Community Corner

Job Market's Slump Nothing New to Locals

Dismal June jobs report released; some in Northern New Jersey have been struggling for years.

Bobby and Cathy are feeling fairly hopeless.

The Jefferson Township couple, whose last name Patch has agreed to omit, has been dealing with Bob's unemployment for 18 months.

"Neither of us are feeling very optimistic at all," Cathy said.

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That puts them in the company of many in and around Morris County, and the country overall. The June jobs report, released by the federal government Friday, shows a 9.2 percent unemployment rate, up from 9.1 percent. There were just 18,000 new jobs added, when 124,000 had been expected (the economy only added 25,000 in May as well).

One of the major challenges, Cathy said, is the lack of personal contact between employers and potential employees.

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"Everything is done on the computer. All the applications are filled out online. There’s no more sitting down and talking to someone about job possibilities," she said. "It’s a very cold and impersonal way of doing things, and a job candidate isn’t able to tell his whole story that way."

Bobby has also had issues with the major job search sites.

"We’ve found several job postings for the automotive industry, where Bobby worked, but have come to find out that only a few are actually hiring," Cathy said. "The rest are just gathering information about candidates in case a job becomes open. They make you spend hours filling out applications, copying and pasting resumes, answering questions, all for nothing.”

The current job situation has caused both Bobby and Mark Levin of Morristown to look into a variety of alternative careers.

Bobby went back to school and completed training to receive his commercial driver’s license (CDL), and started looking for truck-driving jobs.

“The problem with that, it seems, is the age-old problem of not being able to get a job without experience, and not being able to gain experience without a job,” Cathy said. “The companies he’s contacted all want at least a year of driving experience. In fact, he got one call from a company, and when he told them he didn’t have experience, they hung up on him.”

Levin’s last job as a production manager in the manufacturing industry ended in 2007. Since then, he’s been working part-time jobs, freelancing, just about anything to make ends meet. Now he’s trying to “think outside the box” and try and turn things he likes to do into possible sources of income, he said.

“I like to write, and I’ve been published, so I’m trying to turn writing into a career. But the New York Times won’t be hiring me anytime soon,” Levin said.

In addition, he’s tried things like reading tarot cards for a living—something he said he’s been interested in and good at for the last 15 years.

“I’ve also been told I have a good speaking voice, so I’ve been looking into getting voiceover work,” he said.

Levin's run into a streak of bad luck that hasn't helped things.

“The hard drive crashed on my laptop, and you need a computer to look for a job,” he said. “I’ve also been trying to sell jewelry online, but one of the things you need to do is take pictures of the pieces and upload them. Well, my camera broke last week. I feel like even though I’m in a down period right now, there’s a plan for me, but I just don’t know what it is. There must be a reason all these things are happening, but I have to figure out what it is.”

Levin doesn't have a driver’s license right now, due to what he said were "really stupid choices I made."

“I use public transportation or pay for a cab when I look for a job,” he said. “It’s more difficult, but it is doable.”

But sometimes, it's the little details that get in the way.

“Since I don’t have a computer, I go to the Morristown Library to use theirs,” Levin said. “There is a two-hour time limit per day on the computers. So even if the whole bank of computers is empty, when my two hours are up, there’s nothing more I can do for the day. That’s frustrating to me."

Guss Cardona, 41, was at the Paterson unemployment office Friday and said he feels the economic recovery is taking much longer than he expected. But the former truck driver from Paterson doesn't blame President Barack Obama.

"It's taking a way long time," said Cardona, who said he's been unemployed for about two months. "But I don't think it's Obama's fault."

Kimberly Stephens, 36, of Paterson, said she doesn't feel employers are making it any easier for the unemployed to get hired. In her opinion, requiring background and credit checks makes obtaining a job much more difficult than it should be.

"A lot of people's credit scores are probably low because we're struggling," she said.

Stephens, who has been unemployed for about a year-and-a-half after losing her job as a security guard with APG Security, said she thinks employers need to be more open-minded about who they hire in these difficult times.

"I think a lot more employers need to consider opening up jobs or giving families jobs," she said.

Bobby and Cathy have also been frustrated by the treatment they've received from potential employers.

“Companies can treat candidates any way they want to,” Cathy said. “They can ignore resumes, hang up on people, or offer a candidate with 20 years of experience a job at an entry level salary. They’re doing it because they can, and it’s not fair to job candidates.”

Ariana Cohn contributed to this story.


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