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Plano job seekers have options as unemployment remains high
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@acnpapers.com
PLANO - While the recession officially ended two years ago, unemployment numbers remain high.
The Bureau of Labor released the June national unemployment numbers on Friday morning and the news was worse than expected. The unemployment rate climbed to from 9.1 to 9.2 percent, a six-month high. Overall, there are 14.1 million unemployed Americans. However, Texas and the Metroplex, with unemployment at 8 percent, continue to beat the national average.
"We are doing a lot better than the other parts of the United States," said Dr. Mike Davis, a senior lecturer at the SMU Cox School of Business. "This is part of a long-term trend in the state. If you look at job growth over the past eight years, Texas has outperformed the rest of the country, and our unemployment numbers being lower is a reflection of that."
"Texas is lucky to have strong energy and agricultural export segments of the economy," Davis said. "Both of those segments are up, and we benefit from that. However, what is more important is that Texas really has a strong business and political climate. The state is friendly to entrepreneurs and business growth. There is no denying that the low taxes help."
Two of the weakest areas of the national economy are manufacturing and construction, but once again Texas is doing better in those areas than other parts of the country.
"The manufacturing segment is actually doing better than most believe," Davis said. "However, it is only manufacturing production that is up. The factories are more efficient, so they are producing more while employing less people. Construction, especially residential, is still a big problem -- but we are luckier here in Texas since we didn't have the big housing bust that affected other regions."
Davis said he doesn't know when the unemployment rate will get back to its pre-recession level. In 2006, the national rate hovered between 4.4 and 4.8 percent; in contrast, the rate has only fallen below 9 percent for two months since May 2009.
"For the rate to fall, we have to have a resolution to all of the uncertainty in the economy and an increase in confidence," he said. "Businesses have cash, but they are afraid to invest in their business because they are afraid of what may happen down the road. They want to know what will happen with the national deficit, with taxes and with health care. There is uncertainty, and nothing will change until that uncertainty is resolved."
He said that while it was a cliché, "only time will tell" when the economy will improve.
Luckily for Plano residents, those who find themselves unemployed have several options. One of these is Workforce Solutions, which receives its funding from the Texas Workforce Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Workforce Solutions, which has an office at 1101 Resource Drive in Plano, offers a variety of services to those seeking new jobs. Among the services offered are job training, tips on how to write better resumes and how to prepare for a job interview.
"We utilize the state's job matching system (www.workintexas.com) to help people find jobs," said Natalie Moffitt, the group's workforce development manager. "People who have been laid off may also be eligible to receive unemployment, and we can help them apply for that at our center."
Moffitt said once a person comes to Workforce Solutions, staff members look at the current skills the individual possesses and see what skills they have that would be marketable in other industries. She said if they cannot find a job that way, they can take part in training to help make them more marketable.
The training offered by Workforce Solutions varies from year to year. Moffitt said the group performs a labor analysis and bases the training on what jobs are offering good wages and have a favorable job outlook in the future.
For certain job seekers, there is a second option when looking for work.
Next week, the Specialized Recruiting Group (SRG), which is affiliated with Express Employment Professionals, is opening its first location in Collin County. The business will be located at 5000 Legacy Drive in Plano.
"We are going to try and carve out a niche among the higher-level professional positions," said Diana Bialik, a contract and search specialist with Express Employment Professionals. "Since the jobs are professional-level jobs, most of the clients will be looking for long-term help or to make a direct hire."
The way the business model would work is if a company needed an accountant for six months, SRG would provide one. During the employment period, the worker's salary would be paid by SRG. If the company is looking for permanent help, SRG will find an employee for the company, which then pays SRG a finder's fee.
Bialik said the SRG service will be free to job seekers, with the payment coming from the companies that receive workers. She said that having someone else do the hiring work is a benefit companies are seeking.
"A lot of companies are seeing the value in hiring agencies, since they don't have to take on the burden of hiring people and the payroll taxes that go along with it," she said. "In our bill to the companies, we roll all of the payroll taxes into it so the clients don't have to pay them. We do background checks as well as all of the interviewing and any counseling that is required."
For information on Workforce Solutions, visit www.dfwjobs.com. For information on the Specialized Recruiting Group, visit www.expresssrg.com.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
coleman wrote on Jul 8, 2011 4:03 PM:
" I see lots of jobs out there in junk food places "
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