by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

September 11, 2008

As he contemplates the latest trends in the American economy, Leonard Schneider is both disturbed and determined.

The executive director of the Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest said the national unemployment rate was 6.1 percent in August, its highest level in five years. Citing United States Labor Department figures, he noted that across the nation, some 605,000 jobs have disappeared since the start of the year, with employers slashing 84,000 jobs in August alone.

Although New Jersey statistics were not available for last month, Schneider said, there has been a “tremendous loss” of jobs in the state. What’s worse, he said, is that “economists are not expecting a change until sometime in 2010.”

What especially concerns him is that members of the Jewish community are disproportionately represented in the white collar jobs that are being affected.

‘A large number of people are…suffering greatly from the effects of the economy.’

“While MetroWest is often viewed as an area of moderate to high socioeconomics, what we are seeing is a continuing large number of people unemployed and underemployed who, with their families, are suffering greatly from the effects of the economy,” said Schneider.

And it is not just the jobless who worry him.

“As bad as unemployment figures are, they don’t show the large number of people who are meaningfully underemployed,” he said. “Both the unemployed and the underemployed are affecting the caseload we see in MetroWest.”

During the fiscal year that ended on June 30, the JVS provided career counseling and job placement services to 1,726 residents of MetroWest, with a caseload of 175-185 people at any one time since the start of the year. “People here in MetroWest are trying to make ends meet with mortgage payments, putting bread on the table, and paying college tuitions,” Schneider said. Those affected often forgo doctor’s visits or having their prescriptions filled or even cut pills in half to stretch their medications. “Seniors in particular are not able to maintain health insurance for their families.”

Meanwhile, due to decreased allocations from United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ and a cut in government grants, JVS is facing budget shrinkage of its own. One big hit came when Essex County failed to renew a two-year contract with the agency to provide job placement and career counseling to the middle-income unemployed.

Schneider said his agency is using new ways of networking to cope with the challenges.

Through a website called www.MWjobs.org, the JVS is reaching across denominations to connect 44 MetroWest-area synagogues in job search efforts.

“Years ago congregations were very protective about any job openings they had because they wanted to save them for their own members,” said Schneider. “What we did was come along and say, ‘You can benefit somebody else. The job opening you have may not be appropriate or suitable for one of your congregants but it could be for somebody else from another congregation.’”

Along with using the Internet, he said, the agency is advertising in NJ Jewish News, urging unemployed people to “pick up the phone, call us, and say, ‘Can you help me?’”

JVS is also “aggressively” seeking job leads among area agencies, Jewish institutions, and businesses.

As he looks toward the future, Schneider sees more problems ahead, especially for senior citizens.

“The latest data show people continue to work because they can’t afford to retire. While they are being let go disproportionately as they age, workers today are looking at new jobs and new careers after traditional retirement age. Whether it’s part-time or full-time, work provides meaning for the lives of many people,” he said.

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Unsteady work, and too little of it

AFTER “FRED” (who asked that his real name not be used) graduated from college in 1987, he entered the new wireless communications industry as a customer service representative. Within months he rose quickly to become a senior billing representative, then a marketing analyst.

“I fell into wireless at the very beginning,” he said, recalling the days before portable cell phones, when the telephones his company was selling were installed in cars.

‘It was a little like being on the Titanic. I saw it coming and started to look around.’

That was several jobs ago. Now, at the age of 43, Fred finds himself underemployed as a marketing consultant working out of his West Orange home. He complains that handling his two main clients occupies less than two working days each week.

“It is not enough,” he said.

He started working freelance in April 2006, when he was laid off as marketing director at a Middlesex County corporation that manufactures high-end photographic equipment.

When Fred began working there in May 2003, he was one of three people in the marketing department. Then “they started to cut back on personnel,” laying off everyone but himself. A new president “outsourced all of the marketing to a firm in St. Louis.”

“It was a little like being on the Titanic,” Fred said. “I saw it coming and started to look around.”

One thing Fred did was enter his name on the data base at the Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest.

“They’ve been pretty good,” he said. “They’ve been very helpful. They do job seminars on a regular basis, and I’ve attended a couple.”

In addition, he is using other Internet websites as employment agents, and he is networking on a widespread basis.

“I am a huge networker,” he said. “I’m big on Facebook, big on LinkedIn. I go to in-person networking events. I’m getting interviews — not a high percentage in terms of the number of resumes I’m sending out, but yeah, I do get interviews.”

Exploring the Internet enabled Fred to make contact with a colleague he had last seen 18 years ago, when they worked together at the car phone company.

“I called and said, ‘We are going to have lunch, and I am coming with resume in hand.’ Facebook allowed us to reconnect, and now I have an ‘in’ with my friend’s company as opposed to having my resume just thrown on a stack.

“I am very big on technology and social networking,” Fred said.

He is also exploring the world of podcasting, producing an on-line broadcast that showcases his expertise as a marketer.

“I talk about technology aimed at small business people. Podcasts are a big thing. They’re hopping, and companies are interested in learning more about them. This is something else I can offer.”

Because he has had no full-time work in more than two years, Fred and his wife are dependent on her income. She is an adjunct professor at a nearby university and works a 40-hour-per-week administrative job.

“We haven’t had a real vacation since 2002. There are things in our house we would like to replace but we patch and go as need be,” he said.

Yet Fred remains optimistic. “I’m thinking about getting a job or getting enough clients that I don’t need to keep hunting for work.”

Fred has two words of advice to others who find themselves unemployed or underemployed: “Look everywhere.”

— ROBERT WIENER

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