be a detriment as she competes for clerical positions with younger applicants, and recognizes she may have a six-month search before her.

• Jim Hairfield, 70, an industrial engineer who recently lost his job. He has the same fear as Robbins: “No matter what they say, there are prejudices out there. Who wants to hire me if they can hire a 25-year-old?”

• George West, 42, who lost his real estate office job in mid-October and works just eight hours a week as a security guard at a lounge on the Strip. He’s inquired about work at other clubs, but the ones he’s visited aren’t hiring. He continues to check the job boards in Henderson.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

  1. By boingo
    12/7/08 at 7:12 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    I wish everyone cited in this article, as well as all the struggling folks out there, the best of luck. I feel tremendously grateful that I have a stable job right now, although nobody is truly secure nowadays...

  2. By jfnance32
    12/7/08 at 8:06 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    We need to radically raise taxes on businesses to fund Lord Rogers dreams.

    That will really help those businessess that are trying to survive and reduce layoffs in the private sector.

  3. By johnevegas
    12/7/08 at 9:25 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    "We need to radically raise taxes on businesses to fund Lord Rogers dreams."

    I agree that we should raise taxes, but only your's Jim, and only because I'm bored with your sarcasm about raising taxes.

  4. By fremmasmind
    12/7/08 at 11:03 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    Those of you who work around the hotel and construction industries get a birds eye view of why there are a number of our citizens on the breadlines. Employers should be forced to use the e-verify database at homeland security to weed out the undocumented aliens and make room for the Americans who need a job.

  5. By stevem
    12/7/08 at 11:09 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    i'm in the exact same boat as these guys.

    i was a real estate agent in las vegas and there just wasn't enough going through the pipeline anymore so i moved from las vegas ( that i love ) back to st. louis to "get on my feet again" and live at my parents' house for a few months until i could get an apartment and man...

    there is nothing here either and st. louis is a much larger, diverse city.

    i'm at the point i'm applying for anything. even retail and there's an adult video store a few miles away from my house and they had a job come up on craigslist on friday morning and i immediately got in the car, drove down and when i got there 3 other people were there asking for applications.

    people are just taking anything right now. just something to feed themselves. it's not even about paying the mortgage or the credit cards now.

    it's about survival and i have a really bad feeling we have more bad times to come. i think even if you HAVE a job, you should think about getting a second one just to have a few extra dollars because if you DID lose your "day job" it might be weeks before you found even a part-time one.

  6. By davemedsker
    12/8/08 at 6:34 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    We live in an amazing time. Joblessness like this just a couple of hundred years ago would have led to starvation and other health challenges. Noone with humility and half a brain will go hungry or without shelter and clothing. What a great country. As an employer I appreciate this situation, this competition for jobs which leads to greater quality for my clients. I doubt that anyone that can point out to the profitability they contribute to shareholders will lose their job, and those that can't will find jobs where they directly affect profitability or they will go on depending on others for their sustenance. For my company, we let three people go four months ago when the phone stopped ringing. The remaining two guys and myself gave up salary and benefits to save the company and started begging for work in parking lots which turned things around in less than two months. I just brought back the most productive of the former guys, and everyone else is welcome who is willing to do their own marketing and sales(anyone, check reconpartner website, and if you don't have money for training and tools we'll find an internship or apprentice program). In the previous story a fellow didn't apply to a job because he didn't have lathe experience. The local woodworkers club is full of retireds that would love to teach someone how to work a lathe, I couldn't get away from them the minute they started sharing their passions for wood and wood tools. One of the best hires I ever made was a fellow fresh out of prison with no tools. I loaned him tools and paid him half what he was worth for a year till he replaced his tools and earned a raise that doubled his pay. There is always a way for those who are willing, perhaps some people don't want it unless it's given to them. We are so lucky.

  7. By azsk8fan
    12/8/08 at 11:26 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    Amazing how even in these tough times people seem to have money to spend on smut.

  8. By azsk8fan
    12/8/08 at 11:31 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    If you don't have a police record and can pass a drug test try applying at some local Security agencies such as Guardsmark, Securitas, AlliedBarton, Green Valley Security - to this very day these companies are still looking to hire good, dependable people. The pay sucks, which probably explains why Security companies are ALWAYS hiring - but $9 or $10 hr. is better than nothing.

  9. By tvegas
    12/8/08 at 4:59 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    Why don't these people start their own business instead of whining there are no jobs...everybody wants a handout

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