Jeannette Rivera felt as if she was on top of the world. She owned JR Express Mail, a delivery company that contracted with the U.S. Post Office. She enjoyed a comfortable salary and had plenty of time to spend with her two children.
In March, however, her world was turned upside down. She lost her contract to another company and, piece by piece, her 10-year-old business fell apart. “We were living large. But I knew as soon as they outbid me that it was over. The economy was in too bad a shape,” she said. The East Orlando resident’s full-time job became job hunting.
Every day she goes to job-search agencies that are packed with others who are down on their luck, to work on her resume and search for available jobs. The single mother said she will take anything. “I only have enough savings for one month of rent. I am getting so depressed,” she said. Last week she joined 5,800 other jobless Floridians at the President’s Job Fair at the Central Florida Fairgrounds — a record for the Central Florida Employment Council.
The line to enter the exhibition center was wrapped around the building. Inside, people moved shoulder-to-shoulder through the congested corridors to get to the tables of 107 employers, some of whom were only looking to fill a few specific positions. “Competition is high but there are still thousands of jobs available,” said Sandi Vidal, executive director of Christian Help, which manages the council.
Christian Help, a nonprofit organization that helps prevent homelessness through employment, has realized a 40 percent increase in total foot traffic with 150 people coming in each week for jobplacement assistance. The first three job fairs the council hosted this year brought in more than 15,000 job seekers. The unemployment rate has reached 5.3 percent in Orange County — up from 3.3 percent at this time in last year.
More than 32,000 people are actively looking for employment in Central Florida. Steep competition has kept Toni Jackson unemployed since October when she was fired from Universal Studios. She was terminated for being habitually late even though she claims the unreliability of bus service is to blame. Jackson lives in East Orlando with her boyfriend, who is also unemployed but has about four months’ worth of unemployment left.
She cannot collect benefits because she was fired. “I am applying everywhere but people are not hiring,” she said. But even for those who can collect benefits, Orlando was found to be one of the worst cities in the nation to be unemployed by an ABC News study. The study looked at the nation’s 40 largest cities and compared unemployment- insurance benefits available and the cost of living to see what is the best city in which to receive a pink slip.
Orlando ranked near the bottom, where the maximum weekly payment only covers 21.4 percent of the maximum earner’s living costs. Other cities that ranked low included New York (17.2 percent), Miami (18.5) and San Francisco (20.6). Among the highest ranking cities were Pittsburgh (46.9 percent), Charlotte (38.3), Boston (35.6) and Salt Lake City (34.3). “It is really hard to live here with no money coming in.
Housing costs a fortune and public transportation is not reliable,” Jackson said, filling out job applications with her boyfriend at the President’s Job Fair. “I do not know what we are going to do if we do not find something soon.”
The underemployed
While many of the nearly 6,000 people
at the job fair were trying to find a primary
job, many were looking for parttime
work to supplement their income.
“I have seen a lot of that over the last
year,” said SunTrust Bank Staffing
Manager Pam Albano.
“There is more of a need for people to get back up to the standard of living to which they were accustomed.” Underemployment has always been an issue in Central Florida where so many people rely on the service industry. But now folks who were laid off from highpaying professional careers must have two or three jobs to bring home the same paycheck. “You cannot just sell your SUV or your expensive home [if you lose your job] because no one else can buy it either. There are people who are stuck,” Vidal said.
“If lose your $80,000 job and take a $30,000 job, you have a job but you still cannot pay the mortgage or feed your family.” She said many people are downsizing their resumes so they do not seem overqualified for lower-paying jobs, which are more readily available. While hiring conditions seem bleak, some industries are still thriving. The arts, entertainment and recreation industry has opened 3,200 positions, 4,300 jobs were available in the education and health-services industries, and the leisure and hospitality industry needed to fill 4,400 jobs in the last 12 months.
Other industries are not so hot. Construction (-5,100 jobs) and retail (- 1,300 jobs) have lost the most jobs in the last year. But all of those pluses and minuses equal zero job growth — a first for Central Florida in many years. Besides Gainesville, the only area in the state to gain jobs with 1,700 new positions, Central Florida is the only area in the state that is not losing jobs.
“Typically we are always gaining thousands and thousands of jobs and are leading the state in jobs gained or we are at least second behind Miami,” said Kim Cornett, spokesperson for Workforce Central Florida. Cornett said people in suffering industries must analyze their current skills and see where they are applicable in more lucrative industries.
Some folks must learn new skills altogether. Workforce helps people identify marketable skills or provides short-term job training (and scholarships to those who were laid off from their job and possess outdated skills). “I think people are expanding their search in geography, industry, their position within industry and salary expectations,” Cornett said. “They have to be flexible right now because the ball is in the employer’s court.”
Workforce has seen a 35 percent increase in foot traffic this year with everyone from executives in suits to fresh college graduates coming in for employment assistance. “We see a mix of people coming into our office. Some are strong-willed and understand this is just another a step in their life,” Cornett said.
“Others are depressed and frustrated because they have applied for many things and they know they are one of 300 resumes. It runs the gamut.”
