- Kelly Watson selling yarn
By MARSHA POLOVETS
One sits on a stoop, another meets his peers at a hip cafe, another panhandles. It’s easy to find Mission District residents who are entering the statistically growing realms of unemployed, underemployed and chronically underemployed. Increasingly they come with a college degree.
Goodwill spokesman James David, at 1500 Mission St., says that before it was “entry level workers” who visited the One Stop Career Link Center at Goodwill. Since January, he’s seen an influx of professionals, including those who have worked in advertising, manufacturing, financial services, real estate, and journalism.
“As the unemployment numbers grow, we see more and more people coming in,” he says. “I don’t think this is going to stop for a while.”
Resource Specialist Mark Bouthiller said that when the One Stop Career Link Center at Goodwill opened last year in October, there were 327 visits. By January 2009, the figure jumped to 1,332, peaking at 2,700 visits in April.
That’s the same month preliminary figures put the unemployment rate here at 8.8 percent, a slight dip from 9.1 percent in March, but still up from 8.0 percent in January and more than double the 4.3 percent unemployment rate of April 2008, according to the California Development Department.
Many of the newly unemployed or underemployed can be found crowding the cafes, usually with laptops, books, or sketch pads. Elia Vargas, who looks like an earthy John Lennon, spent 2008 in Central and South America. The 24-year-old video contractor said that he “picked a bad time to come back into [the] country.” However, getting a job was never a top priority.
“I make good money when I am contracted,” he says. This puts Vargas in the group that the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates as “marginally attached to the labor force,” or folks who have completed temporary jobs—a number that in April stood at 5.7 percent up from 4.5 percent in January.
Some professionals find themselves in murkier territory. Jay, who asked that his last name not be used, has been self-employed for 14 years in architecture and graphic design and recently photography. The 47-year-old says that it has always been “up and down” for him, but “last fall got really bad.” Bills failed to get paid and soon he was facing foreclosure and bankruptcy.
He had to get creative and began to “barter stuff.” His friend who is a caterer feeds him in exchange for his skills. On the bright side, Jay is currently working on a “sizable [architecture] project”- he says that he “got lucky.”
Kelly Watson loved working at a popular “specialty grocery store” for about two and a half years. “It was very nice for a long time,” said the fabric artist, who received her B.A. from Cal State University Monterey Bay. About two months ago, the grocery store started cutting back hours to avoid firing employees. A two-hour cut turned into a ten hour cut. Now, she works only she’s down to two days a week. Although Watson continues to receive health insurance, she says, it’s become “either pay my bills or eat food.”
“Most of us are really hurting,” says Watson, who was “clean[ing] out” her colorful yarn near Valencia Street, as she joked about selling it.
Two women sitting outside the Atlas Café having lunch in the sun offer their stories. Chelsea Kenrick, 27, moved to the city two months ago from Minneapolis and says it took her the full two 60 days to find a job–the longest it has ever taken her.
“I’d get jobs on Craigslist and follow up, but there would be 300 people looking at the job.” She was finally hired in the Marina as a waitress.
Her companion, Brianne Hanshaw, works as a hairdresser–an independent contractor at the Bella Union on Fillmore. Hanshaw says she feels “half unemployed” because her business has fallen dramatically in the last year.
“People can’t afford to get haircuts, which brings me here to have lunch,” she says laughing. Customers, she adds, have stopped spending money “frivolously.”
“I charge $60 for a hair cut, but you can go to Supercuts and get a cut for $15. It’s not going to be as good, but what can you do if you don’t have the money.”
She’s been working as a hairdresser for eight years and said this has been the worst decline “ever” adding “I even made more money when I was just an assistant.”
Liam, who asks that his last name not be used, sits on the stoop of a Victorian on 20th St. sharing a cigarette with a friend. He got fired six weeks ago from a bakery, and he’s finding the market “a lot tighter.” This is the longest period that he’s been unemployed. He’s not alone. The number of people who have been unemployed for 15 weeks or longer rose to 4 percent in April 2009, from 3 percent in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Lots of people may be looking to hire someone but hedge it to see if they really need to hire someone. They can have their pick. You have to have a real solid resume or a real good in,” he says.
The 31-year-old has been looking for work as a manual laborer, including yard work and house work.
Even the nature of what’s available has changed.
Joel Aguiar, director for the San Francisco Day Labor Program, says that most of the jobs the program handed out used to be around construction.
Now, moving jobs are in demand, as homeowners relocate to “less expensive” areas.
“People are not remodeling their homes anymore,” says Aguiar. He says that a homeowner will focus on paying off his mortgage “instead of putting [a] nice little fountain.”
His 150 members used to work at least once every week through the center, but now they get a job every three to four weeks. During the last week of May, for example, the center got 24 calls from employers, and 47 workers were hired. A year ago, the number of employers calling in was “at least double,” he says.
Graphic design artist Eric, who asks that his last name not be used, was working for eight months for Kadoink, a San Francisco based startup that provided text messaging and advertisement services to publishing companies, including the Associated Press. The thirty-something moved to the Mission District to be closer to work. He signed his lease on a Wednesday and was laid off by Friday.
Eric has been at it “pretty daily” on Craigslist, through friends who are recruiters, and other “whatnot.” One of the challenges is that “there’s not much work available,” with more developing opportunities than graphic design.
“I’m not a developer. I just do art,” he said. “It’s definitely a difficult time. It’s pretty competitive.”
He then added, with a bit of nostalgia, “I had a pretty sweet job.”
“I was making good money. Now, I can’t spend my money,” says Eric. “It’s not really that fun being unemployed.”
In a sleepy and curious voice he wonders if Mission Loc@l is hiring. Oh, Eric…