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Jobs scarce and competition stiff
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Judy Robertson (left) was first in line at the N.C. Employment Commission one morning last week.
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Published: December 14, 2008
For the first time in her life, a few weeks shy of her 62nd birthday, Judy Robertson is without a job.
Robertson was let go on Nov. 14 by her employer, whom she declined to identify and whom she had worked for in accounting and finance for about 29 years.
Even though Robertson, who lives in Winston-Salem, knew that her job status was tenuous because her employer was consolidating operations to cut costs, "I still ended up with a deer-in-the-headlights look when it happened."
She's not alone.
The pain from the recession is widespread in the Triad.
Nearly 7,800 Triad residents have had their jobs eliminated this year, according to the N.C. Employment Security Commission. When Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes counties are included, the number rises to nearly 8,300.
It seems that every week, if not two or three times a week, another plant is being shut down or a business says that it's cutting jobs to trim expenses or balance production with consumer demand.
Talking about being unemployed is hard for Robertson. She never thought she would ever have to.
Robertson's husband is retired and has health problems. Robertson said she feels "stuck between a rock and a hard place," particularly since the couple need health insurance.
Robertson is not alone in "hoping that there is a job out there for me."
But the local job outlook is bleak for 2009, employment officials say, with little hint of a light at the end of the tunnel until summertime at the earliest.
The Triad's unemployment rate was 7 percent in October, according to the commission. It is projected to exceed at least 8 percent by mid-2009, considering that the region hasn't fully absorbed the blows from at least 11 major layoffs affecting more than 3,300 workers.
No industry sector appears immune to the downturn.
Jobs are being eliminated across the board -- whether manufacturers such as Furniture Brands International Inc., Hanesbrands Inc. and Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co. Inc., white-collar layoffs at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Triad Guaranty Inc., or cuts made by small businesses, government agencies and nonprofits.
Questions remain about how many of Wachovia Corp.'s 2,900 local jobs will be cut or transferred as Wells Fargo & Co. merges bank operations over the next two years. And much like furniture and textile jobs earlier in the decade, there are fewer local job options for white-collar workers, particularly in the financial-services sector.
Archie Hicks, the manager of the employment commission's office in Winston-Salem, said that about 90 percent of the office's clients are searching for work as opposed to trying to land better jobs.
"This was echoed by an employer I spoke with who related that his turnover has been drastically reduced due to people's hesitancy to leave a job in this environment," Hicks said.
"What's different this time is that the layoffs are so widespread in time that you don't have a lot of people from the same layoff coming in at the same time and commiserating about their situation.
"Most people don't know the others in the office, so it can get pretty quiet in here," Hicks said.
Even in the health-care sector, which is facing a major nursing shortage, officials say that the training pipeline is clogging in the community-college system because of too few classes and too little money available, particularly for market-rate salaries to attract registered nurses as instructors.
That's why some economists and employment officials are concerned about the Triad's losing droves of households next year as people dependent on white-collar jobs go outside the region in search of comparable income.
"This is as complex a job market as I've ever seen, especially for those college-educated clients between 40 and their mid-50s," said Damian Birkel, the founder of Professionals in Transition and a multiple-layoff victim himself. "The job opportunities aren't there in Winston-Salem as they were even a decade ago.
"Many of our clients want to pursue jobs where the best opportunities are, but at the same time cause the least disruption to their household. Fewer employers are willing to pay moving expenses anyway.
"That's a big reason why you're seeing more people widening their commuting radius to include Charlotte and the Triangle," Birkel said.
The frustration of coming up empty in his job search was evident in John Hodges' voice and face during a visit last week to the local employment-commission office.
"It's ridiculous how tight things are and how tight employers are with their pay," Hodges said, looking over a screen of job vacancies that listed pay between $7.50 and $11 an hour.
Hodges said he moved to the Triad from Florida to help take care of a sick father who recently passed away. He said he's living on food stamps and doesn't have the money or the option of going back to Florida.
A painter, cook or forklift operator by trade, Hodges said he recently tried knocking on doors of potential employers in the area.
"None of them were hiring, and 90 percent of them wouldn't even take an application," he said.
The gloomy local and state job market should not be surprising, said John Quinterno, a research assistant with the N.C. Justice Center.
"Since 2000, North Carolina has not created enough jobs to keep pace with the growth of the work force," Quinterno said.
That includes people and families transferring their unemployment to the state.
"People continue to move to North Carolina because they believe the economy is better here than it is in other parts of the country," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia Securities.
"While this is generally true, we are clearly being impacted by the recession, and our unemployment rate is actually well above the national average."
As a result, Quinterno said, "proportionally fewer prime-age adults ages 20 to 64 are employed now than in 1990."
"Sluggish job growth has contributed to the economic hardships facing the state's households," Quinterno said. "The failure to create adequate numbers of jobs has resulted in relatively high levels of unemployment and underemployment, which have held down wages and incomes."
Some economists have said that if the underemployed -- those working in jobs below their skill level for the sake of earning a paycheck -- the stay-at-home parent, the retiree and the discouraged are factored into the jobless rate, it could be as much as 2.5 percentage points higher.
"Even if the recession proves brief, North Carolina's labor market likely will limp through 2012 and perhaps even longer if the rebound is a jobless recovery marked by relatively high unemployment and stagnant wages,' Quinterno said.
Hicks said he expects more Triad residents will have to work up to retirement age or beyond.
"You'll see more people die still on the job rather than dying in retirement," Hicks said. "They can't afford to give up their health insurance."
It's hard for even those people willing to take a pay cut to put food on the table, said Matt Stadler, the manager of the Winston-Salem office for Manpower Inc.
"It's a Catch-22 situation for them, particularly for middle managers," Stadler said. "They need the money and they want to get started again.
"Yet, employers are leery of hiring them and going to the expense of training them if they believe the person is a flight risk for a better job."
Rick Beliz is gaining a crash course in the local job market as a marketing assistant at the Winston-Salem Urban League. The organization recently opened a JobLink Career Center satellite office of the employment commission since it moved to 450 W. Hanes Mill Road.
"We've had hundreds of people using the access point for job searches, training, resumes, particularly housing-authority residents," Beliz said.
"We're giving them a leg up on their search, assessing their interviewing skills, giving them proper clothing if they need it.
"It's a tough job market for our clients.
"If you're tied to the area, either by family or lacking transportation, it's getting next to impossible for those who don't have the skills employers want."
Birkel said he encourages people whose jobs have been cut recently to venture out during the holidays, not only for the social festivities, but the networking aspects as well.
"During the holiday season, over 90 percent of a person's job search should be spent on networking," Birkel said. "I recommend that people bring business cards -- not resumes-- to holiday events, hand them out two at a time, and ask the person to pass one on."
Robertson, the first-time layoff victim, says she wants to work at least another six years, which is why she's being proactive about her situation. She has enrolled at Forsyth Technical Community College to upgrade her software skills.
She's also filling in at her former employer for those on vacation during the holidays.
"We've been careful with our money, not being in debt outside the house," Robertson said.
"That's why I'm networking as much as possible and leaning on family and friends to keep this from getting overwhelming on me.
"It's critical for me to stay positive and not let being laid off become personal," Robertson said.
"I know the value I bring to an employer.
■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.
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