Published Thursday, November 19, 2009

Jobless rate rises; many job seekers 'giving up'

The Newnan Times-Herald

Initial unemployment claims in Coweta County continued their roller-coaster ride in October, zipping back up to 1,031 after falling into the triple digits a month earlier.

The number of initial unemployment claims is still down from the 1,438 peak in July 2009, but up significantly from the 686 initial claims filed one year ago. In September 2009 there were 909 initial unemployment claims filed.

The number of initial unemployment claims has jumped 13 percent between September and October 2009. Between last October and this October the number of claims has increased 50 percent. There were 1,031 claims filed in August 2009.

Based on the most recently available data, manufacturing employment has been hit hard in Coweta County this year. Employment in manufacturing decreased by 11 percent between 2008 and 2009. The sectors showing the largest losses were non-metallic minerals (down 124 jobs), fabricated metals (down 88 jobs), and plastic and rubber products (down 46 jobs). Big local losses in 2009 -- which are not reflected in these numbers -- include the closing of the Rite-Aid distribution facility, the bankruptcy of Brown Steel, and a fire at the LTI plant.

Marche Boykin, director of the Goodwill Career Center in Newnan, told the Newnan-Peachtree City Area Employer Committee Wednesday morning that with unemployment continuing to hover in the double digits, it looks like many people are just "giving up."

"Our traffic has slowed down considerably," said Boykin, referring to Goodwill's Career Center in Shenandoah Plaza on Bullsboro Drive. The center helps local job seekers prepare resumes, contact prospective employers, and hone their interviewing skills.

"They're giving up. They're exhausted," she said.

Boykin said that workshops that used to attract scores of people now only bring in "seven or eight."

"I think a lot of them are just not willing to put in the work it takes" to find a job, she said.

When job seekers are told that a resume training course may take up to two hours, some of them decide to skip it, she said.

"I was told by someone the other day, 'I've got something to do today. I'm going to send my grandmother back in here to do this stuff,'" she said.

With unemployment benefits getting extension after extension, some of the unemployed are undoubtedly working the system, some of the committee members said. That sometimes means making only token efforts at getting new employment.

"Some of the resumes I'm seeing are absolutely bizarre," said board member Judith Carr. "One applicant talked about her foster children. Another one put her birthday as the first thing on the resume."

She said it's difficult to hire someone when they seem so out of touch.

"It makes me wonder about what other skills they may be out of touch on," she said.

Committee members said that people are often applying for jobs they aren't even remotely qualified for. It's hard to tell whether they're doing so out of desperation, or simply to fulfill expectations that they actively seek work.

"I'm seeing more lying on applications than I've ever seen before," said Carr.

The Associated Press reported this week that the state's unemployment fund is nearly depleted and a federal loan will likely be needed by next month.

A decision on requesting a loan from the U.S. Department of Labor will be made by mid-December, Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said.

"I am just trying to get us through 2009," Thurmond said.

While money is still trickling into the fund from employer payments, the big numbers are discouraging.

The trust fund, which started November with $138.9 million, has been averaging $147.2 million a month in payments to jobless Georgians.