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November 15, 2008
RACINE - For Aaron Juliano, it seemed like a good career move at the time.
He didn’t mind his stint as bar manager at Dino’s Italian Village, but a better-paying position lured him to the Yellow Rose restaurant. That was a great experience, he said, until he was laid off in February.
For a few months, convinced he’d be brought back for the summer boating rush, he was content to collect unemployment benefits. Except the restaurant closed in June, and more than 50 job applications later, Juliano is still scrambling to find full-time work.
His wife’s banking job covers the necessities while he searches, but they had to scrap “luxuries” like car insurance. The 30-year-old Racine man chips in by building an occasional computer system.
Without a college degree, most of Juliano’s experience has been in tending bar. His search turned up nothing in that field anywhere near full-time, so he broadened his focus. Lately he has gone through tests and group interviews, trying to get a dispatcher job in Kenosha County.
“That’s been the one thing holding a glimmer of hope the past few months,” he said.
An estimated 8.6 percent of city of Racine residents were without jobs in September, the most recent month that state Department of Workforce Development statistics cover. That’s lower than the previous month but still the highest rate among Wisconsin cities. Beneath the numbers are hundreds of stories like Juliano’s.
Or like 21-year-old Jessica Cheever’s. She said she moved in with her parents after a cleaning company where she worked shut down. During six or seven months of the job hunt, some businesses have told her they’re not hiring and others indicated they give internal candidates the first crack at openings.
Moving somewhere with a brighter employment picture would be tough on her 3-year-old son, who has settled into a good preschool, she said. After a stop at the county’s Workforce Development Center, 1717 Taylor Ave., Cheever said last week she’d take “pretty much anything” right now.
Prospective workers need to meet certain criteria, a report has said.
“Entry-level jobs frequently are left vacant because applicants either cannot pass required drug tests and background checks or lack the necessary ‘soft’ skills (such as motivation, punctuality and attendance) to be successful,” according to a report released by local leaders earlier this year.
Some of the manufacturing jobs that remain go unfilled because nobody has the technical skills to do them, it stated. The report laid out the county’s preliminary strategy to adapt the local work force to a changing job market.
It’s a broad plan that calls for better schools and transportation, but it sets some specific goals. Those include adding 200 jobs each year from 2009 to 2014 in high unemployment areas like the inner city and getting 50 employers throughout the county to create internships.
In some Racinians’ eyes, government only gets in the way of honest labor. Charlie House, 41, said child-support obligations box in lots of men who can be locked up for nonpayment when their wages only provide for their own necessities.
In addition, few businesses are willing to give second chances to those with criminal records, he said.
“They don’t tell you to your face,” House said. “They say ‘We’ll call you.’ ”
Jamie Ford Sr. is also fighting a blemished record and, at 35, is working toward a high-school equivalency degree. Until he can pile up the training needed to reach his long-term goal of a law enforcement career, Ford said he’s open to packaging or janitorial duties.
Ford said he has been through workshops and mock interviews and visits the workforce center almost daily. Still, he hasn’t worked regularly since August 2007.
“I’m just crying out for help,” he said, “and it seems like nobody’s opening doors.”
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