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Workers: The state of employment

By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published October 9, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Florida's unemployment rate might be at an all-time low, but on any given weekday, there are still more than a dozen people at the WorkNet Pinellas office here, scanning the computers for job listings.

Madeline Isaac of Clearwater was one of them recently, scrolling through ads for customer service reps. The 35-year-old single mother of four said she has applied for hundreds of positions since quitting a fast-food job three months ago. Despite several interviews, she's still unemployed.

"I can apply, then it's up to the employer to act," said Isaac, who has a high-school diploma and a certificate in medical billing and coding. "All I need is a foot in the door."

Even in the best of economic times, hundreds of thousands of Floridians are still unemployed. Whether their obstacles are age, family obligations, education or a mistake in the past, plenty of people who want to work say they find it hard to land a job.

Florida officials said the August jobless rate was 3.6 percent, the lowest since the state began keeping records in 1976. That compares with a nationwide unemployment rate of 4.9 percent and a statewide rate of 4.6 percent a year ago.

In the Tampa Bay area, unemployment in August was 3.7 percent. The statistic is based on a monthly household survey and includes people currently receiving unemployment benefits, as well as those who have exhausted their benefits and new entrants into the work force.

Statewide, the number of people without jobs in August was about 310,000, the lowest number since December 2000.

"Nationally we think it's impossible to say exactly when we've reached full employment," said Jared Bernstein, an economist with Economic Policy Institute in Washington. "But it sounds like in Florida you're there."

That's hard for Bob Melaccio, an unemployed tech support worker in Spring Hill, to believe.

"When I read about the (unemployment) statistics, I get upset," he said. "I wonder where I fit into the workplace."

Since being laid off from a Clearwater medical supply company in June, Melaccio said he has applied for dozens of jobs, from Wal-Mart clerk to technical project manager to caseworker at a psychiatric hospital.

"If I get any response, it's that they'll keep my resume on file," he said. "I've been successful everywhere I've been employed, but now I'm just frustrated."

Melaccio figures he has three strikes against him: his age (60); his lack of a college degree; and a knee injury that prevents him from doing heavy lifting.

Once a youth counselor, Melaccio loves teaching and has done long-term substituting in schools for $7.25 an hour. But he doesn't that that at his age he can afford to take on the debt of a college tuition, a prerequisite for a permanent teaching job.

"I just feel people 50 years old and up who need to work don't have an opportunity," he said.

At the other end of the spectrum are single mothers like Isaac and Teresa Lee, who was filing out applications at the WorkNet Pinellas office on 22nd Street S recently.

Lee, 35, last worked a customer service job in April and also has experience as an executive secretary. She figures she had applied for at least 60 jobs in the previous week, with no response.

"I've put in applications from Tarpon Springs to Sarasota," Lee said. "And in the few interviews I've had, they either say I'm overqualified or I need a little more training."

Lee and Isaac both say their family responsibilities make employers think twice about hiring them for a job.

Said Lee, whose four children range in age from 9 to 18, "My first priority is my kids. And there are not a lot of companies out there willing to go the extra mile for a single mom."

Bernstein, the economist, said full employment pushes against the barriers that may have kept certain people out of the job market.

"But if their skills are not so great, or they've been out of the market for a while or they're facing discrimination or have a criminal record, even very low unemployment can't always overcome that barrier."

Though such people are more likely to catch a break in a full-employment environment, Bernstein said many may still need help.

"I would tell policymakers, "This is a signal this person needs a hand up,' " he said. "This is someone who wants to play by the rules."

Despite the fact that her agency still sees hundreds of jobless people each week, Sandi Clay, who runs the WorkNet Pinellas office on 49th Street N, is convinced there's a position out there for every one of them.

"People who are genuinely interested in employment and are willing to be flexible about distance, hours and money, will have very little trouble finding work," said Clay, who has been with the publicly funded employment service for about six years. "But if you're not as motivated as you should be, you can think of a lot of reasons why people are not hiring."

Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or 727 892-2996.

[Last modified October 7, 2005, 18:30:05]