Worker retraining encouraged

BY JAMIE HENNEMAN
S-E Staff Reporter

Although national experts may be saying that the reces¬sion is over, the numbers in the Stevens County area are re¬flecting an increase in unem¬ployment rates as the area economy is still struggling to improve.
Washington State Employ¬ment Security Department Di¬rector Kerry Burkey at Colville Worksource likens it to what happens to when miles of traffic come to a standstill.
“It’s like we are traveling in a convoy that has been stopped and just because that first car starts moving, the rest of the line has to wait awhile before they can move as well,” he said. “Although they are saying the recession is over, it will take some time for that to be seen in Stevens County.”
Unemployment for the area was 10.6 percent last month, an increase over the 6.6 percent seen in September of 2008.
According to Burkey, Septem¬ber is traditionally the month of the lowest unemployment fig¬ures in the area that has a sea¬sonal trend toward unemploy¬ment. Winter is generally the highest time of unemployment, when weather conditions shut down or diminish the need for natural resource activities like logging or fire fighting.

Competitive market

Burkey feels the increased unemployment figures show just how competitive the market for jobs is right now.
“It used to be we would have two people applying for every position and now it is closer to eight,” he said. “With that in mind, we are encouraging un¬employed workers to use their time to improve their skill sets and do things to make them more valuable employees.”
One group that Burkey and his colleagues at WorkSource are especially targeting are workers likely to exhaust their unemployment benefits before returning to work. By examining the data, it was shown that workers in the construction in¬dustry, including carpenters, truck drivers, cement workers and others would run out of ac¬cumulated unemployment funds before work was available again.
“We also found in this demo¬graphic that many of these workers did not have a GED or high school diploma,” said Bur¬key. “So we are really encour¬aging them to complete that part of their education because 90 to 95 percent of all jobs on the market today require either a GED or a high school di¬ploma.”

Worker retraining em¬phasized

But it’s not just those who need to complete their basic high school education that are receiving an encouraging push from the unemployment de¬partment. Many displaced workers are also choosing to pursue additional skills related to their job or training for new fields altogether.
Rural Programs Manager Donna Jo Smith of the commu¬nity college in Colville (known as the Community Colleges of Spo¬kane, IEL Center) said that en¬rollment at the college has in¬creased nearly 30 percent from last year.
“We have a very full college this fall with students pursuing everything from basic computer skills to welding degrees or fin¬ishing the prerequisites for their nursing degree,” said Smith. “Many of our students are working toward new skills for employment and about 80 per¬cent of our students are on fi¬nancial aid.”
Students at the college can pursue a range of degrees from a basic Associate of Arts degree which meets the undergraduate requirements at most universi¬ties to an A.A. in Applied Sci¬ence or a variety of one-year certificate programs.
Along with welding and ac¬counting, Smith said the nurs¬ing program is receiving a lot of interest.
“We have roughly a quarter of our students in nursing pro¬gram and have had to bump up the number of classes we offer to meet demand,” she said.
Smith, who is a life-long resi¬dent of the area, said she feels that acquiring extra skills and being flexible is key in the local economy.
“Although there have been people who have had to move away due to the lack of jobs, there are opportunities for peo¬ple who are willing to be flexible and creative,” she said. “There will always be many good on-site jobs in this area and the key is to adapt to the demands those jobs create. Although we are happy to have more stu¬dents this fall, it is bittersweet. We don’t like to see things de¬cline here, but we are glad to provide workers with another opportunity.”

‘We cannot afford to be victims in this county.’

In these challenging times, Burkey said there is one thing that can guarantee failure for job seekers.
“There is never a time when there is ‘nothing you can do’ as we hear people say sometimes in our office,” he said. “Although there may not be any work in your regular field, there is al¬ways something you can do or options to consider. Eventually, the demand for workers will re¬cover, but where will you be when that happens? Will you be competitive when the job market turns around? That is the thing people need to consider when looking at their qualifications as a worker. Maybe taking an ap¬prenticeship or volunteering, or taking a survival job is the thing to do right now. But no matter what, there are options.
 “We cannot afford to be vic¬tims in this county.”