No end to widespread struggle for employment

Amid hopeful signs of a recovering national economy, the ranks of the unemployed continue to swell—along with, for many locals, a growing sense that the end is not yet in sight.

According to the New York State Department of Labor, the situation worsened over the summer, escalating into a gloomy fall. From September to August, the statewide unemployment rate rose from 8.7 percent to 8.8 percent, and in New York City, it rose from 10.2 percent to 10.3 percent—which is the highest rate the city has seen in over a decade.

According to some experts, it is very likely that the pool of jobless city dwellers will continue to grow in the coming months. James Brown, an analyst for the Department of Labor, recently said in interview that unemployment typically continues to rise for a year to a year and half after the end of a recession.

Brown also added that historically, Harlem’s unemployment rate has been twice the citywide average. In 2008, the rate of unemployment was 18.7 percent in Community Districts 9 and 10 and 17.1 percent in District 11.

From the perspective of local politicians, these bleak numbers represent serious desperation for many out of work. William Franc Perry III, chair of Community Board 10, said, in general, “Communities of color are much more affected” by downturns in the economy than are other segments of the population. Perry said that it was even common for people to drop into the Community Board office these days looking for any leads or connections to a job with a salary.

State Senator Bill Perkins, who represents parts of Harlem and Morningside Heights, said that he has also observed firsthand the effects of unemployment on his constituents. “It’s clear from the traffic that we get in this office and from my own direct contact with people in the neighborhood that we have a very serious unemployment problem in the community,” he said.

Perkins added that they are actively working to address this serious issue.

One of the many challenges in quantifying the local rates, Perkins said, is the “unheard of third”—those who are unemployed, but do not interact in any way with the mechanisms that record unemployment.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are individuals who have never before faced unemployment, Perkins mentions. These individuals, ones who suddenly find themselves in dire and unfamiliar circumstances, tend to have an even harder time facing confusion and hopelessness in this new trend, he added.

Perkins said that he has observed people moving away from the city, convinced that greener pastures—with more employment opportunities and significantly lower costs of living—lie elsewhere.

“People are feeling desperate,” he said. Meanwhile, the burgeoning unemployment rate has been accompanied by a significant decrease in available positions. Charece Newell, the owner of Get a Black Suit Staffing—a Brooklyn-based firm that represents a handful of Harlem clients—specializes in candidate searches for companies looking to hire, as well as training individuals looking to be hired.

Newell’s older clients, she mentioned, have recently put freezes on new hiring. “Companies are using bad economic times to get rid of the bad people and replace them with good people,” Newell said, citing layoffs as a major factor in the high unemployment rate.

Faced with growing job—seeker traffic on her Web site—one posted job opening can garner thousands of responses—and a declining number of positions, Newell has cut the time it normally takes her to fill an opening in half.

Other experts have said that there is a glimmer of hope in the distance.

Jill Poklemba, director of communications and development at STRIVE, an East Harlem nonprofit employment organization that focuses on job training, said that she hasn’t seen any significant change in the demand for employment services—a hopeful sign in an increasingly unstable environment.

“We’ve always dealt with a population whose unemployment rate has been double or triple the general rate,” Poklemba said of her organization, adding that the stability she is observing reflects her interactions with the most unemployable populations that her organization typically trains—such as the homeless and recently incarcerated.

Perkins, who is the chair of the State Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, said that there was hope in ongoing economic development as a source for job creation. He cited the Columbia expansion into Manhattanville as an example of a project that was undertaken with a promise of creating new jobs in the community.

“When projects don’t translate into these benefits, it aggravates a bad situation,” Perkins said, adding, “In these communities, small business tends to be more valuable in terms of these opportunities.”

Newell, who observes the shortening supply of jobs on a daily basis, said she was somewhat optimistic. She said, “I do feel that in the next year there will be a change.”