Jobless picture a downer at holiday
Published 11:48 pm Friday, December 19, 2008
By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS – Michigan Works Executive Director Todd Gustafson came off like the Grinch talking about the jobs picture a week before Christmas.
He admitted this "perfect storm" didn't leave any good news to gift-wrap for the Cass County Board of Commissioners, although traffic has increased to the point that the Dowagiac service center in North Pointe Center on N. Front Street will be expanded in 2009.
Gustafson tried to end on an upbeat note since "this year was bad," but "next year may be worse" than the "at least" 2,000 layoffs seen in 2008.
"Now that I've brought the house down," he said, "this is our job. We're here to work with employers coming through the door. We recognize the challenges ahead in the economy and we've got a great, eager staff, though it's not easy for them when they see people every day with broken hearts.
"But we know we have the time, energy and resources to help people get back on their feet. It's not going to be as quick as people want it to be, but we're still there and we're going to help.
"We've got a lot of money for training, so if you work for a company you think might close or with a company tied into automotive that might lay people off, don't wait until you get the notice to come to Michigan Works. Come now so we can get ahead of the curve."
Chairman Robert Wagel, R-Wayne Township, who represents Cass County on the Michigan Works board along with Commissioner David Taylor, D-Edwardsburg, was glad to hear Gustafson's plans to make the Dowagiac office "more user-friendly" because "I was in there a couple of weeks ago and it felt like a can of sardines."
"We're going to expand our facility in Dowagiac for more accessibility," Gustafson said. "More computer stations, more training rooms. That will be going on in the next six months. That's in large part because of the economy's influx of people."
"I know unemployment is a really fun topic for Christmas," Gustafson began. "I don't have any good news to be honest."
Where Cass County's jobless rate lagged others in its region, it is closing the gap and "trending upward."
It rose this year from 6.4 percent in January to 6.9 percent in November.
Michigan Works works with 1,600 businesses across its tri-county region to find and train the employees they need.
Accompanying Gustafson was Lilly Gallardo, Dowagiac's site manager.
In 2007, from January to December, Michigan Works served some 16,700 individuals of Cass, Berrien and Van Buren counties who walked through the agency's doors.
So far in 2008, through November, that number increased to 22,375.
"The traffic we're seeing is substantially increased," Gustafson said, including by 60 percent in Dowagiac compared to last year.
That's 106 people daily on average going to the Dowagiac office for some type of service, from resume writing to job training.
Michigan Works is a non-profit workforce development organization providing free services to employers and job-seekers in southwest Michigan.
"Our mission is to provide a steady workforce to meet the needs of employers," Gustafson said. "Employers are our customers."
Gustafson also shared with commissioners his frustration at funneling unemployment at his agency since Cass County lacks an unemployment office.
"When the State of Michigan closed down unemployment offices, Michigan Works service centers became responsible and a kind of conduit for people applying for unemployment," Gustafson said. "We're not even authorized by the State of Michigan to advise job-seekers on any individual claims. In fact, we have explicit directions not to, so that creates a lot of friction and consternation, as you might imagine, when we have roughly 106 people in the Dowagiac service center every day, and most of them, if not all of them, are unemployed. They're asking for information on unemployment and we either can't share it with them or we don't know the information."
Further, he told commissioners, "The State of Michigan is broke in terms of unemployment."
How broke?
"We're one of the few states in the nation that actually borrows from the federal government in order to pay unemployment claims," according to Gustafson. "In large part because we've had a recession for many years. Michigan has borrowed to the tune of over $500 million to be able to pay claims when they come through."
The unemployment office – there's a "small" office in Grand Rapids – "has a shortage of roughly 250 people," he continued. MARVIN, the unemployment call-in system, is "overburdened," Gustafson said. "It doesn't have enough lines for people to call in. Michigan is trying to address both of these issues by hiring additional people and figuring out how to increase the capacity of MARVIN.
"I have just described a perfect storm for you. Michigan Works is a conduit for unemployment claims we can't answer and, on the back end, the State of Michigan is in disarray while traffic increases 60 to 100 percent and unemployment continues to jump. The good news for Cass County is that its yearly unemployment average of about 6.5 percent has been the best in the tri-county region for most of the year."
Gustafson acknowledged that Michigan Works has been assisting former employees of two major Dowagiac employers which closed, ICG and National Copper Products, where Commissioner Dixie Ann File's husband worked.
Additionally, he lists Creative Foam and Contech among companies in the midst of layoffs.
"This is not a comprehensive list," Gustafson cautioned commissioners.
He told Vice Chairman Ron Francis, R-Cassopolis, that the turnaround time between filing for unemployment and receiving a check can be as swift as two weeks, but "if there's an error in your claim or the information's incorrect," it could take much longer than five weeks "because the state is short-staffed. It takes a long time to get a call returned, to finally get through to talk to someone and to get it addressed and resolved. It's not a good situation."
"It seems those numbers would be badly skewed," observed Commissioner Bill Steele, D-Calvin Township, "because a lot of people just give up. They're on nobody's chart when they go home with their tails tucked between their legs to see if they can get social services. They're not in the state's 9 to 10 percent (unemployment)."
Gustafson pointed out that of 25 Michigan workforce development agencies, some are non-profit and others are quasi-government.
Their association is advocating for reform because "we are on the front lines," Gustafson commented. "We are the ones who feel responsible when a lady comes through with three kids and $3 and wants to know if we can help her with her unemployment because it's screwed up. We can't, but we're the ones who get the hostile folks who demand to know how they pay their landlord with this rent they can't get from unemployment. We're the ones who get the black eye, even though we have no responsibility."
Gustafson in his 20-minute presentation said Cass County has 235 job-seekers enrolled in No Worker Left Behind training at Southwestern Michigan College, Lake Michigan College or a vocational training school.
All connect in some form to in-demand, high-growth sectors – health care, hospitality and manufacturing, with a previous emphasis on construction skills trades being replaced by energy, "a huge and growing field."